Dampier Street in the suburb of Woolston, Christchurch

Dampier Street in Woolston- Formerly Harper Street. Named after Henry John Chitty Harper (1804-1893). Re-named Dampier Street. Named after Christopher Edward Dampier (1801-1871). Harper Street first appears in street directories in 1887. Bishop Harper was the first Anglican Bishop of Christchurch 1856-1889. Dampier Street is first mentioned in The Press in 1909 in a report of a meeting of the Woolston Borough Council. Dampier was a lawyer and solicitor to the Canterbury Association. He arrived on the Phoebe Dunbar with the Association’s documents. He had bought Rural Section 33, 50 acres on the “North Bank Avon, near (Barbadoes) Cemetery”.

A small amount of information from the library website and I personally think that most of it is totally wrong.

Plenty of information online about Christopher Edward Dampier and he didn’t live in Christchurch for very long and within 10 years of arriving in New Zealand he moved to North Canterbury. The information that I disagree with is that the street was named after Bishop Harper. The Harper Street that was named after him was in Sydenham and it is now Orbell Street.

I spent ages on Papers Past trying to find a Harper Street in Woolston with no luck at all. The only Harper Street in Christchurch that I could find was the one in Sydenham. By sheer luck I found Harper’s Road in Woolston. There were ads in 1881 for new houses for let and there were new houses in 1882 and 1884. The ads in 1891 mention that the street was near St Peters Church on Ferry Rd. The most interesting information was in 1883 where a couple Mario and Fanny Simatti were charged with arson and attempting to defraud the insurance company. Because the street was known as Harper’s Rd and later as Harper’s Street this always means that it is named after a person. There was a death notice and obituary in 1933 for Elijah Harper who lived on Dampier Street. He came to New Zealand on the Randolph with his parents Mr and Mrs John Harper and he was two years old. He was born in Norfolk but lived most of his life in the Woolston area and went to Woolston School. His father purchased a large section of land in Heathcote and Woolston. His parents lived on Ferry Road and this street runs off Ferry Road.

It would have been renamed because of the confusion between the Harper Street in Sydenham and the one in Woolston.

Not much information on Papers Past about Harper’s Road or Harper’s Street apart from the ads and the arson. Nothing about the name change. The earliest entry that I could find under the Dampier Street name was in 1909 when there was repairs to the asphalt. Lots of ads over the years plus death notices. Recruitment notices during World War One.

In 1919 there was a court notice where John Grant successful applied for a prohibition notice for his wife. Sounds like the scene in the court could have been interesting as his wife claimed that her husband should also have a prohibition order. He appeared in court with a black eye which he possibly received when drinking in a pub. Sadly Bridget Grant drowned in the Heathcote River in 1920 and the inquest said that she probably fell into the river when drunk.

From 1915 onwards there were several mention of the Woolston Brass Band rooms. At one stage the Dampier Street Sunday School were using the band rooms to hold their meetings. In 1932 they had to vacate the band rooms and find their own premises. In 1954 there was discussion about building a new band room as the building had been occupied for 50 years and was in bad repair. In 1961 the new hall was opened. This building didn’t survive the earthquakes and was demolished. It is still an empty section.

Seemed to be an accident prone lot on this street plus there were several small fires over the years.

Most of the houses on this street were built between 1905 and 1930 and many still look like they are in good condition.

I actually walked this street way back in November and I am so behind in researching streets. The reason that I decided to walk this street was because there was an article about a house that was being demolished. Apparently it was the childhood home of Ray Columbus. This house was built in 1905 and I think that it is sad that it was demolished as I looked on street view and it looked cute. I took a screenshot from street view of this house and of the Woolston Brass Band Rooms. I quite liked this street and it is a strangely shaped street as it looks a bit like the letter Z but the middle part of the Z is almost straight. Edited to say that the street was developed at a site known as Harper’s Siding and for a few years the street was known by this name.