Goodman Street in the Red Zone of the suburb of Burwood, Christchurch

Goodman Street in the red zone in Burwood – Formerly Albert Street. Named after Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1819- 1861), the husband of Queen Victoria. Re-named Clonmel Street. Named after Clonmel, a town in Tipperary, Ireland. Re-named Goodman Street. Named after Leonard Oswald Goodman (1912- 1956). Formerly Albert Street. One of three streets named after members of Queen Victoria’s family. Re-named Clonmel Street by the Waimairi County Council on 8 February 1933. Re-named Goodman Street in June 1948 when 24 streets in the Waimairi County were renamed. Goodman was a market gardener who subdivided a property in this area. His father, Albert Edward Goodman (1875-1922), also a market gardener, had previously owned the land. Goodman Street was extended in 1967.

A reasonable amount of information from the library website. The electoral rolls actually have Albert Edward Goodman as a carter or contractor. Amused by the mistakes in some of the family trees on ancestry website. It would be interesting to know what prompted the town planners to name the streets after the royal family. I haven’t found anything special happening except for Prince Alfred visiting New Zealand in 1869.The street was renamed Clonmel St in 1933 at the request of the residents but in 1948 it was renamed Goodman St. A lot of streets were renamed in 1948. There were only about 2 or 3 families living on this street until the Goodman property was subdivided in the 1950s. Len Goodman was born in Christchurch in 1912 and died in October 1956 aged 44. He subdivided his property in the same year before he died. His wife was Velia Reaby and there is a street named after her family nearby. Len’s father Albert Edward Goodman was born in Christchurch in December 1874 and he died in October 1922 aged 47. His mother died the same year. Their genetics are not looking good and I thought mine was bad enough. Albert Edward Goodman lived at 46 Queen’s St later 46 Queensbury St. Albert’s father George Goodman was born in Essex in 1844 and he came out to New Zealand with his wife Emily in 1874 on the ship Northampton. Just realised that Emily must have been pregnant on the journey to New Zealand. George Goodman lived in Sydenham and was a gardener and he was 71 when he died. There was another business on this street and there were a huge number of ads for this business on Papers Past. The business was sometimes called The Vineries and occasionally called French Farm. It was owned by John French until his death in 1939. In 1941 Anne French put a notice in The Press thanking her customers for their kindnesses and custom and that she had sold her home and business. During 1931 and 1932 they allowed scout groups to camp on the property. In the 1940s F Aitkinson owned the business but in 1953 the property was for sale and owned by Ballins Breweries NZ Ltd. The business was at 28 Goodman St and the house and glasshouses included in the sale. Sounds like whoever purchased the property subdivided it for housing. There are no longer any houses here as they have been demolished but looking at street view for 2007 there were a couple of really nice houses here but most were typical 1950s and 1960s style.