BY ROBYN PARKES
The New Zealand Company, formed in 1839 was the driving force behind the settlement of Nelson and, in 1841, the first expedition ships arrived to set out the new township.
Immigrant ships quickly followed as families from England and other countries sought to carve out a new life, free of the class system and where they, with some hard work, could become landowners.
Thomas and Lucy Kite, along with children Hannah, George and baby Lucy, were one of these families. They left England in November 1842 on board the ship ‘Phoebe’, arriving in Nelson in March 1843.
They were part of a wider Kite family exodus to New Zealand. Thomas’ sister Hannah, with her husband George Castle and Thomas’ brother William, with his wife Priscilla nee Baskett, had already emigrated to Nelson on the ‘Thomas Harrison’ in 1842.
Another sister, Susanna (Susan) nee Kite, later followed them to Nelson with her husband William Pickering around 1856.
Arguably the first settler at Richmond, before the settlement even had a name, the intrepid Thomas Kite secured 9 acres of land (part Section 83) on the township plan and built a modest house, the first in the Waimea East area, sited on what is today Queen St, opposite the Wensley St corner.
Within two years, Thomas was the proud owner of a newly-built hotel, which he named the ‘Plough Inn’. In November 1845, he hosted a dinner for a large number of patrons following the Richmond fete.
Life was busy for the young couple as they managed the business and their growing family.
Son Francis was born in 1846 and daughter Charlotte in 1847.
Thomas, with a focus of not wanting the ‘good old English sports’ to be forgotten, held a sports day in December 1848 where games of quoits, wrestling and wheelbarrow races took place. By all accounts it was a very successful day.
The inn was a centre for many activities, and over the years multiple auction sales of farm stock occurred in one of the inn’s paddocks.
The members of the Travellers Rest Lodge met frequently at the hotel, and it was in the inn that the formation of the Richmond Cattle Fair first took root. In 1853, Thomas sold the inn and began a new enterprise in the shape of a store, although this lasted for only five years.
In May 1858, having indicated he was entering another business, he put his premises, farming stock and equipment up for sale.
During these years at least three more children were born.
In April 1860 Thomas was the publican of the newly-built Red Horse Hotel on Gladstone Rd. Sadly, only four months later, in August, Thomas died, leaving Lucy with the business and a young family.
With great resolve she continued to run the hotel herself, and in February of the following year hosted a harvest home supper in thanks for the support she had received since the death of Thomas.
In July 1864, the Red Horse was put up for auction by brewer Joseph Harley and Lucy became homeless. She was, however, successful in obtaining another licence, this time for the White Hart Hotel, previously run by George Moonlight.
The hotel was the venue for multiple events, auctions, parties, dinners and for the more sombre being inquests.
In May 1874 Lucy was adjudicated a bankrupt, but a month later an application was successfully made for a discharge. With new direction, Lucy took over the licence for the Ferry Inn at Tapawera around 1879/80. She died in 1885, aged 70, and was buried in Richmond Cemetery.
