CHATTERIS, Henry




Henry Chatteris
c. 1850-1939


New Zealand
1870-1871


Arrived 23 December 1870 Lyttelton 1870 on the "Zealander" as a cabin passenger. Departed Lyttelton on the barque "John Knox" for Sydney 10 May 1871.


 Australia
 1871-1875

married Christina Tindall, 1873, reg. 1269/1873 Balmain, NSW.


New Zealand
1875-

 
Returned from Sydney with wife on the "John Knox" 25 February 1875. Departed Lyttelton on the "Lady Bird" for Wellington and northern ports 3 March 1875.


 

Nelson
1875


September 1875 - House and Commission Agent, Trafalgar Street, Nelson
February 1876 - advertises cases of Australian birds and a young pet kangaroo for sale.
March 1876 - advertises as veterinary surgeon at the Hardy Street Livery Stables.
November 1876 - judges dogs at the annual Richmond show
January 1877 - competes in the Interprovincial Sailing Regatta - second class Open Sailing Boat Race, boat named "Star"
April 1877 - moves from Newton's Livery Stables to Twist and Gay's Livery Stables, Trafalgar street

Importation of Greyhounds.— Nelson is likely to become the head quarters of a fine stud of greyhounds, Mr Chatteris having purchased in England the following thoroughbred stock:—
Stud dog, Balchristie, by Cashier, out of Bab at the Bowster; brood slut, Glare, by Master M'Grath, out of Medal. Glare is own sister to Sandy, the winner and runner-up for the Australian Waterloo. Brood slut, Handsome Girl, by Dan O'Connell, out of Priestess; and
second season dog, Alcydes, by Balchristie, out of Diana. All four dogs are as high class blood as anything in the world. They are now on the ship Queen Bee, and should arrive next month.
Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 936, 25 June 1877


The Queen Bee was wrecked on Farewell Spit August 1877
Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 186, 8 August 1877

...Captain Cross on going on board found the vessel abandoned, the only living things being four dogs and a cat, the former including some very valuable greyhounds, which were being imported by Mr Chatteris. These, we believe, were all drowned.
Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 187, 9 August 1877 


The Lady Barkly had arrived at the scene of the wreck at half-past six in the morning, when Captain Cross boarded the ship. He found her abandoned, and the only living things he saw were a cat and four dogs; the latter he loosened: two of them we believe were greyhounds of the first pedigree, which, with two others that are drowned, cost £650.
Press, Volume XXVIII, Issue 3767, 17 August 1877 



Lyttelton Times, Volume XLVIII, Issue 5236, 30 November 1877


North Otago Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2234, 26 June 1879




A Mr and Mrs Chatteris departed Lyttelton on the ship Crusader about 4 February 1880 as saloon passengers for London.
Lyttelton Times, Volume LIII, Issue 5911, 5 February 1880




218 High Street
Christchurch
October 1884 to January 1886



“Champagne Charlie.”— A well-executed photograph of this well-known son of Hook - Banner has been taken by Mr H. Chatteris, and is now on view in the window of Mr Fisher, of Hereford street.
Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2550, 10 June 1882


City Improvements.
The block of wooden buildings in High-street belonging to Messrs H. J. Hall and A. Simpson, lately destroyed by fire, are to be replaced by handsome stone structures. Plans for the purpose have been prepared by Mr A. W. Simpson, architect, and the contract for erection has been let to Mr J. Greig ...


... In the back portion of the upper floor is a photographic studio, a room 32ft in length, 14ft wide and 15ft 9in high, with a ground glass window at the side of the room about 19ft wide. This room is carefully ventilated with two large ventilators and several air flues. Attached are dressing and waiting rooms, dark chamber with sink and water supply, a room for printing, and all other requirements of a completely fitted photographic studio.

Star, Issue 4947, 11 March 1884


 The Star, 17 October 1884, page 3.



Simpson's new building [centre], High Street, Christchurch about December 1885. Henry Chatteris' Art Photographic Studio was located on the upper floor of this building. Later in  1886 it was replaced with the studio of Gamble & Co. and soon afterwards this was the location of Standish and Preece's studio.
 photograph by Burton Brothers, Dunedin




The entrance to Henry Chatteris studio at 218 High Street, December 1885.





 


above cdv courtesy of The Laurence Eagle Collection


The Exhibition.
...Photography.—(Continued.) The specimens of instantaneous photography shown by Mr H. Chatteris, of Christchurch, exemplify in a high degree the advantages of the process. The portraits of a couple of fine dogs are particularly noticeably the intelligent expression of the faces having been admirably caught. The other photographs are clear, and of a fairly good tone. Mr Chatteris also shows some fine specimens of English work, in the shape of portraits, taken by the aid of the electric light...
Lyttelton Times, Volume LVII, Issue 6641, 10 June 1882

 

Having received an invitation from Mr H. Chatteris, I viewed a number of noted greyhounds that he has painted, viz., Azamat, Seafield, Seadrift, Gladstone, and Master McGrath. He has also on the way Queen, Cliquot and Box. They are all oil paintings, and those completed are in Alhambra frames. The likenesses of all are perfect, and any one who knew the dogs would name them at a glance. They arc certainly well done, and Mr Chatteris deserves great credit for their proficiency and finish.
Press, Volume XL, Issue 5792, 5 April 1884


 
Mr. Henry Chatteris's studio, at 218, High street, opposite the Triangle, is one of the places in Christchurch which it is worth a visitor's while to visit. Mr. Chatteris was formerly in Mr. J. E. Mayall's studio in London, and there gained the experience which enables him to produce the beautiful specimens of photographic art in portrait and scenery with which the walls and show-cases of his studio abound.

His suite of rooms comprise handsomely-furnished waiting and ante-rooms, the studio (33 feet by 18 feet), a dark room, a printing room, and an office. For his pictures he uses the new dried plates, and his rooms are filled with all the most improved latest appliances for taking and printing pictures. He makes a specialty of his enlargement of portraits by a new process, and certainly, judging by the specimens of his work which adorn his rooms—one of the late Rev. Mr. Buller (died 1884) in particular,—his success in this direction seems to be very great. 

Another kind of work to which he gives special attention is portraits on porcelain, coloured for hanging against windows which thereby act as beautifully soft transparencies. Mr. Chatteris has also introduced small miniature photographs, admirably adapted for portraits of children, and these are done at a remarkably low figure. One thing cannot but strike the visitor to Mr. Chatteris's rooms, namely, that the work which he turns out is all of a first-class kind, and that to the minutest details he shows considerable taste and skill in the way in which his photographs are finished and mounted.
Illustrated Guide to Christchurch and Neighbourhood 
by M. Mosley, 1885. New Zealand Electronic Text Centre of Victoria University.




 from The Southern Provinces Almanac 1885

 Lyttelton Times, Volume LXV, Issue 7760, 18 January 1886


 The Greyhound called 'King Cob' (after William Barraud)
William Turner Davey (1818 - c.1890)
Springhill © National Trust / Peter Muhly


Master McGrath



Mr. H. Chatteris
The death has occurred in Auckland in his 89th year of Mr. Henry Chatteris, who was at one time the only qualified veterinary surgeon in New Zealand. Mr. Chatteris arrived in New Zealand from England when he was 21 and took up residence in Christchurch, where he married Miss Christina Tindall [no record of this marriage], a daughter of an early settler. Mr. Chatteris was a keen follower of trotting and some years ago was made a life member of the Auckland Trotting Club. He was also a life member of the Auckland Automobile Association, of which he was a foundation member. With the late Mr. W. G. Walker, he was one of the first men interested in coursing in Christchurch. He was predeceased by Mrs. Chatteris.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23423, 12 August 1939


Mrs Chatteris owned the painting by
John Gibb titled "The Wreck of the Barque Melrose"


The First Zealandia.
There was another ship bearing the same name which came out to the Dominion in the 'fifties, and she was also a fine vessel of 1032 tons. She was sent out by Willis, Gann and Co., and ran to Lyttelton on her maiden voyage in 1858, bringing out 400 immigrants from London. The following year she brought out 316 immigrants. Captain Foster commanded the ship on each occasion when she came to New Zealand.

Mr. Henry Chatteris, of Ponsonby, Auckland, who was a passenger on both Zealandias, has supplied me with the following interesting details. Mr. Chatteris writes: "It was in 1869 that I unexpectedly landed as a youth at Cork. In that year I was a passenger by the famous Omar Pascha, bound from Moreton Bay to England. All went well until the tropics, and about mid-Atlantic. There the ship was found to be on fire, and all hands—about 160 in number—were taken on board a little Italian barque bound from Palermo to New York.

Captain Grey, R.N.R., the commander of the Omar Pascha, was a noted saltwater dandy, and had everything aboard ship-shape and Bristol fashion. By virtue of his R.N.R. rank he used to keep up gun drill, and boat drill was a regular weekly event; not the perfunctory sort of thing carried on by masters of many ships, but a genuine drill, every boat being lowered into the water and pulled for a stretch from the ship's side. The result was that when the time came for the Omar Pascha's people to put off to the rescuing barque her boats were all as tight as a drum, in strong contrast to the equipment of the Italian, three of his boats filling and sinking as soon as they were lowered. There were only eleven of a crew on the Italian orange boat, and they were short of water, so it can be imagined what a quandary the captain must have been in when the Omar Pascha's people were added to his list. But there were plenty of oranges aboard, and these were served out to the rescued people.

Mr. Chatteris, in describing the end of the fine Omar Pascha, said she sank by the stern, and for quite a while stood up with her bows right out of the water. Before she finally went down every rat in the ship seemed to have clambered up on the bow, and there appeared to be millions of them.

Being in a pretty well-beaten track the shipwrecked people soon fell in with a large vessel that proved to be the ship Zealandia, loaded with guano and bound from Callao to Cork for orders. She took off the Omar's people, and the captain of the Italian barque was quite sorry to part with them.

When the Zealandia arrived at Cork she signalled to a ship there, "We have on board the passengers and crew of the Omar Pascha, burned at sea," and strangely enough the ship to which she sent the signal replied, "And we have on board the passengers and crew of the ship Bluejacket, burned at sea."

A few months later, in the year 1870, Mr. Chatteris started off on another trip, and by another strange coincidence he sailed on the new Zealandia. By still another strange coincidence the skipper of the new Zealandia was Captain White, who was in command of the Bluejacket when she was burned. "Bully" White, they used to call him; a real hard sailorman who delighted to carry on, and never took a sail in until he was absolutely compelled to do so.
White Wings (volume I)
Henry Brett
The Brett Printing Company Limited, 1924, Auckland

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