Howe Street in the suburb of New Brighton, Christchurch

Howe St in New Brighton – Formerly Lucy Street. Named after Lucy James Hawkes, née Sparshott, (1833?-1918). Re-named Howe Street. Named after Lord Richard Howe (1726-1799)Lucy Hawkes was the wife of James George Hawkes, an auctioneer who split up much of the land in central New Brighton in the late 1870s. Lucy Street is first mentioned in The Press in 1884 when land is advertised for sale there. It does not appear in street directories. Re-named Howe Street at a special meeting of the New Brighton Council on 12 August 1907. Howe was a British admiral. Harry Hawker (1868- 1947), a councillor 1905- 1909, had suggested that New Brighton street names be changed to the names of British sea captains who had fought in the 18th and 19th century – a gesture linking Christchurch with the home country, was patriotic and emphasised the fact that New Brighton was a seaside suburb. A reasonable amount of information from the library website. Checked Papers Past and ancestry websites. Lucy was born 10th September in 1834 and bapt November 1834 and her parents were James and Maigarette Sparshott. Lucy married James George Hawkes on 2nd November 1854 at St Paul’s in Deptford. I had trouble finding their names on the passenger list for the ship Victory but eventually found their names. They travelled in the Chief Cabin along with their two children so they must have had money. Sadly one of the children died during the voyage. Also travelling in the Chief Cabin was Frederick Strouts who James went into business with in Christchurch. Frederick also married Lucy’s sister Charlotte when she came out to New Zealand a couple of years later. There were sections for sale from 1884 onwards. The footpath was repaired in 1897 and in 1900 there was a sand issue on the street. In 1901 there was a letter to the editor complaining about the money being spent on making a street from Sea View to Hawkes streets just for a few wealthy residents in James and Lucy Streets. In 1898 in New Brighton Notes there was a writer objecting to various street names and they especially disliked Lucy Street. The name was undignified and atrocious in his eyes. I am assuming that it was a man as the other streets he objected to had female names as well. Once the street was renamed Howe Street it was mostly death notices that I found. This street had 48 properties and several were from 1890 to 1910 and they mostly looked in good condition and hadn’t been altered in a way that spoiled the houses. The rest were from 1970s and 1990s. Some of the houses looked slightly rundown. On the corner of Howe St and Hawke St was a Z petrol station which was fenced off with a notice saying weather damage.