Earl Street in the suburb of Hillsborough, Christchurch

Earl Street in Hillsborough – formerly Overend’s Lane. Named after Dr James William Earle (1804?- 1878). Overend’s Lane first appears in street directories in 1906. James Overend (1854?- 1939), a tannery employee, is a resident. Re-named Earl Street in 1912. Earle emigrated on the Randolph in 1850. He bought Rural Section 44, 50 acres, Christchurch District, near Hills Road (later Port Hills Road). He practised medicine in Lyttelton, later moving to Opawa where he built The Grange. [Legend has it that the “e” was omitted by mistake.] First appears in street directories in 1912.

A reasonable amount of information from the library website. I couldn’t find any mention of Overend’s Lane on Papers Past. The electoral rolls only gave James Overend’s address as either Opawa or Woolston and no street details. A reasonable amount of information about Dr James Earle in Papers Past and he served on the local Road Board along with a Mr Garland. It doesn’t sound like he had much time to actually be a doctor as he was on the Road Board plus bred cattle and had a large orchard. He also frequently gave lectures. His orchard was partially destroyed by fire in 1874 as he had been burning rubbish during a norwester. The reason he came to New Zealand was to start a new life after losing a large fortune in a railway speculation.

Several Earl Streets in New Zealand and there were the usual death notices. Between the 1950s and 1970s there were several ads for the sale of sections. The most interesting relates to the Christchurch Urban Land Sale Committee refusing the sale of a section in 1945. The owner of the land had arranged to sell it to a Mrs Green for a certain price but the committee wanted him to sell the land a returned serviceman for a cheaper price. The landowner refused and took it off the market. In the 1970s the ads all used Earle Street rather than Earl Street.

A pleasant street and the two houses dating from 1920s have been altered so that they have lost their character. The houses here cover most decades but nothing really stood out for me.