Hanmer Street – Named after Humphrey Hanmer (1827- 1892). Hanmer was born at Hanmer in Flintshire, England. He is listed in street directories in 1890 as a resident of Sumner. He lived there during his retirement. His brother, Thomas, gave his name to the district of Hanmer. Hanmer Street is first mentioned in the Star in 1868 and first appears in street directories in 1887.
A wee bit amount of information from the library website. This street is in Linwood but on the very edge of this suburb.I liked this street and most of the houses were lovely. Many were old workers wooden cottages that have been done up. The Avonside Drive end was narrow with a couple of seats and a garden. I wish that I could have managed more photos here.
Humphrey Hanmer is buried at Rutherford Cemetery 24/12/1892 aged 64 and I am amused that his occupation is given as gentleman.
I can’t find any link between Humphrey and Thomas Hanmer. I also can’t find any shipping records for either of them but they both possibly went to Australia first. Humphrey married Harriet Batterbee in West Derby in 1856 which matches cemetery records. Humphrey was possibly born in Wales but there are baptism records for 1827 and 1829 for a Humphrey with the same parents so it is possible the first Humphrey died. They possibly had a son called George born in Australia in 1859. There was a Thomas Hanmer who was an owner of Hawkswood who Hanmer Springs was named after and I found an article which had Thomas’s DOB and date of death but these dates seem to match up with a different Thomas Hanmer. There was a will for Humphrey Hanmer where everything was left to a George Hanmer. Any public family trees have George’s parents as unknown. I think that I have done enough on this street.
Ppers Past had much better information than ancestry website. Very little information about Thomas Hanmer but he came to NZ in 1851 as a first class passenger on the Castle Eden. There was mention of him at a Hanmer Springs Jubilee as the reason for Hanmer Springs getting its name. The article about the Jubilee does mention Humphrey’s son George as being Thomas’s nephew. No other information about Thomas. Managed to find out a lot more about Humphrey. He farmed at Lakeside along with a Phillip Hanmer and the property was called Mereside. His son George was born in Sydney when they were on their way from Canada to NZ. Took up land at Ellesmere but returned to England. Note they actually went to Wales but the article said England. The family returned to NZ in Dec 1871 on the ship Zealandia and George attended Christs College. Humphrey died of stroke of apoplexy when visiting Auckland. Body was shipped back to Christchurch on the ship Takapuna. At some stage Humphrey must have left the Ellesmere area as he lived in Nayland St, Sumner before his death. His widow returned to England where she died in 1912. I don’t know where Phillip Hanmer fits in but he died before Humphrey.
Lytteltonwitch's Walking the streets of Christchurch Project 