Samuel Taylor was born in July 1829 in the parish of Sakenham in Hertford, a rural area where Sam’s future would have been as a farm labourer or in the army. When he was 18, Samuel enlisted for the 58th Rutlandshire Regiment of Foot on 24 June 1848, stationed at Chatham in Kent. In May 1849 Samuel left for New Read more...
On 25 October 1907 John Guy bought a property of 26 acres 3 perches on the east corner of Great North Road and Cemetery Road, Swanson (now Swanson Road and O’Neill’s Road). The previous owner, James Smith, had been a gardener at Mansion House, Kawau Island. When John Guy took over the property, established shelter belts of pinus maritina and Read more...
International award winning photographer Henry Winkelmann who settled in Swanson in 1917, was a notable figure in the community. English-born Winkelmann’s credentials included the grand prize at the Panam-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco in 1915. His photographs covered a wide range of topics, well-known individuals and their families and residences, workers and their work-places, and significant events. In 1917 Read more...
The first building on this site comprised a dwelling, store, post and telephone bureau. It was erected by Arney Robertson in early 1911 but sold to Charles Foley in July that year. Post-Office records show the store being taken over by Mr Sugden in 1915. Ted Guy worked as a delivery boy for a short time, driving a horse and Read more...
John Beecher Guy built this shop in 1926 for his sister Charlotte (Lottie). It was called ‘Wendy’s Tea and Candy Kitchen’ and sold Peters ice-cream, soft drinks, aerated waters and tobacco and home-made confectionary (Lottie had taken a course in sweetmaking). Without refrigeration the ice-cream was chilled in a mixture of bought ice and salt. Lottie provided morning and afternoon Read more...
