George & Caroline Dutton
Bookseller & Stationer
What is it about the presence of a photographer that causes a large group of children to gather? Perhaps these children were outside of Dutton’s anyway, attracted by his window is a display full of toys.
This was George Dutton’s second Wellington shop. He ran a bookshop on Lambton Quay since 1876 and opened this shop some time in the 1890s. It sat on the corner of Courtenay Place and Cambridge Terrace (where the Hannah Playhouse is now). Some examples of the goods for sale were: annual serial volumes, fountain pens, photographic views of Wellington in a cloth gilt case, Christmas cards, leather desks, blotting cases, Ladies’ companions, dressing cases, cigarette cases, presentation inkstands, plush ornaments, crystal and china vases, ‘and a great variety of articles for Ornament and Utility’. In 1893, the shop remained open until 9pm each weekday and until 10pm on Saturdays.
George William Dutton was born in 1829, in Shoreditch, London. He came to New Zealand about 1864. He married a little later in life in 1871, at the age of 41, to Elizabeth Litten. Elizabeth died in 1876. George remarried to Caroline Ransom (born Simmonds) in 1883. This was Caroline’s second marriage too and she was 34 at the time. She married for the first time in Australia to Thomas Waghorn Ransom and he died in 1919. There is no evidence that they were divorced. Her parents and siblings lived in Wellington.
The Dutton’s first child was born in 1883 and he was named after his father. A little girl named Susan was born in 1885 and died in 1886. Their third child was Dorothy Violet, born in 1889. Sadly their son died in 1902. Later that year, George sold off his stock in preparation to close his business. The reason cited was ill health. He had already sold his Courtenay Place store to an employee in 1896.
George died in 1904 ‘after a long and painful illness, borne with Christian fortitude’ at the family home in Boulcott Street. He was buried in Bolton Street cemetery with George junior and baby Susan. There was further sadness for Caroline when Dorothy died in 1927, aged 38. She left a little girl named Nancy Mitchell, who was 8 years old. Caroline died in 1932 and was buried in the family plot. Remarkably, the plot was not disturbed by the motorway construction and remains intact with its timber grave surround.
Business premises of Elson chemist and Dutton bookshop, Courtenay Place, Wellington. Tyree Studio: Negatives of Nelson and Marlborough districts. Ref: 1/2-011666-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/23167009
Detail from above image.
George William Dutton, courtesy of Ancestry trees.
View of the business of the City Pharmacy and G W Dutton, Lambton Quay, Wellington. Tyree Studio: Negatives of Nelson and Marlborough districts. Ref: 10X8-0007A-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22700677
Dutton plot at Bolton Street cemetery, courtesy of FindaGrave