Kingsbridge Drive and Kingsbridge West in the suburb of Burwood, Christchurch

Kingsbridge Drive and Kingsbridge West in Burwood – Named after the King family who farmed on Travis Road, Burwood. King family members were George Robson King (1868-1945), his wife, Mary Ann “Polly” King, née Stevens, (1874-1958) and their daughter, Alice Maud Mary “Maudie” King (1899-1974). For many years, people passing by on the tram to North Beach would see the words M. A. King on the barn door. According to street directories, Maudie King was a dairy farmer at 88 Travis Road until 1970. She owned a large number of dogs which she fed on bread and milk. The street was named by Denis Whittington, the developer of the Brooker subdivision, at the suggestion of the Ryan brothers. Information supplied in 2007 by Ian and Norma Dixon in an interview with Margaret Harper. A reasonable amount of information from the library website. When researching Corserland Street Ian and Norma Dixon’s name popped up as living on Corserland Street. There was only two entries on Papers Past for George Robson King and one was a brief death notice but the other entry was much more interesting. It was in the court news in December 1920 and Mary Ann King applied for a maintenance and separation order with guardianship of the child of the marriage against George Robson King on the grounds of persistent cruelty. The defendant alleged that the domestic disagreements arise through his wife’s desire to be “boss”. The magistrate dismissed the application. The information that I found on the ancestry website showed George as a bootmaker in 1900 and 1911 with the address in 1911 being Travers Rd. This is possibly a spelling mistake as Mary Ann King in the same year is living on Travis Rd. George is living at 88 Travis Rd in 1919 but he is at different addresses after that date. Mary Ann and Maud continued living at 88 Travis Rd until 1954 and then it was only Maud living there. Mary Ann died in 1958 and there is only her name on the gravestone. I couldn’t find a headstone for George Robson King. George and Mary Ann were obviously living separately and Mary Ann stayed at the property. The M A King that is on the barn door mentioned in the library information I suspect stands for Mary Ann King. Kingsbridge West is obviously west of Kingsbridge Drive. All the houses on Kingsbridge West were built between 2017 to 2021. Kingsbridge Drive has houses on one part of the street and the rest is in the red zone. The houses all looked brand new but the valuation website said that some were built in 2000. There is no longer any houses in the red zone part of the street but going by the old google map they looked like impressive houses. I was geocaching in the area.