Napoleon Close in Harewood – Named after Napoléon Bonaparte (1769- 1821). Bonaparte was a French military and political leader. Frenchman Alfred Victor Le Roi (1906-1997) was once the owner of the land where this street was formed. Developed at 519 Harewood Road. Named in 1999.
A small amount of information from the library website and Alfred Victor Roi aka Le Roi was born in New Zealand which actually makes him a New Zealander and not a Frenchman. His grandfather Victor Roi was born in France in 1836 and Victor married in New Zealand in 1870. His wife’s surname was Barrett and I doublechecked to see if there was a family link but my Barrett ancestors are from Cornwall and Victor’s wife was born in Wiltshire. Victor became a naturalised citizen in the 1890s. It wasn’t possible to do this before 1890s and I did sidetrack looking at the history of citizenship rules. Alfred known as Alf was still using the surname Roi until 1938 but by 1942 he was using Le Roi. At least one of his brothers also changed their surname as well. I couldn’t find Alfred’s marriage details and his wife was born in Auckland to Scottish parents. I managed to find a death notice for Alfred on Ancestry website and he was Alfred Victor Le Roi in the death notice.
I spent ages looking for information about this man and his family.
This is a short street with the footpath on only one side of the street. The houses here were built in 2000 and 2005 and are modern large houses. Looked like a pleasant street.
Edited as the library website is totally wrong as I have found information from a council page. Napoleon Close for the cul de sac serving Lots 84 – 92 (Napoleon was the name of the stud bull for the jersey herd run on the property from 1952 till about 1963.)
Lytteltonwitch's Walking the streets of Christchurch Project 