Caroline Ann Wood

‘She did what she could’

Caroline Ann Blaker was born in 1847 in London and came to New Zealand with her parents at the age of 2 aboard the 'Ennerdale'. She grew up in ‘The Golden Boot’, the bootmaker at the centre of Lambton Quay. At the age of 19 she married James Gowing, at St Paul’s Church, Wellington.

James was a 30-year-old pharmacist, freshly arrived from England. They moved to Napier where he established a pharmacy and dentist practice.

Pearse, John, 1808-1882 :Lambton Quay, Wellington. The Mouldy Boot. The Golden Boot. [1852?]. Pearse, John, 1808-1882: [Album. 1851-1856]. Ref: E-455-f-052-2. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22908018

But in 1873, the first of several tragedies struck: he died, leaving Caroline as a widow with three young children. She quickly remarried her husband's brother-in-law: bank manager James Morris Wood. He also had lost a Gowing - Harriet, sister to James Warden Gowing - and was raising a small child and so the match may have been a practical solution for both of them.

Caroline and James Morris Wood also shared a keen love of music, often performing together with Caroline on piano and James Morris on violin.

In 1877 another tragedy: a freak storm and lightning strike at their house in Waipawa killed Caroline’s 7-year-old son, James Gowing. The strike was so great it caused the metallic threads in their diamond pattered wallpaper to blacken. The following year, the family sold up and moved to Akaroa.

At Akaroa, James had respectable roles such as the Returning Officer and Acting Town Clerk. Mr and Mrs Wood became well-known as the musical centre of the town, performing Verdi and Donazetti for public functions. But in June 1881, his brewery business was bankrupted, and Caroline applied for a protection order against him. She said he had deserted her and the family and without providing any means of support. The order was granted and was to protect her earnings under the Married Woman’s Property Act 1880 from James or any of his creditors.

Akaroa Criminal Case File - Caroline Ann Wood v James Morris Wood, courtesy of National Archives of New Zealand. Ref R25345478

At the hearing, a purser of the Union Steamship company swore that he saw James depart Wellington in the company of a woman he knew to be Mrs Margaret Glew. James presented Margaret as his wife, although she was travelling on a ticket with the name ‘Mrs Williams’. Margaret had also abandoned her husband Benjamin Glew and four young children back in Akaroa. James and Margaret went to Australia together. Benjamin divorced Margaret shortly after, but James bigamously married Margaret in 1881. Together they were to have 13 children as "Alexander and Maggie Wilson".

Caroline stayed in Akaroa for some time. She supported herself by rowing to settlements around Akaroa Harbour to give piano and singing recitals.

By 1896, James Morris Wood had skipped back to New Zealand, leaving Maggie and the Bega police fruitlessly searching for ‘a violin-playing accountant’. He found respectability again, managing the books for the Waihi goldmine. Then in 1908 there is a ‘Caroline Ann Wood’ living at Waihi too! Family oral history records only 'she took him back - we don't know why’. The reunion didn't last: by 1911 she was living in Christchurch with her son Norman Wood.

Caroline died at Wellington hospital in 1913. She was interred in an ashes niche inside the Small Chapel at Karori Cemetery. The crematorium opened in 1909 and so she is one of the early cremations. The plaque reads simply, ‘She did what she could’.

James died in 1918 in Waihi. He shared his £200 estate among three of his children and step children. It was mostly shares in mining companies.

Plot: Karori Cemetery Cabinet Niche (Small Chapel)/Wall/1/6

With thanks to James Harris, a descendant of Caroline Wood, for adding so much colour to this article and for supplying the family photograph.

Caroline's extended family remained close. This photo shows several of her Gowing and Wood children gathered around their aunt Martha Wood and her second husband. Photo supplied by James Harris.

Niche wall of Small Chapel at Karori, courtesy of FindaGrave website.

Caroline Wood's plaque courtesy of FindaGrave website.