Nicholas Drive in the suburb of Linwood, Christchurch

Nicholas Drive in Linwood – Named after Sergeant Henry James Nicholas (1891-1918). Nicholas was awarded the Victoria Cross following his bravery in action at Polderhoek in Belgium on 3 December 1917. Members of his family are buried at Bromley Cemetery. Developed in Sandilands. Houses were built there by the Christchurch City Council for returned soldiers after World War One (1914-1918). It was known as a cottage homes settlement. The street name was suggested at a meeting of the executive of the Christchurch Returned Soldiers’ Association on 29 October 1934. Named officially in 1935. First appears in street directories in 1939.A reasonable amount of information from the library website. I actually walked this street in December 2019 and thought that I had already written it up. I have walked this street twice as there are two geocaches nearby. My geocaching friends will understand why I prefer not to walk it again. Only 6 entries on the website Papers Past and they all relate to the naming of the street and why the street was formed. It was a Soldiers Settlement in an area called Sandilands. Nicholas Drive was applied to the main entrance and the roads enclosing the administration block. There is no longer an administration block and going by the description it was probably where the reserve is now. More houses were built in 1946. There are only 31 properties on this street and most were built in the 1940s and 1960s. They are a mixture of brick and wooden houses. The brick houses look like 1960s style and the wooden ones look like 1940s style. This street runs between Kearneys Rd and Pages Rd. Henry James Nicholas was killed in the first World War and is buried in Vertigneul Churchyard. His Victoria Cross was presented to his mother on ANZAC Day in 1919. She donated his medals to the Museum. The statue of a soldier near the Bridge of Remembrance that was erected in 2007 is of Henry James Nicholas.