Kinsey Terrace in the suburb of Clifton, Christchurch

Kinsey Tce in Clifton Bay / Clifton Hill – Formerly Alexandra Terrace. Named after HM Queen Alexandra (1844- 1925), consort of Edward VII. Re-named Kinsey Terrace. Named after Sir Joseph Kinsey (1852-1936). Alexandra Terrace first appears in street directories in 1941. Re-named Kinsey Terrace on 1 September 1948 when 120 streets were re-named. Kinsey was the founder of Kinsey & Co. a shipping firm. He acted as attorney for Captain Scott, and later, Sir Ernest Shackleton. The Scotts stayed at Kinsey’s home, Te Hau O Te Atuaa at 14 Kinsey Terrace, while in Christchurch in 1910, and from there Scott set off to the Antarctic. Kinsey was a keen gardener and his rockery was made of stone brought to New Zealand from Mount Erebus. A reasonable amount of information from the library website and not a lot that I can add about the names of the the street. There were a couple of sections for sale here in 1920. In 1913 it was recommended that a handrail be erected on the unprotected part of the footpath. In 1914 the road was to be widened and upgraded and in 1915 street lamps to be installed including one near Mr Kinsey’s property. In 1922 a telegraph pole was to be removed to make a clear turning for motor cars. This last one amused me as it is still a fairly tight corner as I watched someone have problems with this corner. In 1945 there were floodwaters which moved a house 3 feet. In 1926 it was decided to form a right of way between Alexandra Tce and Victoria Tce on the land owned by the council as a pipe reserve. I found the right of way on Kinsey Tce but the Tuawera Tce end feels like a private driveway. The library covered most of the relevant facts about Joseph Kinsey. He was born in Plumstead which is in an area where my Cave ancestors were from. He went to the Royal Naval College at Greenwich and came to NZ on the Jesse Readman in 1880. He was a personal friend of Robert Falcon Scott. Kinsey was living in Papanui when he died and for some reason he was taken to Wellington for burial and his wife is buried in Christchurch. He was also the Consul for Belgium. Most of the houses on this street are on the higher side of the road with many empty sections on the lower side of the road. The QV website had houses dating from every decade from 1920 onwards but I couldn’t see any of the older houses. The houses are very modern here and there was one huge house that I wish that I could have got a photo of. The houses here are rather beyond my budget. Great views.