Joseph Harrap Hopkins plus the suburb of Woolston

Joseph Harrap Hopkins was baptised on 2nd July 1837 at Kimcote and Walton in Leicestershire. His parents were Thomas and Eliza Hopkins and Eliza’s maiden name was Harrap. They were married on 27th June 1836 at St Margarets Leicester. She was born in July 1813 at Frolesworth to Joseph and Ann Harrap. Joseph Harrap Hopkins left Plymouth on the ship Roman Emperor on 22nd December 1862 and arrived in Lyttelton on 30th March 1863. He was a single man and when you search for passenger lists for Roman Emperor AI gives you some really strange information. Joseph was possibly working for a shopkeeper in East London in 1861 which will explain why he opened a shop in Ferry Road. It was a freehold property so he must have had some money. He married Louisa Parsons here in Christchurch in 1863. Joseph was a busy man as he also opened the first hotel in New Brighton called Hopkins Hotel. He operated a paddle steamer on the Avon River to take visitors to the seaside and this was before the trams started operating. He objected to the tolls on the Ferry Bridge and these were eventually scrapped. He was a member of the Woolston Borough Council and the Woolston School Committee. Was a member of the Woolston Cricket Club. He ran the Post Office from his shop on Ferry Road and he objected to the name Ferry Road Post Office and wrote to the Postmaster General and had it changed to Woolston Post Office. Nothing on Papers Past said why the district was given the name Woolston and the first mention of this name was in 1870. Joseph died in 1910 and is buried in the Addington Cemetery. He was living at Hagley Road in Lower Riccarton when he died and I have no idea where that street was but when his wife died in 1923 she was living on Peterborough Street. Some of his family came to New Zealand as a sister is mentioned in his death notice.

The Wikipedia entry for Woolston is interesting as it claims that it was named after Woolston in Southampton where Joseph Harry Hopkins was born. Joseph was not born in Southampton and there are two places in England called Woolston and neither are anywhere near where Joseph was born or where he lived. There was possibly a place called Woolston near where he grew up but it no longer exists. It wasn’t easy finding out about Joseph Harrap Hopkins and it took me all afternoon. I did have a quick walk to Addington Cemetery to find his grave.