George Janisch
a safe and pleasant passage to their adopted home
George William Janisch was born in 1855 on the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean, 1874km west of mainland Africa. His parents were William Henry Clarence Janisch and his wife Jemima Sophia Pritchard (known as Mima). On both sides his ancestry goes back may generations of Saint Helenians
George’s father died in 1861 leaving Jemima with four young children. Younger sons Thomas and Henry went to the United States and England. Another cousin, Hudson Janisch, died on Saint Helena in 1884 and he was the only Saint Helena-born governor of the island. The first of the Janisch family came to New Zealand in the late 1850s when a cousin of his father, Vautier Lambe Machado Janisch arrived. In 1885 George emigrated too taking his mother Jemima and sister (Ann) Myra to New Zealand. They were the last remaining members of the Janisch family on Saint Helena.
St Helena Guardian, 22 January 1885. Copy from Family Search tree.
Living in Wellington, George involved himself with St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, gave history lectures and attended the Government House balls in his roll as a civil servant. He was usually accompanied to these events by his sister and mother. The family lived in Mowbray Street and cousin Vautier not far away in Pipitea Street. When George married Henrietta Klingender in 1899, his mother and sister moved to a house around the corner at 6 Bolton Street.
Corner of Mowbray Street and Bowen Street prior to the Western Access development that extended Bowen Street to join up with Tinakori Road. Wellington City Council Archives, 00127-1-Page 136
Mima died in 1905 and was buried at Karori Cemetery. Myra rejoined the household in 1908 and the family moved to a few locations around Wellington before settling on Boundary Road in Kelburn. Four children were born to George and Henrietta: Elsie Amy, Grace Muriel, Nancy Josephine and Gordon.
George started to suffer from poor health in 1921 and he died in February 1922 and was the second interment in this plot. His sister Myra died a few months later. She admitted herself to Porirua Hospital a few days before George died as a voluntary boarded suffering from depression. She died in July 1922 aged 68 and is remembered on the headstone. She was buried at Porirua Cemetery.
Karori Cemetery: Plot: *Public 2/F/50
George William Janisch, from Family Search trees.
Children of George and Henrietta, from Family Search trees.
Janisch plot, September 2024
Janisch headstone, September 2024