Fletcher Place in the suburb of Upper Riccarton, Christchurch

Fletcher Place in Upper Riccarton – Named after Henry Fletcher (1844-1942). Fletcher was the first market gardener in Riccarton. In 1879 he is listed in street directories as living at Okeover in Ilam and by 1902 he is at Stemmers Road (later Peer Street), Peerswick, Upper Riccarton. He had eleven children, most of whom settled in the Upper Riccarton area. He left his land to his sons and his house to his daughters. When the Christchurch City Council wanted to buy the property to build pensioner cottages, the family sold it on condition that the street to be formed was named Fletcher Place. First appears in street directories in 1968. Information supplied in 2008 by Barbara White, a descendant of Fletcher, in an interview with Margaret Harper.

A huge amount of information from the library website. Possibly a couple of mistakes in the information. The various family trees on the ancestry website were confusing. The electoral rolls had him as a labourer when he was living in Upper Riccarton and the death notice for his wife Rhoda in 1912 has him living at 8 Bowen St. The electoral roll for 1919 has him living on Hawdon St and a gardener. In 1935 he is living on Milton St and a gardener. He was interviewed in 1934 when he turned 90 and he was living on Milton St. He had been head gardener at a manor house in Weston-Super-Mare. After a dispute with the owner he packed up and came to New Zealand with his wife and 5 children. He said that he had lived in Christchurch for 60 years and had 17 children. Twelve of his children were born in New Zealand. He was 98 when he died in 1942.

The most information on Papers Past for this street was about the building of pensioner cottages in 1965 and 1967. Nothing about the naming of the street. A few death notices. Found information online that said that it is a social housing complex built in 1963 and there are 68 units. I didn’t actually walk this street as I am never comfortable walking such streets. There is a similar looking street in Addington which isn’t overly safe but apparently the complex at Fletcher Place is mostly elderly residents.