William & Thomas Newcombe
Proprietors of the Karori Store
Brothers William Fry and Thomas Sydney Newcombe emigrated from Devon, England to Wellington in the 1880s. They had grown up on a small farm where their father ran 180 acres.
The ‘Karori Store and Bakery’ was put up for sale in 1888 by G. Stretter who was leaving for Australia. On offer was the Post Office Store with five acres of land ‘doing first-class business’. It was purchased by Mr C. Bath.
It is not clear when the brothers took over the store but in April 1891, William was appointed Postmaster at Karori. Aside from offering the sale of goods, the Store became the place to leave notices: ‘cottage to let at Karori’, ‘tender for excavation & fencing’, ‘tender for quarrying and breaking 200 yards of road metal at Karori’, ‘wanted a sign writer’., ‘to let small paddock and stable at Karori’, ‘wanted good dressmaker’ and ‘wanted a smart tidy youth who understands horses’ – all to be enquired about at the Karori Store.
In 1893 Henry Grantham was charged with embezzlement of 20s which belong to the Newcombe brothers who were his employers. He had lost the money gambling at the Working Men’s Club and so ‘borrowed’ from his employer. He was sent to gaol for a month.
The brother’s dissolved their partnership in March 1894. The following month, William married Amy Lancaster, daughter of Stephen Lancaster, at Karori church. Thomas was his best man. The wedding was celebrated with an afternoon tea at Hillside Villa. Thomas married later the same year to Emily Kilmister. They moved to Masterton where he became a sheep farmer.
William continued to run the store without his brother. In 1899 he became the agent for the ‘Times’ newspaper and copies were available to buy from 6:30am. Spier’s Karori Coaches departed from the front of the store on a regular timetable to connect with the Kelburn and Karori Tramway.
William became a dairy farmer in the area and lived in Friend Street. He was a member of the old Karori Borough Council and a founding member of the Karori Bowling Club. He died in 1944, aged 80. He was buried in St Mary’s church yard in Karori.
*The Kilmister and Lancaster families in this story are remembered in Wellington street names. Amy Street was named after Stephen Lancaster’s daughter Amy, later to become Mrs William Newcombe. It has since been renamed Marsden Avenue.
Men standing outside the Karori General Store. At this time it was owned by brothers Sid and William Newcombe. Courtesy of Wellington City Libraries ref 50010-359.