Hazel Holmes

Edward Constable of Kent a Settler's Life Hazel Holmes

Married at seventeen and widowed at eighteen, Edward left his Kentish hometown for London in search of work. He became an apprentice bricklayer, one of the worst jobs at the time. With his second wife Jane, he leaves England on a long, perilous journey in the hope of a better life as one of New Zealand's first settlers. The anticipation and excitement prior to the voyage would soon fade and the enormity of what lay ahead and the knowledge that there was no going back, would only be realised once he came ashore.

Edward was one of the first landowners in Auckland, and in 1850 he built the Kentish Hotel in Waiuku. This historic hotel still holds the record as New Zealand's longest serving hotel with a liquor licence. During the 1860s his three flax mills became a crucial source of employment at a time of vast unemployment and poverty. As a pillar of society for many decades, Edward became known as the 'Father of Waiuku.'

After 20 years of marriage, without any children to carry on his legacy, Edward's desperate solution was to return to England with Jane, where unknown to her, he married his niece, Susannah. Bigamy was a criminal offence, and, if discovered, it would cost Edward his freedom and his livelihood. On their arrival back in New Zealand, he immediately separated from Jane, compelling her to move elsewhere. Meanwhile, a second trip to England ended in tragedy for Edward and Susannah. But Jane also had a skeleton in the cupboard, as the new man in her life was a twice-convicted felon from the notorious Norfolk Island.