Sunbeam Place in Halswell – Named after Alfred George Sunbeam (1921- 1995). Sunbeam raised horses on this site. He was the son of Henry (1893-1979) and his wife, Helena Louise Sunbeam, née Cockle, (1898-1983). His paternal grandparents were Henry Suraj Bullie/Sunbeam (1834-1904) and Harriett, née Townsend, (b. 1869). In a Paparua County subdivision dating from 1984. First appears in street directories in 1987. Information about naming supplied in 2012 by Jo-Anne Sunbeam. Information about date of subdivision supplied in 2009 by Bob Pritchard, subdivisions officer, Christchurch City Council.
A reasonable amount of information from the library website for a tiny street. Papers Past only had a couple of ads and a couple of death notices. Alfred George Sunbeam lived on Gore Street when he was retired and his father Henry also lived at the same address. Gore Street is close to Sunbeam Place. Alfred’s grandfather Henry Sunbeam was born in India and I found a photo of him on the Ancestry website. The photo was dated 1871 and it sounds like he changed his name to Henry Sunbeam not long after coming to New Zealand as his birth name was probably Suraj Bullie. In the 1880s he owned a pawnshop but he was a chimney sweep in 1900. Sadly he died in Sydenham Park from injuries after felling a tree. Any entries on Papers Past usually describe him as being a member of the dusky race.
The surname is bugging me as I am convinced that I knew someone with this surname. It is possibly from my year at Woolston Primary School and I will have to find my school photo from that year.
I walked this street a month ago and nothing on the street stood out for me and all the houses were built in the 1980s.
Lytteltonwitch's Walking the streets of Christchurch Project 