First of all, I apologise that I wasn’t available to receive all the coffees that were coming my way at the recent “Fickling Centre” Expo. I’ll get them next year. I have heard good things about the event and I really hope it continues. I believe the most valuable thing about these sorts of events is the conversations you can have with complete strangers and/or thorough addicts of genealogy, and generally discussing your research.

Ken Morris is attending a course in Artificial Intelligence, increasingly important in our lives. He has written an article about what he’s learnt so far. With his lecturer’s permission, the notes from the first 6 lectures are linked to his article, so just click the links to see them. He’s promising to update this in a future newsletter as new lectures are added.

Anyway, back to reality. Once again, we have an interesting newsletter. The articles are varied. The jokes are funny although they are not the main reason for reading the newsletter.

I hope this month’s issue occupies some of your time and you find something valuable.

Peter Nash

Do you want to receive this newsletter every month?

This newsletter is free. There are not many free newsletters of this length in New Zealand. I am biased but it should be an interesting read.

To subscribe is easy too. Go on - don't misspell it as I have, twice already. https://www.famnet.org.nz/

The front page is lovely, but click on [Newsletters]. A page opens showing you a list of all the past newsletters, you can click the link to read one that you’re interested in.

Like the front page, the newsletters page has a place where you can log on or register. It’s in the top right-hand corner. Put your email here and click [Continue]. If you aren’t already on our mailing list, there will be a message “Email not in database” and a button [New User] appears. Click this and follow the dialog to register. It’s free and easy. You should receive a copy every month until you unsubscribe.

Robert has assured me that he will not send begging letters to your email - apparently, he has enough money at the moment. You will not have to put in your credit card number. You will not be charged a subscription.

Tell other genealogists so they can enjoy the newsletters too.

Regards

Peter Nash

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Contributors

From the Developer

FamNet and FamilySearch

Many of you have spent time recording your genealogy in FamNet. I’m almost 80, I won’t be around for ever, so how do we ensure that this precious data is not lost when I am no longer able to continue running FamNet? My proposal was to have FamilySearch copy it, this has been discussed with FamNet users and there has been a near unanimous view that this is a great idea, preserving your trees and making them available for free to your descendants. For the two users who had strong objections to this, we agreed to remove their trees from FamNet.

FamilySearch were developing a new system, and it became clear that we would be waiting for this new system, called “Controlled Edit Trees” (CET), before we started experimenting with trial uploads, as there are several useful features of FamNet that will be preserved in the new system. I recently attended a presentation by Thomas Nelson about some current FamilySearch developments, including CET. Here is a link to that 41 minute presentation:
https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=1068894814892663

From about 26 to 31 minutes Thomas talks about CET, and he answers questions from about 35 minutes. As in FamilySearch’s other databases, living people are hidden from everybody except the tree owner. CET, like FamNet, initially allows only the tree owner to update the tree’s data but, like FamNet, the CET record owner can invite others to collaborate with them, allowing them to see data of living people and to edit the tree.

I look forward to starting to experiment with this system using my own family’s data, and I’ll be posting new articles telling you how I’m getting on, and what I’m learning. I’m not sure when we’ll be starting this experiment. Current thinking is that we’ll work with FamilySearch to upload directly from the FamNet database instead of uploading GEDCOMs, but FamNet can produce GEDCOMs if necessary. If you have any questions about this, please email me and I’ll pass them on to FamilySearch. Replies will be published in the FamNet newsletter as well as emailed directly to you.

Robert Barnes

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The Nash Rambler

The Suit

My son, in his infinite wisdom, decided to propose to his live-in partner of many years. You may think that there is no problem with this but you would be wrong.

First problem is the venue of the wedding – small village in Oxfordshire, England. There are small niggles here because all his relatives are in New Zealand and not wealthy. That rules out everybody except his parents, siblings and their partners. There is no option – we had to attend the ceremony. I must admit to anticipating the trip with pleasure because a few weeks in small village Oxfordshire on the edge of the Cotswolds is an enjoyable experience.

The second problem with the venue is the dress standards. The wedding was held in a lovely, converted barn and the numbers attending were about fifty. So it was important that I dressed appropriately or else I would be obviously stupid and risk eternal damnation from my lovely wife, my sons and daughters. Thus, the appearance of the suit.

The last time I wore a suit was over forty years ago at my own wedding. I fought a losing battle then regarding the requirement of the suit but this time I was going to win. Gosh I’m stupid! I had no hope – wear the suit or not attend. No attendance would lead to divorce proceedings from my wife but also my children. I argued that it wasn’t worth buying a suit because I would only wear it once. My wife informed me that I would be wearing it twice – the second time would be my funeral which could be very soon. After a month or so I abandoned the fight because, at my age, I appreciate the warmth and comfort associated with my marriage and present accommodation and was not prepared to risk divorce. But I battled for some months against the idea of wearing a tie.

I reluctantly went shopping with my wife for the required suit. Bother, there was a sale! Bother, the suit fitted nicely and was a good colour! Bother, the suit came with two shirts and a tie! I was sunk! Said suit was bought and I carried it home in a bad temper and tried to lose it in my wardrobe.

My lovely lady wife found the suit and made sure it was in my suitcase when we flew to England.

The wedding day arrived and I sensibly read the signs and avoided causing problems. I wore the suit and the tie.

Problem three was the climate. The country was in a heat wave and the temperature on wedding day was 33°C!!!!!!!!

Every male, including my three-year-old grandson wore a tie and suit. There was no air conditioning and definitely no breeze. I made sure I was hydrating myself and definitely not using water for that task. Even the bride’s father was uncomfortable and together we quietly came up with a plan. When we sat down for the wedding breakfast we talked to my son and suggested he take off his coat because, if he did, we could do so. After a few minutes, when the first quiet moment arose, he loudly stood up, took off his coat and even his tie. A loud mutter of approval came from the male attendees and we all stood up and did likewise. The wedding then proceeded to be a very enjoyable occasion. There was only one speech – the bride’s father thanked everybody for coming, particularly the Australian contingent. He paid a very high price for that faux pas.

The suit survived that first outing.

The third problem, which wasn’t a problem for me, occurred on the trip back home. Heathrow Terminal Two had a major problem with their luggage carousels i.e. they weren’t working. Every plane leaving was not guaranteed to contain the passenger’s checked-in baggage. I quietly prayed for my suitcase to be lost in transit. The suit could be lost.

When we arrived at Auckland I acted very appropriately when my suitcase didn’t make the plane – there was a god out there. I expressed shock and horror and tried (not very hard) to complain bitterly to the authorities. My son, his newly created wife, and his son flew out with us and spent three weeks with us. Everything was going well until, three days after arrival my suitcase magically appeared at my doorstep. Bother!!!!!!

It has been dry cleaned and is now hanging in my wardrobe awaiting its second appearance.

Peter Nash

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Chinese Corner

From Sojourners to Settlers

Thursday 4 September, 5:30-6:30pm Te Awe Library in Wellington

This fascinating talk explores the transformation of Chinese Wellingtonians’ identity from sojourners to permanent settlers. Historically, Chinese immigrants in Wellington — like many across New Zealand — maintained a mindset of luò yè guī gēn (落葉歸根, “fallen leaves return to the roots”), viewing their stay as temporary and their true home as elsewhere. Over generations, however, this narrative has shifted towards luò dì shēng gēn (落地生根, “take root where you land”), reflecting new forms of belonging, place-making, and cultural negotiation in Aotearoa.

Drawing on oral histories, community archives, and contemporary perspectives, this talk highlights how local Chinese communities have navigated changing migration policies, intergenerational expectations, and bicultural frameworks to forge a distinctive identity as Chinese Wellingtonians — simultaneously connected to ancestral heritage and deeply embedded in the city’s social and cultural fabric.

Presenter Biography

Professor Bo Zhiyue is a leading authority on Chinese elite politics globally and is the Founder and President of the Bo Zhiyue China Institute. He has taught at universities around the world including Peking University, the University of Chicago, American University, the National University of Singapore, and Victoria University of Wellington.

Professor Bo holds a Bachelor of Law and Master of Law in International Politics from Peking University, and a PhD in Political Science from the University of Chicago.

Professor Bo has published more than 400 book chapters and articles on a variety of topics, as well as 16 books and monographs. Beyond his academic work, Professor Bo is an accomplished artist, a health columnist, a pianist, and a vocalist.

www.wcl.govt.nz/news/new-zealand-chinese-language-week-2025/

Helen Wong

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More Famous New Zealanders You Have Probably Never Heard Of

FELL Arthur (1850 – 1934)

Arthur Fell was born in Nelson on the 07 August 1850, the fourth son of Alfred and Fanny Fell nee SEYMOUR. Alfred was an early settler and merchant in Nelson originally as Barnicoat, Fell and Seymour. They represented many of the absentee land-purchasers in the Nelson, and later Wairau (Marlborough) settlements, and were general merchants, shipping and commission agents. *

The family moved to England in 1859, and Arthur attended to King’s College School in London along with his brother Charles Yate Fell, who returned to New Zealand in 1870. He became the mayor of Nelson in 1887.

In 1868, Arthur entered St John’s College, Oxford. He was noted as an enthusiastic oarsman and rowed in his College Eight. He was awarded his B.A in 1871, and M.A in 1878. He qualified as a solicitor in 1874 but later went into business, including investing in a gold mining company in Collingwood, New Zealand.

In 1877 Arthur married Ottilie Anna Elise Freiin VON ROSENBERG in Germany. She is said to have been the daughter of Baron von Rosenberg, of Dunedin (or possibly Dresden?).[1]

Ottilie died in 1888, and Arthur remarried in 1900 to Matilda Dora WORTABET, who was born in Syria. Her father was a doctor in Edinburgh.

In 1904 Arthur was selected as the Conservative candidate for the borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk. At the general election held in 1906 he won the seat with a majority of 236 votes. However, a petition was lodged against the result alleging a range of illegal practices. The case was eventually dismissed. Arthur held the seat until 1922. He was knighted in 1918.

Arthur was a long-standing advocate of a rail tunnel being built under the English Channel. He presented a paper The Channel Tunnel to the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) in 1913, and in February 1914 he became chairman of the House of Commons Channel Tunnel Committee, an all-party parliamentary group. With the outbreak of war, Arthur ardently pressed the case for the tunnel which would have had an important role in supplying the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front. He chaired this committee until 1922. In 1924 he wrote a letter to The Times saying that while the French Channel Tunnel Company had been given the legal power to construct a tunnel, and the engineers said it could be built, the British Company had no power to start work in Kent!

Work began on the tunnel in 1988, and it was opened on the 06 May 1994 by Queen Elizabeth II.

The Fell’s lived at Lauriston House on Southside, Wimbledon Common, the former residence of anti-slavery campaigner William Wilberforce. The house was demolished in 1957 destroying a priceless painted ceiling. Arthur supported the preservation of the Common and opposed efforts to build on the Royal Wimbledon Golf Course.

Arthur Fell died suddenly on 29 December 1934, aged 84. He was survived by his son and three daughters. His grandson Sir Anthony Fell (1914–1998) was the MP for Great Yarmouth from 1951 to 1966.

*On the 18 June 1935, the Marlborough Express Letters to the Editor noted: - My grandfather, Alfred Fell, and great-grandfather, Henry Seymour, who settled in Nelson in 1842 and traded there as "Fell and Seymour," founding the firm which afterwards became N. Edwards and Co., and is now F. H. Cock and Co., were the original purchasers from the New Zealand Company of sections 1 and 3, Omaka, the present site of Blenheim. In the forties and early fifties this site was known as "Beaver." Some unsuccessful attempts were made to start a township in other places, and in 1857 my grandfather (my great-grandfather having returned to England) decided to lay off a township on Sections 1 and 3 and employed Mr Alfred Dobson to do this. My grandfather had the proposed township, then unnamed, cut up into quarter-acre sections, which were sold for £10 each, and he set aside reserves for schools, churches, etc., and he naturally named the streets, etc. The square he named after his father-in-law, Henry Seymour; some of the streets after original Wairau settlers; and some of the streets after his children. Thus, Charles street was so called after his eldest son, afterwards well known as C. Y. Fell, of Nelson; Arthur street after another son, who became Sir Arthur Fell, and was for many years M.P. for Great Yarmouth, England; Walter street after another son, who later became a leading medical man in Wellington; George street after another son, my father, known to many of your readers during the many years he was in business in Blenheim and Picton; Henry street after another son, who was for a time in partnership with my father in business in Blenheim as "Fell Bros.," and afterwards returned to England and went into the Church. These were all my grandfather's sons, born in New Zealand in the forties and fifties, and they have all passed on. There was also a street called Fell street. — I am, etc., A C Fell.

References: Wikipedia, Papers Past

https://family-tree.cobboldfht.com/people/view/4583

[1] Colonist, Volume XLVII, Issue 11300, 6 April 1905, Page 2

Christine Clement

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Ken Morris

AI FOR “OLDIES”

I’ve Been doing Lectures on Adobe Photoshop Elements at our U3A here in Brisbane for the last couple of terms, I have been using the software for years but have found it much more rewarding to learn all the updates in a small class environment with a good lecturer.

When the current term subjects came out there was another course offered “AI what is it how you can use it for your benefit” by Sue Robb.

We’ve now had 6 lectures and I’m hooked, Sue comes from a long background in computing (back to when they had valves), business, and has wide life experiences, which adds to her everyday use of AI including the preparation of her lectures in AI and other tech and cooking classes. There are ~ 9-10 attendees attending the lectures & others on ZOOM. Lectures have a basic structure but we wander a bit when real life AI questions are tossed into the ring.

To date the lectures have covered:

1 INTRODUCTION TO ~ AI U3A BRISBANE

IS AI ALWAYS CORRECT

POE – a collection of Ai search engines from CHATGPT 5 to smaller & more specific sites – most have free versions

Poe Updates 19 April 2024.htm

2 TYPES OF AI AND HOW IT WORKS

Understanding AI

From Narrow Intelligence to Machine Learning

3 AI IN EVERYDAY LIFE

Healthcare, finance & entertainment

4 THE POWER OF CONNECTION

Ways of using AI to keep being connected

5 AI & IMAGES

Covers the various free & paid versions of AI software that can be used to manipulate photos and that can enhance projects that were once only possible in the realms of Adobe Photoshop

6 AI FOR LEARNING & HOBBIES

(see also Week 6 - Hobbies and Learning.pdf)

Covers a variety of sources & recommendations for people who want to expand their knowledge of existing pursuits or take up new ones. Most are free (I did

There are ~ 10 weeks in the Term and Sue has agreed to make her course notes available. Links are attached for the notes to date and I’ll add new links in later newsletters.

It may well be that readers are already AI users and others just starting out so one will need to sift through the notes. The Power Of Connection notes have many ideas whereby “oldies” can use AI to maximise their ability to remain independent but also be connected at levels that suit their lifestyles.

I will follow up with the remaining lecture notes in a future newsletter

Is AI always correct?

Ensuring that AI-generated responses are completely correct—so you do not need to manually verify them—remains a significant challenge in 2025. No mainstream AI tool currently guarantees 100% accuracy for every response, especially on complex or nuanced topics. Below is a summary of strategies and the best available tools to maximize correctness and reduce manual effort.

Why AI Responses Can Be Incorrect

· AI tools may "hallucinate" or fabricate plausible-sounding but incorrect facts.

· They often lack real-time, comprehensive fact verification, especially if not integrated with external, trusted databases.

Even advanced AI fact-checkers claim accuracy rates well below 100%; for example, Originality.AI advertises around 72.3% factual accuracy from 2022 onward.

Best Strategies for Maximizing Correctness

1. Combine AI Generation with Automated Fact-Checking

· Use a workflow where you first generate a response with a leading AI (e.g., GPT-4, Gemini, Claude), then immediately run the answer through dedicated AI fact-checking tools.

Many tools allow you to input text or claims for instant verification against trusted sources and real-time databases.

2. Use Top Fact-Checking and Verification Tools
These tools are designed to check facts, cross-reference sources, and detect misinformation:

Tool	Capabilities	Notable Features/Limitations
Originality.AI	Fact-checking, AI detection	72.3% recent factual accuracy; better than LLMs alone but not perfect[3]
Sourcely	Source verification, citation validation	Excellent for academic/technical topics; organizes sources[2]
LongShot AI	Real-time fact-checker	Integrates with research tools; verifies claims as you write[1]
VerifactAI	News and content fact-checking	Focuses on journalistic content[1]
Factiverse	Tracks disinformation, points to credible sources	Useful for news/media accuracy[5]
X Detector	Identifies AI-generated content in multiple languages	Good for verifying origin, not necessarily factual correctness[5]

3. Use AI With Integrated Fact Verification
Some new-gen AIs have "citation mode" or built-in fact-checking that can be turned on, making them cross-reference every statement with real sources in real-time, though the coverage and reliability still vary.

4. Cross-Reference with Trusted Databases
Whenever possible, choose tools that pull evidence from peer-reviewed, high-quality databases and offer direct citations.

Limitations & Reality Check

· No AI tool or fact-checker eliminates the need for all manual verification, especially on novel, niche, or rapidly evolving topics

· Fact-checkers are best used as aids, not the final authority

For mission-critical or sensitive content, always spot-check at least key details against authoritative primary sources.

Recommendations

· For the most reliable results, use a two-step workflow: generate your answer with the most advanced LLM (e.g., GPT-4, Claude, Gemini) and verify it with tools such as Originality.AI, Sourcely, or LongShot AI. This approach automates most checks and flags questionable statements for review.

For journalists and researchers, specialized tools (Factiverse, LongShot AI, VerifactAI) provide focused solutions for media, news, and academic content.

Summary Table: Best Tools for Ensuring AI Response Accuracy

Tool	Best Use Case	Notable Features
Originality.AI	General fact-checking, AI detection	Real-time accuracy checks, source detection[3]
Sourcely	Academic/research content	Finds and verifies academic sources[2]
LongShot AI	Real-time journalism/research	Integrates fact-checking as you write[1]
VerifactAI	News/media	Content and source verification[1]
Factiverse	Disinformation tracking	Points to credible sources[5]

Conclusion

While no tool guarantees faultless first responses, combining generative AI with automated, specialized fact-checkers is the most effective way to maximize correctness and minimize manual verification. Stay updated on tool performance and always verify critical outputs, as even the best systems have limitations[2][3].

(I had earlier AI experiences – Artificial Insemination – when I lived on a dairy farm in the 1950’s and we used to order the semen from bulls with particular characteristics to suit our Jersey cows breeding potential. Today there could well be a group decrying the emancipation of the cows subjected to breeding by AI)

Ken Morris

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Robina Trenbath

Chomolungma - Goddess of the Valley

Chomolungma is the Tibetan name for Mount Everest: also interpreted as Goddess Mother of the World. She also has a Sanskrit name; Sagarmatha, meaning Peak of Heaven. Originally, she was known as Peak XV and re-named for Sir George Everest (pronounced “EVE-rest”) British surveyor general of India from 1830-1843. Reaching an elevation of 29,032 feet, Chomolungma is the highest mountain above sea level in the world. ^1.

Mount Everest – North Face: 1921: North Col- North Ridge was chosen by the first British Mount Everest reconnaissance expedition, * as a viable route to the summit. A mountain with snow on top

AI-generated content may be incorrect.

Six degrees of separation: that all people are six or fewer social connections away from each other. ^2.

1. George Leigh-Mallory (18 June 1886-8/9 June 1924): The many accounts of Mallory’s early childhood climbing exploits and later his fearless approach to scaling heights are the stuff of legends. He was born in Cheshire, England and participated in the first three British Everest expeditions* in the early to mid-1920s.

In 1922 The Tibetan Government sanctioned the third expedition of Everest. It would commence in spring 1924. George Leigh-Mallory was not a wealthy man. Indeed, he taught English and history at Charterhouse. The Royal Geographical Society and Alpine Club at Methodist Central Hall, Westminster set about fund-raising and to that end Mallory and George Finch (a fellow mountaineer) were to undertake a large-scale lecture tour through North America for 3 months. ^3/i.

On 10^th January 1923 George Leigh-Mallory/ Lecturer, left Southampton on the White Star Line ship ‘Olympic’ bound for New York. ⁴

A close up of a document

AI-generated content may be incorrect.

“On the voyage he spent a considerable amount of time closeted in his cabin, planning his narrative of the 1922 expedition.” He arrived in New York on 17 January. ^3/ii

….and now we arrive at…. Six degrees of separation.

The chief steward on that vessel was my maternal grandmother’s second husband S.A. Smith.

A person in uniform sitting on a bench

AI-generated content may be incorrect. A person in a uniform sitting in a room

AI-generated content may be incorrect.

N.B. Blog/ Mark Horrell: “In 2009, Jeffery Archer wrote a ‘historical’ novel called ‘Paths of Glory’. It is an entertaining read. But historical fiction”. Horrell goes on to cite 31 inaccuracies. “Most of the book is quite ludicrous”. ⁵

Having read that same book several times I would add my own observation: Jeffery Archer had Leigh-Mallory sailing to New York (1923 lecture tour) on RMS Saxonia (Cunard Line 1900-1925). But another six degrees of separation herein happens. George Leigh-Mallory as we now know (see above) sailed on the Olympic (White Star Line). Now, someone I know very well, crewed on RMS Saxonia, London to New York in the 1920’s until she was sold. Who? My granduncle William Crampton, who was a bedroom steward. ⁶

The Mallory-Finch tour was a financial failure. Never-the-less on this third expedition George Mallory and his fellow climber Andrew ‘Sandy’ Irvine set out on the morning of 8 June 1924 from Camp 6 on the North-East Ridge for an attempt on the summit. Noel Odell, support climber, reached a crag at 26,000 ft. and at 12.50 pm witnessed a rapid clearing of the atmosphere. He saw the entire summit ridge and final peak of Everest and sighted Mallory and Irvine on a prominent rock step on the ridge. Odell was the last person to see Mallory and Irvine alive.

1999 May 01- Mallory and Irvine Research Expedition: the objective to discover whether Mallory (Photo L) and Irvine had been the first to summit Everest. A team consisting of researcher, cameraman and mountaineers discovered Mallory’s frozen body (no camera but personal possessions and letters addressed to him). They buried Mallory where he lay covering his remains with rocks. ⁷

Two men standing next to each other

AI-generated content may be incorrect.

2024 – A hundred years later…a National Geographic team found what are believed to be Sandy Irvine’s remains - a detached foot inside a boot and sock, with A.C. Irvine on the name tag. ⁸

2. Sir Edmund Hillary & Sherpa Tenzing Norgay: 1953 – the conquerors of Everest from her south side. Ed Hillary said of the discovery of Mallory’s body: “He was really the initial pioneer of the whole idea of climbing Mount Everest.”

But I’m not writing about Ed. Hillary even though by six degrees his son Peter Hillary, for many years had a gardener = my brother-in-law. But six degrees does get us to……

3. Dr. Max Pearl (1923-1980): In the good old days when doctors made house calls after conclusion of their surgery hours, he was our doctor. He had a surgery at 3 Heaphy Street, Blockhouse Bay and then 70 Godley Road, Green Bay. I recall a softly spoken, handsome man whose balding head at the back intrigued a very young me smothered first in measles and then chicken pox.

Dr. Max Pearl and Sir Edmund Hillary’s paths crossed through their shared involvement with the Himalayan Trust and related projects in Nepal.

1966: The Hospital Plan:
Dr. Max Pearl, Mingma Tsering (“My old comrade. *) Hillary quote*/ and Sir Edmund Hillary. A group of men sitting on the ground

AI-generated content may be incorrect.

1968 - Sir Edmund Hillary wrote: “Our three physicians, Dr. Max Pearl, Dr. Michael Gill and Dr. John McKinnon are a very experienced group of mountain men and have all been involved in Himalayan mountaineering programmes”. ^9.

Dr. Pearl was Medical Director of the Himalayan Trust Board under Sir Edmund Hillary and also Chairman of the Medical Committee of the N.Z. Volunteer Services Abroad scheme. He accidentally drowned after being swept over the Huka Falls, on 27 April 1980. ¹⁰

“Dr. Pearl was fishing in shallow waters in the Duchess Pool on the Taupo side of the falls when the Lake Taupo control gates were opened. As the water rose slowly Dr. Pearl moved on to rocks in the middle of the Waikato River. Repeated attempts by policemen and firemen with ropes to save him failed and a helicopter was on its way when he was swept away and over the falls”. ^11.

2025 – August: Our current and long-term houseguest is an intrepid, single lady in her mid-fifties who has trekked, climbed and explored many remote regions of the world. Her latest adventure is hiking to Mount Everest Base Camp. Sleeping bag practice.

As this newsletter goes out (September) she will be in the depths of it. We wish her success and safe return.
There you have it…six degrees of separation from Chomolungma. I have come full circle. A dog standing next to a sleeping bag

AI-generated content may be incorrect.

References:

1. Mount Everest. britannica.com/place/Mount-Everest

2. Six degrees of separation. en.wikipedia.org

3. Because it’s there: The Life of George Mallory (P.142) by Dudley Green, 2005/ Stroud (UK): Tempus.

4. ‘Olympic’ UK and Ireland, Outward Passenger Lists, 1890-1960. ancestry.com.au/search/collections

5. George Mallory was murdered…by Jeffrey Archer. www.markhorrell.com/ 13 Nov. 2013

6. W.J. Crampton / ‘Saxonia’/Crew; Passenger Search/ Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island. U.S. National Park Service. https://www.nps.gov

7. Fallen. George Mallory The Man the Myth and the 1924 Everest Tragedy by Mick Conefrey, 2024 Allen & Unwin.

8. Everest climber Irvine’s foot believed found. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy0g2p47xd5o .

9. New Zealand Jet=Boat Expedition in Nepal: by Sir Edmund Hillary. Press, Vol. CV111, Issue 31748, 3 August 1968. P. 23.

10.Obituary: Dr. Max Pear FRCGPl: British Journal of General Practice. In the Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, August 1980, P. 511.

11.Doctor victim of Huka Falls: paperspastnz/ Press, 29 April 1980. P. 3.

Robina Trenbath

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Jeanette Grant

Sarah Walton Bull:- 1820-1922

Sarah Walton BULL- my husband’s 2xgreatgrandmother - was born to William Walton Bull (1790-1852), then aged 31, and his 1^st wife Sarah nee WRIGHT (1796-1828), then aged 25, at Alverstoke, Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. She was baptised there on 29 July 1821 and until I looked at the actual record, I believed the newspaper reports which gave that as her year of birth. However (according to the Baptismal entry) she had been born the previous year on the 5^{th of} August 1820 – which means that when she died on the 2^ndof February 1922, she was 101 years and six months old.

She had an older sister Lavinia Walton Bull (1818-1887) and a younger brother William Waltham (sic) Bull (1824-1881) who was born on 20 April 1824 at Portsea Island, Portsmouth, Hampshire. Their youngest sister Louisa Mary Walton Bull (1828-1918) was born on 14 February 1828 in Portsea, but their mother Sarah (1796–1828) died later that year and was buried on September 29 1828 at St Luke, Chelsea.

The family would appear to have moved to London, as the following year Pallot’s Marriage Index shows William Walton Bull marrying Sarah CAVE (1795-1885) at St Dunstan and All Saints, Stepney, London on 12 May 1829. They had one child – Arthur Henry Bull (1833-1890).

On the 6^{th of} June 1830, Lavinia Walton Bull, William Walton Bull and Mary Louisa Walton Bull, ‘the children of William & Sarah Bull’, were all baptised for a 2^nd time at All Saints, Poplar. William’s occupation is given as ‘Mariner’. Our Sarah is not shown.

The 1841 Census has our Sarah aged 20 living with her father William Bull (Seaman aged 50) and step-mother Sarah aged 40 in Ashton St, Tower Hamlets – in the parish of All Saints, Poplar. Also there was a Sarah Cave aged 75 and a hard to read 14year olds name which has been transcribed as ‘Lewer’ Bull but should probably be ‘Louisa. There is no mention of her half-brother Arthur Henry Bull, 1833–1890.

Sarah Walton Bull married an engineer - Thomas Tasker GRIFFIN (1823-1872) in St Mary, Whitechapel, Middlesex, on 20 September 1845 when she was 24 years old and they had seven children in 15 years.

Louisa Ann Griffin 1846–1923 was born in 1846 in Shoreditch, Middlesex.

William Samuel Griffin was born in 1848 in Hackney, Middlesex.

Henry Matthew Griffin was born on 8 April 1850 in Hoxton New Town, London

In the 1851 Census she was shown as aged 29, the wife of Thomas ‘Guellin’, (engineer) born in Portsmouth and living in Haggerstone West, Tower Hamlets. The street name is blurred but could be #3 Fleming St. The three children are all listed with their places of birth shown as born at Bethnall Green, City Road and Shoreditch.

Her second daughter Ellen Sarah Griffin (1852-1955) was born on 23 January 1852 in Shoreditch, Middlesex and later that year, her father William Walton Bull (1790-1852) passed away in December 1852 in Greater London at the age of 62.

They had three more sons

Thomas Tasker Griffin (1854-1923), b Hackney, London; d Christchurch, NZ

Walter Griffin (1857-1933) – b 21 May 1857 at Greenwich, London.

Charles Henry Griffin (1861–1939) – b 1 July 1861 at Greenwich, London.

In the 1871 Census she was aged 49, wife of `Thos Griffin’ (aged 48, Engineer Bengal Marine) living at 35 Blair St, Tower Hamlets in the parish of Bromley St Leonard. Of their sons, Henry (21) was a Ships Steward, Thomas (17) was an Assistant Steward while Walter (14) and Charles (10) were still scholars. Ellen (19) was still living at home but Louisa had left. She was to marry Richard William CRICK (1848-1888) in 1878.

Sarah’s husband Thomas Tasker Griffin (1823–1872) passed away on 15 March 1872 at 35 Blair St, Bromley, London, England. They had been married 26 years.

In the 1881 Census, she was a widow aged 59 living at 3 Suffolk St, Tower Hamlets in the parish of All Saints, Poplar, the house of her second son - Henry Matthew Griffin (China salesman) and his wife Margaret Amelia nee MORGAN (1844-1916) and their first four children.

In the 1891 Census she was a widow aged 69 living at 130 St Leonards Rd, Bromley in the parish of St Michael and All Angels, with her daughter Ellen Sarah (1852-1955) who had married Charles Agar WALKER (1852-1931) “Oilman colour aged 39”, on 18 August 1874, and their three young daughters.

In 1901 she was still there with the Walker family as a widow of 79 but this time she is specified as ‘mother-in-law’. Charles’ occupation is more specific –‘ Oil & Colour merchant – own a/c.’

In 1911 Sarah was still with Charles Agar & Ellen Sarah Walker. Charles was now an ‘Oil & Colourman retired’ and they were living at Hill Farm, Thaxted. She was described as ‘Grandmother’ aged 89. Also in the household were Grace Lilian Walker – single aged 26, daughter and Joan HODGES aged six – granddaughter (1904-1975; daughter of Louisa E Walker & Charles E Hodges).

In 1921 she appears as plain ‘Sarah Griffin’ widow aged 99 years and ten months still living with Charles Agar and Ellen Sarah Walker at Hill Farm.

The Daily News of Wednesday 3 August 1921 had this item:-

“100 on FRIDAY. Centenarian Who Can Still Read the “Daily News”.

Within a few days of her 100^th birthday, Mrs Sarah Griffin, living with her daughter and son-on-law Mr Charles Walker at the Hill, Thaxted, Essex, is still able to enjoy the “Daily News” of which she has been a regular reader for years.

She is very deaf, but her memory is relatively unimpaired.

When Mrs Griffin celebrates her century on Friday, she will have a small army of relatives offering their congratulations.

She has had seven children, and rejoices in a family record of 17 living grandchildren and 35 great grandchildren.”

HOWEVER, I have found there is an error of one year in her age as given here and in the earlier census reports. According to what was entered on the Baptismal Register, she had been born on 5 August 1820, so was a year older than the baptismal date of 29 July 1821 wrongly given as her birth date. This error was repeated in the February 1922 Obituary.

Sarah Walton Bull died on 2^ndFebruary 1922 when she was actually over 101 years old at Hill Farm, Thaxted Rd, Dunmow, Essex, England. She was buried on the 4^th
of February 1922 in the St John the Baptist churchyard.

“THAXTED CENTENARIAN’S DEATH

The funeral of Mrs Sarah Griffin, of Thaxted. Who passed away at the age of 100 years and six months, took place at Thaxted Parish Church on Friday. Rev Conrad Neel, vicar, officiated, and the immediate mourners were Mr Walker son-in-law; Mr W Smart and Major Hodges, grandsons; Mr R Whitwell and Mr W Smith.

Deceased was by far the oldest inhabitant of Thaxted. When she celebrated her 100^th birthday on August 5^th last, she entertained many of her friends to tea, and was in good health at the time. She resided at Hill House with her daughter Mrs Walker, for many years, and was much respected.

WPM$U2YX A person sitting in a chair

AI-generated content may be incorrect.

Sarah Walton GRIFFIN lived through the reigns of William 1V, Victoria, Edward V11 and George V. The world was wracked by the Crimean War, the Indian Mutiny, the American Civil war, the Boer War and the First World War. In the course of her lifetime, the world changed more than in any similar period. She grew up using candles and woodfired ranges; by the time she died, electricity for lighting, cooking and heating was commonplace. Travel by horse or sail had become travel by automobile, by steam or even by air.

Life expectancy had doubled thanks to medical advances in fields such as hygiene, anesthetics and surgery, but even today Sarah’s longevity would have stood out. Her daughter Ellen Sarah did even better. She was born on 23 January 1852 and died on 2 September 1955 leaving four children and ten grandchildren.

[Her older sister Lavinia Walton Bull (1818-1887) died childless on 11 January 1887 at 35 Surrey St, Poplar, Middlesex. Her brother William Waltham (sic) Bull died in 1881 leaving five living children and her half-brother Arthur Henry Bull died in 1890 leaving seven children. Her sister Louisa Mary Walton Preece nee Bull (1828-1918) died in June 1918 in Wycombe Buckinghamshire leaving five children.]

Jeanette Grant

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Rowan Gibbs

Ronald de la Bere Barker (“Rufiji”), 1889-1965

Two famous conservationists both with an African and a New Zealand connexion and born in the same year (and who both happened to write a little fiction amongst their many books) have names similar enough to lead to confusion: the subject of this article and Richard Edward St Barbe Baker, 1889-1982.

St. Barbe BAKER (biography in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography), born in England, worked in Kenya and Nigeria in the 1920s, visited New Zealand in 1931 and 1954, and married and settled in New Zealand in 1959, though he died while visiting Canada. There are New Zealand references in many of his non-fiction books, however his one work of fiction, Kamiti, A Forester’s Dream, 1958, is about a Kenyan boy sent to England to learn forestry.

Ronald BARKER, “the legendary bush hermit of the Rufiji district of Tanganyika”, born in Christchurch, wrote a host of lively stories blending fact and fiction on African life and natural history in English and Swahili, published in African newspapers, in magazines such as Wide World, and later as booklets. I spent years trying to collect them, not easily done, even with the internet, with paperbacks published in Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Kampala, Mombasa... His only common book is Rufiji, a selection from his tales, published in London in 1956 (and widely translated). In all his writings he never alludes to growing up in New Zealand, except for once describing the cries of an African bird as “like those of the New Zealand gull”. Stories told of him include landing on the back of a rhino that was trying to bite him and kicking under the chin a lion that was confronting him. In a letter to a friend written in 1958 he talks of his sixth (and last) book, Homicide and the Owl, and other tales, then about to be published, “one of whose tales”, he says, “I have modelled on the murder of the Earl of Erroll but into African characters in Dar es Salaam with the theory of the crime as known to Africans. I will soon be safely dead and so my fiction is becoming hotter and hotter”.

Barker’s colourful life was researched by Bruce Fuller for his 2010 book They Chose Adventure, biographies of “Men from New Zealand who fought in British East Africa with the 25th (Service) Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (Frontiersman) in World War One”. His entertaining account which reads like a detective story draws on official documents, newspapers and Barker relatives.

He was born Ronald Delabere[1] Barker, in Christchurch on May 29th 1889, one of four sons and three daughters of Samuel Delabere Barker and Frances Harriette Lean, who married in 1878. Samuel arrived in Canterbury with his parents in 1850 and is said to have spent a year exploring in Africa after his father’s death in 1873. Ronald grew up in Christchurch and after falling out with his family left for Australia in 1910, on to England in 1913, and probably then to Canada. In January 1915 in England he enlisted in the Canadian Army under his real name, and in March that year married Dorothy RILEY in London under the name Ronald Bacon Delabere (Bacon was his grandmother’s maiden name). From 1915 to 1917 several letters appeared in New Zealand newspapers, the writer named first as “Mr R.B. Delabere”, later as “Mr R. Delabere Barker”, in which he claimed to be serving in Africa as a sergeant with the Legion of Frontiersmen. If so [2] he had deserted from the Canadian army, whence probably the false name for his marriage (though he may in fact already have been married, possibly in Canada). After the war he lived in Tanganyika, hunting animals and organising safaris. Dorothy joined him in 1919 but in 1923 and 1926 he had two children by an African partner, Mwanaidi SHIMBONI. Dorothy divorced him in 1926 when he was in prison in England for killing a person in Africa (perhaps by accident); sentenced to seven years, he was released after three in 1930 and allowed to return to East Africa. Mwanaidi divorced him by native custom when he wanted her and the children to settle in New Zealand. It was apparently now that he began his hermit life in the Rufiji delta and became increasingly interested in conservation. He visited England and New Zealand in 1955, and died in Tanganyika on November 29th 1965.

[1] Spelt ‘Delabere’ consistently in newspapers and official records, but in his 1958 letter quoted above Ronald himself spells it De La Bere.

[2] There is no medal card for him and no surviving official nominal roll, but he is recorded once as receiving Field Punishment No.1 in 1915, and is included as 12842 DELABERE R(onald) B(arker) on the reconstructed roll at

https://25throyalfusiliers.co.uk/original_battalion_roll_1.html

The French edition of Rufiji

Rowan Gibbs

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An Invitation to Contribute:

I have a number of people that contribute occasional articles. These appear irregularly if and when the authors send them to me. I use them to bulk up each month's newsletter. The more we have the more "rests "I can give my much-appreciated regular columnists.

This is a way that a person can get some of their writing published. Of course, we are all writing up our research results, aren't we? I have always said that every genealogist is an expert in some small piece of history, resources or research methods.

We circulate this newsletter to about 7,000 subscribers worldwide but is read by many more as it is passed on to other readers and LDS research centres. Every month I get feedback on my poor attempts at writing and I have now made many "new friends", albeit digital ones, I have even had some very helpful assistance in my research.

Why don't you contribute an article?

My basic requirements:

1) The column must be in English

2) The column should be no longer than about 1,200 words

3) The article should be emailed to me in a Word document format

4) The subject should be genealogical or historical in nature

Do not be afraid about your "perceived" bad English. The article will be edited, in a friendly manner, by me and then Robert. Then all columnists and a few valuable proof-readers get to read the newsletter before it is emailed out. You’ll be paid $0 for your article, which is on the same scale that Robert and I pay ourselves for editing and publishing the newsletter.

From our Libraries and Museums

We are offering a forum to our libraries and museums to publicise their events, and to contribute articles to this newsletter that may be of interest to our readers. Auckland Libraries makes good use of this free service, let’s see if other libraries and museums take up this offer.

For readers of this newsletter: please bring this to the attention of your local libraries etc, and encourage them to participate.

Auckland Council Libraries

Events

Family History Workshops

At Research Central, a series of Family History workshops are scheduled to run every quarter on the first Saturday of the month beginning Saturday 6 September. The topic each session will be based on a country(ies) of interest and pitched for researchers at beginner to intermediate levels.

The intention is to use our extensive resources on the shelves and in filing and microfilm cabinets, as well as those online. If there is enough interest, we could also hold a Europe and a North America session too at a later date.

*Aotearoa- New Zealand family history & whakapapa Sat 6 Sep

*Australia and Pacific Islands Sat 6 Dec

*England and Wales Sat 7 March

*Scotland Sat 2 May

*Ireland Sat 1 Aug

Bookings available online on our library website and Eventfinda

https://ourauckland.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/events/2025/09/family-history-workshop-aotearoa-new-zealand-family-history-research/

I am also speaking elsewhere in the community this month:

9.30am-12.30pm Wed 10 Sep

*Family history resources at ACL and
*Ancestry – beginners and intermediate – Glen Innes Library, 108 Line Road, Glen Innes

2pm-4pm Tues 16 Sept
*Hibiscus Coast NZSG meeting “Playing “Hide and Seek” with My Grandmother – A Case Study in Research Methodology, Evaluation, and Patience”,
Seonaid’s paternal grandmother passed away from tuberculosis when her father was just four months old. Fostered out for much of his childhood, he grew up without the family stories many of us take for granted. This absence sparked Seonaid’s determination to uncover her grandmother’s story.
St Chads Church, 17 Centreway, Ōrewa

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Tātai Hono: Whakapapa Research Open Day

Saturday 13 September 2025, 11am-4pm

Tāmaki Pātaka Kōrero | Central City Library, Level 2, Whare Wānanga, 44-46 Lorne Street, Auckland

https://ourauckland.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/events/2025/09/tatai-hono-whakapapa-research-open-day/

Join us for a special open day hosted by Māori research specialists, designed to support your whakapapa journey and deepen your connection to whenua, heritage, and identity.

Explore taonga, kōrero tuku iho, mātauranga Māori, keynote presentations and guided research tours that celebrate and strengthen Māori identity. Tātai Hono is part of the wider Tātai Whakapapa movement, which activates spaces of learning, connection, and discovery to support you on your whakapapa research journey.

Nau mai, haere mai – come and explore the richness of whakapapa research in a welcoming and inspiring environment.

This year’s Auckland Heritage Festival is being held from Saturday 20 September till Sunday 5 October.

This year the theme is “Auckland at Play” inspired by the 75^th anniversary of the Empire Games.

As usual there will be a multitude of events on throughout Auckland, with many libraries running events.

Please check “OurAuckland” for the full range of events closer to the time.

Did you miss one of our HeritageTalks, or would you like to listen to it again?

Enjoy our podcasts - recorded events and presentations

https://soundcloud.com/auckland-libraries

And see more on our YouTube channel

https://www.youtube.com/user/aucklandlibraries

Ngā mihi nui

Noho ora mai – Seonaid she/her

Seonaid (Shona) Harvey RLIANZA BA ILS, DipRIM

Senior research librarian, Te Pāhekoheko ā-Rangahau | research engagement, family history

Tāmaki Pātaka Kōrero – Central City Library

Mobile 021 814 690

Auckland Libraries - Nga Whare Matauranga o Tamaki Makarau

Ph 09 890 2411| Extn (46) 2411 | Fax 09 307 7741

Auckland Libraries, Level 2, Central City Library, 44 - 46 Lorne Street, Auckland

Visit our website: www.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz

@Kintalk on Twitter / Auckland Research Centre on Facebook

Hokianga Museum and Archives Centre.

Hokianga Museum is home to objects and records from Hokianga, including written and photographic histories from many of the families who have lived here, history of the local communities, schools and the natural geography of the area.

There are also displays featuring Mangungu Treaty signing, 1893 Suffrage featuring Hokianga women who voted that year, The Dog Tax Rebellion, the 1918 Influenza pandemic, the timber and dairying industries, the 28^th Maori Battalion A Company and accounts of shipwrecks, including the SS Ventnor. The Museum also houses Russell Clark’s original statue of Opo the Dolphin.

14 Waianga Place, Omapere, Hokianga

Open Monday, Wednesday & Saturday 10.00 -2.00pm.

09 4058498

From the Editor

This is a museum and Research Centre I am closely associated with. I have donated photographs, books, articles and historical items to this organisation. They do a brilliant job and, if you are in the area, well worth a visit. It is staffed by many volunteers and if you are brimming with spare cash they are a worthy organisation for a donation.

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Group News

News and Views

arious Articles Worth Reading

From the Editor: Because of space restrictions and copyright issues I cannot put the complete articles in this newsletter so here are some URLs that are worth looking at . Just click the heading.

Ancestry adds over eight million Suffolk parish records

What are tithe maps?

The Police Gazette(UK): What it is and how to search it online

Where can I find workhouse records?

What Can a WWI NZ Service Number Tell You? Quite a Lot.

If you’ve ever seen a WWI New Zealand service number like 6/1532 and wondered what it means — you’re not alone. Those small digits tell a BIG story.

Early in the war, New Zealand used a unique numbering system for the NZEF. Soldiers were assigned numbers with a unit prefix, like this:

[Unit Number]/[Soldier’s Number]

For example, 6/1532 = 1532nd soldier in the Canterbury Infantry Regiment.

Those with a slash ( / ) usually enlisted early and many served at Gallipoli.

Here’s the full list of WWI unit number prefixes used before April 1, 1916:

1/ Samoan Advance Force

2/ Royal New Zealand Artillery

3/ New Zealand Medical Corps

4/ New Zealand Engineers

5/ New Zealand Army Service Corps

6/ Canterbury Infantry Regiment

7/ Canterbury Mounted Rifles

8/ Otago Infantry Regiment

9/ Otago Mounted Rifles

10/ Wellington Infantry Regiment

11/ Wellington Mounted Rifles

12/ Auckland Infantry Regiment

13/ Auckland Mounted Rifles

14/ Army Service Corps Divisional Train

15/ NZEF Headquarters Staff

16/ Māori Battalion

17/ New Zealand Veterinary Corps

18/ New Zealand Chaplains Department

19/ Samoan Relief Force – Infantry

20/ Samoan Relief Force – Mounted Rifles

21/ New Zealand Army Pay Corps

22/ New Zealand Nursing Service

23/ 1st Battalion, NZ Rifle Brigade

24/ 2nd Battalion, NZ Rifle Brigade

25/ 3rd Battalion, NZ Rifle Brigade

26/ 4th Battalion, NZ Rifle Brigade

On 1 April 1916, the system changed. The NZEF switched to a single continuous number, starting at 10,000+. These men often served in France and Belgium.

So:

A number like 12/367 tells us the man served with the Auckland Infantry, likely in Gallipoli.

A number like 74231 tells us he joined later and probably fought on the Western Front. Up to the number around 75000, these men would see combat.

These numbers are more than admin — they’re keys to a soldier’s journey.

Look closely, and you might discover where your ancestor marched, fought, or fell.

From the Editor: I can’t remember where I found this. I therefore apologise to whoever created this or put in up onto the internet for me to easily find it. I cannot find who to ask permission from. But it is a very useful piece of research knowledge.

In conclusion

Book Reviews

If Walls Could Talk – An Intimate History of the Home

By Lucy Worsley, published in paperback form in 2012 by Faber and Faber, ISBN 978-0-571-25954

Fishpond introduces the book with:

Why did the flushing toilet take two centuries to catch on? Why did Samuel Pepys never give his mistresses an orgasm? Why did medieval people sleep sitting up? When were the two 'dirty centuries'? Why did gas lighting cause Victorian ladies to faint? Why, for centuries, did people fear fruit? All these questions will be answered in this juicy, smelly and truly intimate history of home life.

Lucy Worsley takes us through the bedroom, bathroom, living room and kitchen, covering the architectural history of each room, but concentrating on what people actually did in bed, in the bath, at the table, and at the stove. From sauce-stirring to breast-feeding, teeth-cleaning to masturbation, getting dressed to getting married, this book will make you see your home with new eyes.

I bought the book as background reading to help me understand the lives of my ancestors and it helped increase my knowledge.

This book explores the history of the evolution of the bedroom, bathroom, living room and kitchen to what we know of the modern house. It is full of all sorts of interesting facts about how people lived. Forgetting the lurid references in the quote above the book is well worth a read. If you are hunting for the history of masturbation and orgasms etc there are many other options than this. But this is a very readable book that told me much about everyday life.

The one criticism I make is that I got the impression that the author concentrated on the lifestyles of the richer citizens rather than agricultural labourers and such like. My ancestry contains very few wealthy people.

I recommend this book.

Peter Nash

Help wanted

Letters to the Editor

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Every now and then we get requests to put an advertisement in the newsletter. I have therefore created a new section which will appear from time to time. Advertisements will be included only at the Editor's discretion and will be of a genealogical nature.

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