| Notes |
- "In about 1883, George Hemus, his wife, and four surviving children sailed from New Zealand to the United States."
- The George Hemus scandal -- 1884
My friend Margaret Edgcumbe has helped me once again with some side information on a personality associated with Avondale?s past: George Hemus. She has pointed out to me that Mr. Hemus, bootmaker from Upper Queen Street, was not only an evangelical lecture of some note, but he was involved in a scandal which involved international travel, another woman, divorce and rumours aplenty. After which, he appears to have vanished without trace. I have done some further digging in Papers Past, at Margaret?s suggestion.
The Hemus family from Birmingham, England, led by father Soloman (a Gospel Temperance preacher in the 1870s), may have arrived in Auckland in August 1864 on the Ironside. Charles and Henry Hemus were noted as bootmakers by August 1867, while George married Frances Harwood Keane in September the following year. By October 1873, he was establishing himself in a three storey boot factory, warehouse and offices, designed by the architect Herapath, and standing just up from where the Town Hall is today on Queen Street. In 1880, he was Auckland City councillor for one year, defeating (for the Good Templars) John Grey (the publicans? favourite).
He was also superintendent of the United Free Methodist Sunday School in Pitt Street, and an ?indefatigable? evangelistic preacher, known for spreading the word to the rest of the Auckland Province, and in one instance at least even to a Maori audience through an interpreter. He had associations with John Buchanan of Avondale, at least with regard to business and the establishment of the Bell & Gemmell tannery ? but he was also connected with the Good Templars Excelsior Lodge at the Whau.
And then, Mrs. Margaret Hampson arrived in Auckland. Hemus was apparently inspired, ?fired by her influence and example? according to one report. Mrs. Hampson seems to have been every bit as indefatigable as Hemus, preaching on both sides of the Tasman. Prior to August 1884, Hemus decided to sell his business (despite protests from Mrs. Hemus), and shift himself and his family to America. There, however, he appears to have abandoned his family. Mrs. Hemus sued for divorce on the grounds of neglect, was awarded £200 damages and maintenance from Hemus for his four children, and set up in a boarding house in San Francisco. Rumours back in New Zealand were flying, many sure that Hemus did not contest the divorce, in fact welcoming it, because he intended marrying Mrs. Hampson.
Nothing more, at this stage, is known of George Hemus, his wife Frances, or whether he did indeed marry the inspiring Mrs. Hampson.
***An update on the George Hemus saga
My thanks, again, to Margaret Edgcumbe who has ferreted out some more information on George Hemus. I quote from her email to me today:
1. George [note - Hemus] must have married Margaret Hampson, possibly in 1886. In the 1910 Census for California they were recorded, incorrectly (but it has been corrected), as "George and Margerit Hennes", "evangilists", born in England and with English parents, living in Los Angeles County, though regarding the "world" as their workplace, and having emigrated in 1883 and 1885 respectively. Married for 24 years. I think that their ages are incorrect (65), or rounded up, but that seems to have been the case more often than not with the American censuses.
2.The Hemuses are recorded on the voting rolls for Los Angeles County in 1916 and an address is given. Unfortunately, I gave the info to Janet and didn't keep a copy. [note - Janet is Janet Crawford, who has recently delivered a paper on Margaret Hampson.] Can't find out anything more about them, probably because of the frequent misspellings and maybe they were in the 'world' when they died.
3. George must have been dead by 1924 because that is when Brett in White Wings said that only two Hemus sons were still alive.
3. Solomon was a bootmaker in Birmingham before coming to NZ with Mary Ann and the 6 boys. He seems to have eluded every British census. Maybe it was against his religion.
4. Charles (b 1849?) was the photographer, and he married Gertrude Evangeline (Eva) Edger - a theosophist like her sisters. Henry/Harry, acording to Brett, was a civil servant or something. Have forgotten. Don't know anything about Alfred, Joseph and James Walter.
5. Frances must not have returned to NZ, and it is her children who feature in the American records as living in Colorado Springs, El Paso, Colorado. Bernard Keane, the brickmaker [note - known to have lived at the Whau], must have been born in Scotland according to the 1900 census for Colorado, and his wife was Irish born.
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1847 - 1917 (70 years)