Hadfield Courts at 15 Somerfield St in the suburb of Somerfield, Christchurch

Hadfield Courts at 15 Somerfield St. I decided to do a separate write up for this address. The units were opened in the 1970s as pensioner housing but is now social housing. When I was researching Somerfield St the name John Hadfield kept popping up. He really enjoyed writing letters to the editor and was frequently in disagreement with other people who wrote letters to the editor. He was a very busy man as he was mayor of Sydenham in 1899. He served on various local bodies including the Drainage Board. He was a foundation member of the Sydenham library plus involved with the Methodist church which was practically next door to him when he was living at 15 Somerfield St. He was living at 38 Strickland St when he died in March 1937. I was surprised that I couldn’t find an obituary for him. He was a bootmaker and he came out to New Zealand as a child. His father was also a bootmaker. In 1898 when he purchased 15 Somerfield St it had been part of a larger estate called Beckenham Estate. Note John Hadfield in his letters to the editor frequently got upset when he felt that Sydenham, Beckenham or Somerfield were used incorrectly to describe where streets or areas were.