Dollans Lane in the Central City, Christchurch

Dollans Lane – Named after the Dollan family. John Dollan (1842?-1907), a bootmaker of Madras Street, is mentioned in the Star in 1872. James Ballantine Dollan (1866?-1944), a retired farmer, was living at 403 Madras Street, where this street was later formed, at the time of his death. First appears in street directories in 1960.A small amount of information from the library website and there is at least one mistake as John Dollan wasn’t a bootmaker but his son John William Dollan was a bootmaker and the son lived on Manchester St.John Dollan was born 16th January 1842 in Glasgow and he married Margaret Baillie in Glasgow 22nd April 864 and they sailed for Lyttelton on the British Empire in May 1864. They were aged 22 and 20. They had at least 17 children but sadly 12 of them died as infants. The cemetery records makes sad reading and the children are buried with their parents in the Barbadoes Cemetery. I was surprised to find John’s wife Margaret buried with John and the death notice said beloved wife of John. In July 1890 John was charged with violent assault against Margaret and in September of the same year she sued for divorce. Margaret died January 1903 at the age of 59. All the electoral rolls plus census records in UK have John’s occupation as printer. John doesn’t actually sound like a nice person as in 1900 he was charged with allowing his premises to become a nuisance by the accumulation of offensive matter. This sounded like it was a regular event and it sounded like it was possibly toilet waste. John owned 9 properties but he refused to clean them. He was also frequently fined for allowing lifestock to wander. John and Margaret were the only ones with their surname on the ship British Empire but at some stage his mother Sarah came to NZ as she died at her daughter’s address on Willow St. The surviving children were John William, Henry Neil, James Ballantine, George and one daughter May. James lived at the Madras St address until his death in 1944 but Henry Neil died in 1958 and it was after his death that the subdivision would have happened. Henry lived close by in Hurley Street. I don’t know what this lane was like before the earthquakes as I couldn’t find any information about this lane. The lane is now a driveway to the Pegasus Heath 24 Hour Surgery.