Migration to New Zealand

Francis George Fosbery (1813-1897) and his first wife, Sarah Eleanor Wilhelmina (Smith) who d. 1861 after 20 years of marriage, had nine daughters, eight of whom emigrated to New Zealand, where most of them married.

Some of the sisters appear in this photograph, taken probably in Dublin, in 1877.



Eleanor Josephine (1846 - 1914) married Robert Henry Eyton, then Robert Nightingale.
Laura Adela (1847-1910) married Francis Ronalds in New Zealand in 1867.
Frances Caroline (b. 1852) remained unmarried.
These three young women emigrated in 1866, aboard S.S 'Mary Shepherd'.

Florence Emily (1851 - 1886) wife of John B. Miley, died unexpectedly, at New York aged 35.

Mary Augusta (b. 1852) married Henry Widenham Maunsell, in New Zealand, in 1871.
Phillipa Anna (b. 1854) married Richard Nancarrow, in New Zealand.
Sarah Gertrude (1856-1924) became the second wife of
Sir James Mills the founder of the Union Shipping Line, in New Zealand, in 1888.
Mary, Philippa and Sarah sailed for New Zealand aboard S.S 'Ramsay', in 1870.

Eva Constance (1858-1947) married George Mitchell Nation, in New Zealand 1884.
Emma Clarence (b. 1859) married Charles Cargill Kettle in New Zealand in 1880.
These latter two, the youngest of the nine daughters, left Ireland,
in the company of the returning Henry Maunsell family, aboard the S.S 'Queen Bee',
which was wrecked off the coast of New Zealand on Farewell Spit, on August 7th 1877.
The four adults, and two Maunsell children survived their ordeal,
including several days in an open boat, until being rescued on the August 11th,
though the youngest Maunsell child died a few months later as a result of her prolonged exposure.

Together with many other families of that generation, they lost sons serving with the ANZAC forces in the Great War.

In Memory