Squire BARLOW + Elizabeth HARRIS - Wellington NZ :: FamilyTreeCircles.com Genealogy
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Squire BARLOW + Elizabeth HARRIS - Wellington NZ

Journal by ngairedith

Squire BARLOW was born in 1848 in Rochdale, Lancashire, England
- he was 1 of at least 9 children of Squire BARLOW (1817-1882) & Mary TAYLOR (1805-1891) from Rochdale who emigrated to Bendigo, Victoria, Australia

Squire Barlow (born 1848) married Elizabeth Sarah HARRIS (1851-1913) in Wellington in 1874
- Elizabeth was born in Taita, 1 of 13 children of Abraham HARRIS & Sophia HARRIS who married in Broomfield, England in 1830 and emigrated with their first 5 children in 1839 on the BOLTON


Squire & Elizabeth Barlow had 4 children from 1875 - 1881 (they can be seen at that link)

Squire was a Greengrocer with his brother Robert Squire. On Saturday 18th April 1885 at 6pm Squire Barlow and his brother Robert closed their fruit and vege shop and parted company at the Duke of Edinburgh Hotel corner in order to go home for tea and return to open the shop again in about half an hour. . .

That was the last anyone saw of him until Wednesday the 22nd April

A lengthy report of the FIRE in TE ARO HOUSE at the corner of Cuba and Dixon St., Wellington, belonging to Mr James Smith can be read on:
Papers Past - Evening Post - Volume XXIX - Issue 91 - 20 Aoril 1885 - Page 2
DESTRUCTION OF TE ARO HOUSE

A short summary of what happened is written here
... The most destructive fire which has occurred in the city for several years broke out in Te Aro House on Saturday evening.
The firebells rang out an alarm at ten minutes past 6 o`clock and in a few minutes the principal thoroughfare were full of people anxious to ascertain the locale of the outbreak.
The night was a dark one and a bright glare in the sky in the direction of Manners street indicated that the fire had broken out in the Te Aro Ward.
Crowds of people promptly wended their way to the scene of the fire and in less than a quarter of an hour after the bells had pealed forth, the concourse of men, women and children assembled in the vicinity of the outbreak could not have numbered less that a couple of thousand.

The crowd increased as time went on and although the weather was exceedingly boisterous, five or six thousand people witnessed the conflagration.
The fire broke out in the Te Aro House exactly at 6 o`clock, the occurence being due to an accident.

It appears that as the hands of the clock in the establishment were approaching the hour mentioned, Mr Jacob McEldowney proceeded to light up the window facing Cuba street at the Newtown end of the premises using for the purpose a tube cantaining spirits and lighted at one end.
The contrivance has been in use for a considerable period and found to act in an admirable manner.
Mr Rogers and one or two others who were in the act of putting on their coats in order to go to tea endeavoured to beat out the flames, while two more employees promptly connected a small hose with the supply attached to the premises and poured a quantity of water on to the burning material.
The flames however could not be suppressed and five minutes after the outbreak the employees in the carpet warehouse department, in which the accident occurred were driven out of their quarters.
The fire spread like lightning and it was soon evident that nothing but a mircle could save the building.

As soon as the fire broke out a rush was made to save the contents of the premises and a scene of indescribable confusion reigned for some minutes. Men and boys in a state of great excitement pulled all sorts of goods from the shelves and pitched them on to the footpath under the verandah of the building where they were soon saturated with water.
Mr Taylor, who resided on the premises marrowly escaped death.
Finding that the building was likely to be destroyed he rushed in to turn off the gas supply and prevent an explosion. While he was doing this someone had locked the doors and he had no escape.
Dense volumes of smoke poured down the stairs and he was enclosed with suffocating fumes. He cried out for help at the same time kicking the street door. Mr James Smith recognised the voice and endeavoured to release his employee.
A constable, however, had placed himself in front of the door and refused to allow it to be opened. Mr Taylor heard Mr Smith say "I demand that the door be opened" and does not recollect anything further until he found himself lying in Dixon street with men around him. . . .
Next day a report circulated that Mr Squire Barlow an old resident of Wellington had met his death in the burning building as he had not been seen and at noon Sergeant Ready and several constables made a minute seach amongst the rubbish in the southern corner of the gutted building but were unable to discover anything in the shape of a dead body.

A large crowd had congregated about the ruins for the purpose of hearing all the details. They were somewhat disappointed to learn that nothing had been found.
Mr Barlow is a married man with four children.


Section of the INQUEST ON THE BODY OF SQUIRE BARLOW as taken from Paper Past - Volume XXIX - Issue 94 - 23 April 1885 - page 2.

... Inspector Goodall - I commenced on Monday to search in the ruins. The search was continued all the next day but was somewhat relaxed in order to the have the goods removed to enable a better search.
(To a juror)- The spot where the body was found was filled with debris to a height of nearly 6 feet. He was eventually found on Wednesday by Edward Darby, labou



James Smith's store Te Aro House

Surnames: ARLOW HARRIS MCELDOWNEYGOODALL SMITH TAYLOR
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by ngairedith Profile | Research | Contact | Subscribe | Block this user
on 2011-09-13 07:04:00

ngairedith has been a Family Tree Circles member since Feb 2008.

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