Flesher Ave in Richmond – Named after the Flesher family. William Flesher (1837-1889) bought 25 acres there for £500 in 1871. His son, James Arthur Flesher (1865-1930), a lawyer, was mayor of New Brighton 1912-1913 and 1915-1917 and mayor of Christchurch 1923-1925. The road was formed out of land that had previously belonged to Avebury House and acknowledged the contribution of the Flesher family to the Richmond community. First appears in street directories in 1943.
A small amount of information from the library website. A few entries on Papers Past which were mostly death notices and a few engagements. The residents seemed to be an accident prone lot and for a fairly small street there were several entries about car accidents and falling off bikes. At least two managed to fall into the river while cycling. There was a policeman who killed his wife and was charged with manslaughter. He was found guilty but his lawyer did his best to say that she died from natural causes and not from his client beating his wife to death.
Some sources say that this street was named after James Flesher and other sources say that the street was named after the family. William Flesher was born in Otley in Yorkshire and his father died young. William died on board the ship Tarawera travelling between Melbourne and Hobart and he was only 52. It does sound like he had heart issues. His son James was a barrister and solicitor who died aged 65. His son Hubert sold the house and land to the crown and the area was called Flesher’s Block.
There are now only 18 houses here and most are built in the 1940s and have the typical state house look about there. There were a lot more houses here before the earthquakes but most have been demolished. The side of the road closest to the river is now a wide green space and I assume is in the red zone. I looked at google maps from just after the earthquakes and the road was a mess.
Note Avebury House was named after Avebury in England which is a favourite place of mine.
Lytteltonwitch's Walking the streets of Christchurch Project 