BY ROBYN PARKES
Henry Fry, one of Nelson’s early pioneers, was born in Wiltshire in 1815 to Edward and Betty Fry.
He married Anne Gagg in 1840 at Somerset. Anne was born in 1821 in Wiltshire to Richard and Ann Gagg.
In seeing no prospect of bettering his position in the old country, he decided to try his fortune in New Zealand and signed an agreement with the New Zealand Company to be part of the expedition party to establish the settlement of Nelson.
Part of the agreement was that he had to stay in the service of the company for two years with a wage of 28 shillings a week.
Henry sailed on the Will Watch leaving Gravesend on the 2 May 1841, accompanied by the second ship, Whitby.
The ships were farewelled by family and several representatives of the New Zealand Company with a sermon and prayer before they left the docks.
After a voyage of some five months, the two ships, along with the supply ship Arrow, arrived at their destination in November 1841.
Anne followed with her one-month-old son Henry and 13-year-old niece Amelia, leaving Gravesend aboard the ship Lloyds, arriving in Nelson in 1842.
This was an ill-fated voyage with 67 children under the age of 14 dying, mainly from an outbreak of whooping cough.
Unfortunately, young Henry was one of those children.
Henry remained in Nelson for a short time before settling in Riwaka in May 1842, where he took up 16 acres of land to farm and over the following years was able to increase his property to 153 acres.
Shortly after arriving, Henry worked as a foreman on Samuel Stephens’ farm in 1843 and for Dr Stephens at Motueka from 1843 to 1850.
Like many of these early settlers, Henry took an active part in local affairs, being on the school committee, road committee and several others.
He was also one of the founders of the Riwaka Lodge of Oddfellows and was a member for nearly 60 years, being present at the laying of the foundation stone for the new Oddfellows Hall in 1864. The couple had a large family with the majority remaining in the Riwaka area.
Henry passed away in April 1903 at 86 years of age.
His funeral took place at Riwaka with a large crowd attending, a testament of his popularity and of the respect the community held for him.
Anne died nine years prior to Henry, in August 1894 at age 74. Her funeral at the Riwaka cemetery was one of the largest ever seen in the district up to this time with the cortege being around a quarter of a mile long.
