Martha Anne Warne, one of Murchison’s most respected pioneers, passed away on 12 August, 1942.
Martha was born in Waimea West in 1861 to William and Harriett Hughes. She lost both her parents at an early age, her father dying in 1866 aged 58 and her mother in 1870 after an accident at the Brightwater River crossing.
She had been travelling in a coach on a dark and wet night and on reaching Wai-iti River, which was swollen, the trace broke, and the horses stopped. While the coach driver tried to assist Harriett to get to the riverbank, she slipped, fell into the river, and drowned.
When older, Martha moved to Longford to assist at the accommodation house owned by Joseph Gibbs and it was there that she met her future husband, Lyvian Warne. They married at Murchison in 1878.
Lyvian was born in 1839 in St Issey, Cornwall, to William and Thomasine Warne. He had been working at a whaling station in Kaikoura before going to Longford in 1877 where he entered the postal service, and in 1878 became postmaster and linesman at Longford, a job he held for around 30 years.
During the years that he was in charge at Longford, he often went out on some rough and perilous journeys repairing and maintaining single-handed the line from Top House to Lyell. While he was away Martha took charge of the office and carried out all the necessary duties.
The couple raised a large family of 8 sons and 5 daughters, most remaining in the Murchison district. Martha was said to be an accomplished horsewomen in her early life although she experienced one nasty fall in 1914 after being thrown from her horse and receiving cuts to the face. She was very interested in everything pertaining to the welfare of Murchison, was a member of the Longford branch of the Women’s Institute, also the Murchison branches of the League of Mothers and the Women’s Division of the Farmers Union.
Lyvian retired in 1908 and took up farming. The family lived in Longford House, a well-known building that was for many years a stopping place for the Westport and Nelson coaches. The two-storied building contained about 25 rooms. In March 1909 the house was unfortunately burnt to the ground. The Warne family were able to escape but lost all their possessions in the fire.
Son Lyvian Thomas Warne, after leaving school worked for Messrs Cable and Co, on the construction of the Matakitaki gold dredge ‘Kohi Kohi’. Later he joined the staff of Mr D O’Sullivan as assistant linesman in the telegraph department where he was employed from 1903 to 1906.
He resigned that position to help his father on the farm. After his father’s death he took over a portion of the farm and in a partnership with his brother Leslie, took up sheep country in the Upper Matiri. Lyvian Snr died in 1912 and was buried in the Murchison cemetery aged 72 years.
