Gosset Street in the suburb of St Albans, Christchurch

Gosset Street in St Albans – Named after Archdeacon Charles Hilgrove Gosset (1851- 1923). Gosset was the vicar of Woolston 1891-1902, and from July 1902, vicar of St. Mary’s Anglican Church, Merivale. One of three streets named in 1923 and formed on land that had been originally owned by the Anglican diocese. Sales of land were made for “increased revenue for Diocesan purposes”. First appears in street directories in 1924.

A reasonable amount of information from the library website. I did see the name spelt Gosset and Gossett on Papers Past and on a map dated 1941. Family trees on Ancestry also had both spellings but his birth registration had Gosset.

I was looking at maps as there were a couple of entries on Papers Past said that it was in Burwood. I couldn’t find a second Gosset Street. There were several birth and death notices over the decades and in 1923 it was described as a new street. There were also ads for sections available for sale in the 1920s. In the 1930s I sidetracked a bit as there were lots of birth notices for babies born at Nurse Steven’s at 36 Gosset Street. Mary Alice Steven’s husband died in 1929 and they were living on Fendalton Road. From 1930 until her death in 1940 Mary was living at 36 Gosset Street. Births at the nursing home were between 1930 and 1938.

There was a very good article in 1947 headed The Story of 700 Acres of Church Property which included this street. In 1965 the residents petitioned to have the trees in the street removed. The council replied that the lime trees will remain. It is still a tree lined street. In 1984 there were complaints about a resident who they claimed was running a business from his house. He was into racing cars and worked on his car in his garage.

It was a pleasant street with lovely wooden villas and most houses here date from 1920s. There is one house that was built in 2023 and it just doesn’t fit in with the rest of the street.