Henry Glanville

Birth, Marriage and Death information

     Henry Glanville was born in 1814 at St Columb Major, CON, ENG.
     He was baptized on 23 November 1814 at St Columb Major, CON, ENG, parents Richard and Lucy Glanville.
     He married Mary Jane Plunkett Spillane on 26 June 1848 at Kiama, NSW, AUS, (when age calculated as 34 years) her father named D.L. Spillane, but she also recorded Single. Marriage also reported Jamberoo.
     He died in April 1859 at Stanmore Bay, NZ.

Other information

     Henry Glanville immigrated on 31 August 1837 to NSW, AUS, on vessel City of Edinburgh, recorded age 22, Birthplace St Columb.
     Henry Glanville and Mary Jane Plunkett Spillane immigrated in 1856 to NZ.
     In 1856, Henry Glanville, his wife Mary and their three small children left Shoalhaven, New South Wales and headed for New Zealand. Henry was suffering from a heart condition and they hoped that New Zealand's cooler climate would be better for him. He paid 40 pounds for a Crown Grant of 94 acres at the western end of what is now known as Stanmore Bay. For a time it was known as Glanville's Bay.
At first all went well, though Henry found ploughing up land full of bracken and fern very hard work with only a six-year-old son to help him. Mary wrote to a friend in Australia in 1858 that they were growing corn and potatoes, though the crop was "very poor". For food they had a garden with vegetables and melons and there were wild pigeons and ducks. Henry had made a fishing net 20 yards long to catch the shoals of small fish which swam near the shore. Mary wrote that she was happy with her "snug little house near the sea with four rooms down and two up".
Sadly, in April 1859, Henry died and was buried on the farm. Mary erected a headstone carved out of local rock. She then leased the property to Richard Marsh, returned to Australia, married again and had another five children.
In 1878, Henry and Mary's son (also called Henry) returned to New Zealand, sold the family property and settled in Wainui, where he married Louisa Hellyer. Many years later his mother Mary came to New Zealand to see her grandchildren and visit her late husband's grave. By that time the grave had disappeared, the headstone had been broken and was being used as a doorstep. The then owners of the original Glanville property buried it in the sandhills so that Mary should not see its sad condition. They never found it again.
In December 1978, Mr and Mrs Hull of Stanmore Bay came across the broken headstone on the beach after a storm. They presented it to the Historical Society who exhibited it in the Silverdale Pioneer Village, where it is still on display. As far as I know, Henry's grave, somewhere out there in Stanmore Bay, is still lost.
Http://www.localmatters.co.nz/COLUMNS/06-08ColumnsHib.html.