Gould Crescent in the suburb of Woolston, Christchurch

Gould Crescent in Woolston – Named after George Gould (1823-1889). Gould was an agent for owners and occupiers of sheep stations, an exporter of wheat and wool from Canterbury, and a director of the New Zealand Shipping Company. He was a shareholder in the Christchurch conveyance Company which ran the lighters Fanny and Fancy between Lyttelton and the Heathcote River in 1852- 1853. One of three streets in close proximity named in 1986 to give a maritime theme to the area. Formed because of the Woolston Cut flood relief development. A small amount of information from the library website but it doesn’t mention that Gould Crescent was formed from part of Bamford St and Long St. The ships were also Fanny and Fairy. I checked various maps and both Bamford St and Long St were cut in by the Woolston Cut. Gould Crescent was formed from the part of both streets that ran between the cut and Ferry Rd. There are at least two houses from 1905 on this street and one from 1880. Most houses on this street were built in 1940s and 1960s. Bamford School on this street was on the Bamford St part of Gould Crescent. This school has been totally rebuilt. The Woolston Cut wasn’t done until 1980s but they were talking about it as early as 1946. At that stage they said it would involve demolishing 13 houses. George Gould died 30th March 1889 aged 66 and he had been ill for about 6 weeks with an abscess on his liver. His residence was called Hambleden and this was named after his birth place in England. His obituary said that he built the first wooden house in Christchurch on Armagh St near Colombo St. Came to Christchurch with his first wife Hannah and she died in 1860 aged 38. His second wife died in April in 1867 aged 38. I believe Hannah and Elizabeth were sisters. He married a third time but I am not sure what her name was as the various family trees have several different names for the third wife. I don’t know what happened to the third wife and George Gould is buried with his first two wives. His son was also George Gould and he was also possibly a shareholder of the NZ Shipping Company. I walked this street today after finding a cache nearby. A mixture of different styles of houses and most are in good condition. One of the houses that I quite liked is from 1905. As usual I preferred the older houses. This one would have been on the Long St part of the Crescent. The other house is opposite the Bamford School. There is a nice walkway along the Heathcote River nearby.