Aberdeen Street in the Central City, Christchurch

Aberdeen Street in Central City- Formerly Taylor’s Lane. Named after George James Taylor (1841?-1934). Re-named Aberdeen Street. Taylor’s Lane first appears in the Star in a report of a meeting of the city council in 1879 and also appears on an 1879 map. At another council meeting held on 5 April 1880 it is reported that Taylor’s Lane has been “channelled, formed and shingled”. First appears in street directories in 1883. Taylor, a storeman, is a resident, although his obituary says he died at his residence at 440 Madras Street. Re-named Aberdeen Street in 1893 after residents petitioned the city council asking for the change. Not recognised as a public street by the Christchurch City Council until 1960.A reasonable amount of information from the library website and I found the same information on Papers Past. Not much on Papers Past. There was a request for a lamp for the street and it was agreed for a kerosene lamp at the junction of Taylor’s Lane and Manchester St as long a the residents were prepared to look after it and provide the kerosene. There was a request in 1870 for Taylor’s Lane to become a public St and in 1894 it was agreed that the council take over the street. There was also a Taylor’s Lane in Addington and in 1893 this street was to change it’s name to St Mary’s St. I suspect that having two Taylor’s Lanes was confusing which is why the Central City one changed it’s name to Aberdeen St. In 1870 there was mention that the right of way that runs from Manchester St to Madras St was to be called Taylor’s Lane. In 1905 George Taylor and his wife Louisa were still living at 9 Aberdeen St but by 1911 they were living at 440 Madras St. Information from his obituary said that George Taylor was from London and came to New Zealand with his parents on the ship Joseph Fletcher in about 1856. He had a cart and carried passengers before trying gold mining. Returned to Christchurch where he worked for Bishop and Co for 40 years. There were several Taylor families living in nearby streets who were possibly related but didn’t find much information on the ancestry website. This street only has two houses left on it and I was unable to find out the ages of the houses but they have to be from 1910 or even older. The rest of the street is businesses but at the Madras St end the buildings look abandoned. I recently read the book Rebel Girls which is about suffragettes from Yorkshire and one of the women mentioned in the book lived on this street in the 1930s and 1940s. The house where she lived is still standing.