ROBYN PARKES
Richard Tomlinson, son of Thomas and Annie was, in 1841, working on the estate of Henry Redwood in Staffordshire as an agricultural labourer.
Living with him was his wife Dorothy, daughter of James and Ann Bromley, and three children, George, James and Henry. Their first-born Lucy was born in 1831 but died four years later.
The Redwood family emigrated to Nelson in 1842 and Richard and family followed them, arriving in Nelson on board the ship Bombay.
They quickly settled at Waimea West where another six children were born, Joseph 1844, Charles 1846, Frances Maria 1848, Frederick William 1851, Mary Anne 1853 and Thomas 1855. Mary Anne and Thomas both died in the first half of 1856 and were buried in Fairfield Cemetery in Nelson.
In the earlier years of the Waimea’s the Acclimatisation Society had released birds into the area, and by 1866, pheasants, Australian magpies and partridges were well settled on and near the Tomlinson farm and Richard was known for ‘strictly guarding’ the birds on his property. With a lot of hard work and determination, Richard developed his land into a productive and valuable property.
The family were not immune from some difficult times. In January 1866 son Henry suffered a serious accident when he was fetching a young unbroken horse and, when near Appleby, the horse threw him into a ditch and fell on him, knocking him unconscious. He was found by a daughter of J. Newport and medical help was sought. The prognosis was not good with little hope of recovery.
Miraculously he did recover, living until 1894.
Richard and Dorothy were community people and were well known for their kindness and hospitality and the assistance they gave to those in need.
Tragedy struck twice in 1877, firstly in March when son George died. He was assisting John Palmer to dress some sheep on the 24th. Palmer left the yard for a few minutes and on returning found George leaning against a post. He immediately laid him down and went for help but by the time he returned George had passed away.
This would have been a terrible blow to Richard and Dorothy, but exactly one month later Dorothy passed away, the cause being chronic hepatitis.
Richard was looked after by son Frederick and lived for another 10 years, dying on 15 December 1888 aged 87 years.
Both he and Dorothy were buried in a family plot at Saint Peter & Paul’s Churchyard in Waimea West.
Almost all the remaining children were buried in the same cemetery, with only daughter Frances, who was buried at St Albans with her husband Carrington Gapper, not.
