The life of George Francis Lissington

There are times when we miss writing about our great grandparents regardless of how much information you have about them in the middle of their lives. George Francis Lissington is one such person. I have slowly collected information about him over time and have used several sources of information from old newspapers on Paperspast, archival records from the National Archives in New Zealand, and other records including the electoral rolls from Ancestry to track his movements. Over time there will be more information that I can use and gather about him. This is not all the information I have on George, but relevant for the purpose of the blog as to tell a short story about him.

George Francis Lissington was born in Feilding on the 18^th September 1900 to James Alfred and Catherine Lissington, nee Hitchman. He was the third of 7 children born between the New Zealand towns of Feilding and Palmerston North. He could have gone to school in Wellington, but I think I was looking at a cousin who attended the Wellington school especially in Karori where a Lissington was on the school board there and also on the Karori Borough Council before it amalgamated with Wellington. I don’t know much at all about his younger days before he married and there seems to be very little in the newspapers. George Lissington married Hazel Milverton in Palmerston North in June 23^rd, 1926. They would go onto honeymoon in New Plymouth.[1] The Milverton family were well known in Palmerston North as Hazel’s father Percival Amos Milverton was superintendent of the Palmerston North Fire Brigade, when George and Hazel were married. I don’t know how they would have met, but they were living in the same township and it would have been a small town in the early 1900s.

They would have their first child in August 1927, Nola Lissington in Palmerston North, followed by George in October 1930 and Peggy Lissington in September 1933 in Parparoa. The New Zealand electoral register has the family located 39 Alma road, Wanganui and George’s occupation as a milk vendor in 1928. There is a story from Peggy in 2016, that George Lissington helped out during the 1931 earthquake in Napier by ferrying people out of the earthquake zone. Between 1935 and 1954, according to the electoral roll, George Lissington and family lived in Huarau located between Paparoa and Maungaturoto. The towns are in what is now known as Northland, located north of Auckland. According to Peggy, George cleared the land himself to be used as a farm and over the years between the birth of the children and early 1941, two houses had been built. The first house had no roof when George was born in 1930. The family stayed in a tent until the roof was put on as George himself built it. They had an outside toilet known as an outhouse. Food and meat would be delivered to their mailbox. The building that replaced the first house was completed not long before young George passed away. The new house meant they would have power connected and an inside toilet. The old house was used for storage and a laundry.

Around 1936, George was a committee member of the Paparoa School, where he resigned as his children were now going to the school at Maunguroto.[2] Young George had appeared several times including Nola in the newspapers looking for pen friends. The young boy, George passed away in 1941 from a coughing fit as he had whooping cough. A blood vessel had burst and he had haemophilia. George was buried in St Mark’s Cemetery in Paparoa. According to the news article the family were highly respected in the area[3] The grave is still there in the cemetery at the St Mark’s Anglican Church.

George had been called up in the ballot for world war 2 for their service from 1942.[4] Since New Zealand had conscription throughout World War 2, George had to face the military board to explain why he had not joined the army as his age group had been called up by ballot. George was able to avoid the scrutiny as he joined the Home Guard in 1943, even though he was a farmer.[5] One story from during the war was of three American soldiers on leave, whose vehicle broke down outside the farm gate of the farm who were on leave from either Warkworth or Wellsford on their way to Dargaville. They approached the house in the morning and was able to let the camp know they were not AWOL. Nola worked for the telephone exchange at the time, so could have been the one who put them through to whoever was in charge. The soldiers would become frequent visitors to the farm when on leave.

Around 1950 George was looking at selling the property in Maungatoroto, but for some reason the sale fell through. I do not know if George and family were still staying on the farm while they were trying to sell the property or as per Peggy’s recollections, they had moved out in late 1949. The Archive record does include, George had bought the property in May 1932 for £1550 and was intending to sell it for £3985 as he had improved the property, which would have been the clearing and the buildings. The property included a Dwelling, cowshed, piggeries, garage and cottage. The farm was classed as a Dairy farm and includes 40 cows and 250 sheep. The size of land owned by George Lissington was 190 acres and 11 perches in the parish of Paparoa. The first sale fell through for some reason, but that did not stop George from trying again less than a month later.[6]

Within a month of the failed sale of the farm in 1950, George tried to lease the land to another company and the records include the reason why he was wanting to lease the land. Due to the ill health of his wife, he was required to vacate the land immediately and take up employment elsewhere. Peggy has written that the reason for Hazel’s illness was from the death of George in 1940 as she had never gotten over it. This document includes a list of stock, plant and implement within the farm. The consent was also withdrawn, which it makes two within a period of months in 1950.[7] I do not have any further information about the farm being sold unless I try and get hold of the land records, but at least for now I have a list of what was actually on the farm.

70 milking cows, 5 yearling cows, 15 calves, 5 pigs, 1 boar, 10 store pigs, 26 weaner pigs.

Plant and implements

3 cow milking plant G.B.B. with electric motor shafting and belting.

1 lister separator 80 gallon

1 hot water cylinder

1 skim milk pump

1 water pump – McL Wallace with electric motor and piping

1 tractor

1 mower for tractor

1 hay sweeper

1 top dresser

1 trailer

1 plough

1 set harrows, posts and timber

George and family appear again in 1954 within the electoral roll as living in Weaver street in Whangarei and was listed as a contractor. It would mean the farm was sold between 1950 and 1954, where they moved to Whangarei. He did end up at another farm in Tutamoe, which is recorded in the 1957 electoral roll. The farm was a mix of dairy and sheep and lived until George became ill with cancer, which was successfully treated through an operation. They moved back to Whangarei where George would work for a bakery by the name of Davidson’s, packaging up the bread at night before he retired. The bakery was located in Kamo. George and Hazel would live in Dundonald road for a number of years until moving to McMillian Avenue, where the electoral roll picked them up again in 1978. George passed away from a heart attack in April of 1979 and is buried in Maunu cemetery in Whangarei.

Sources

Land valuation - George Francis Lissington, to Douglas Alfred Williams, New Zealand National Archives file

Land valuation - George Francis Lissington to George Francis Lissington agent of Hillcrest farms limited, 1950, New Zealand National Archives file

New Zealand Electoral rolls, 1853 – 1981, Ancestry website

Granny’s Life – short memoir, unpublished

Untitled, ‘Wedding, Lissington – Milverton’, Manawatu Standard, 26 June 1926, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MS19260626.2.128, accessed 24/09/2019.

Untitled, ‘Paparoa’, Northern Advocate, 7 August 1936, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NA19360807.2.88, accessed 24/09/2019.

‘Untitled, ‘Paparoa’, Northern Advocate, 3 September 1941,

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NA19410903.2.4, accessed 24/09/2019.

Unknown, ‘Additional cases before appeal board’, Northern Advocate, 13 May 1943,

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NA19430513.2.64, accessed 24/09/2019.

Unknown, ‘Men in today’s Ballot not to act  precipitatley’, Northern Advocate, 23 December 1942, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NA19421223.2.58, accessed 24/09/2019.

---

[1] Untitled, ‘Wedding, Lissington – Milverton’, Manawatu Standard, 26 June 1926, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MS19260626.2.128, accessed 24/09/2019.

[2] Untitled, ‘Paparoa’, Northern Advocate, 7 August 1936, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NA19360807.2.88, accessed 24/09/2019.

[3] ‘Untitled, ‘Paparoa’, Northern Advocate, 3 September 1941,

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NA19410903.2.4, accessed 24/09/2019.

[4] Unknown, ‘Men in today’s Ballot not to act  precipitatley’, Northern Advocate, 23 December 1942, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NA19421223.2.58, accessed 24/09/2019.

[5] Unknown, ‘Additional cases before appeal board’, Northern Advocate, 13 May 1943

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NA19430513.2.64, accessed 24/09/2019.

[6] Land valuation between George Francis Lissington and Alfred Williams, 1950

[7] Land valuation, George Francis Lissington to George Francis Lissington, 1950

Wandering Boots, Travel Ordeals: Wallet stolen in Paris

There are times during many trips where something beyond your control happens. It might go smoothly during one journey and on another everything happens to go wrong and you have to figure your way out of the problem and might even solve it at the same time. When solo travelling you could be way outside your comfort zone and on the road without a support network outside of people on the other side of the world. The recent 8 week journey I went on over to Europe and England did develop some unexpected problems. Problems included having my wallet taken and my luggage not arriving with me when I landed in Singapore.

In all my time that I have been overseas, I had not encountered many problems and thought I had been lucky until I reached Paris. Before this I had encounters that gave me cause of concern over where I was staying especially in Copenhagen. I think it was something like dumb luck there. Right outside of the hostel was an ATM and I was on my way for a day out in Malmo in Sweden. Early morning and I was thinking I was safe enough as it was daylight. I needed some money, so withdrew some and several men were across the road hanging around the steps to the train station. One crossed the road diagonally behind me, talking loudly behind me, causing me to look behind me. I had heard of this type of distraction, but never witnessed it before. I got my money out and one of the men apologised to me that he had scared me. Then went on to ask if I would like a surprise. I started walking away realising I was going in the wrong direction and turned around following a lady with a bag. The men spoke to me as I went up the stairs into the train station, but I did not speak to them. I did speak to the hostel about the incident and they had never heard of something like that happening before. Then a guest starts talking about people stealing push bikes in the city and also one night a group had tried to pose as police, but they took off when he replied back that he was FBI.

In Paris, I had a walk about before I left for the train station to head to the airport and I was walking down some stairs at the Sacre Coeur and I spotted two men at the bottom like they were looking for tourists. They spotted me as there were few people around and one of them did call me, ‘Hey, Bro come here’, I just wandered away from them heading towards some locals. The real incident happened when I was trying to board the train for the airport. I had thought an hour or so before that buying the ticket to the airport would be the safest option as my wallet would not be out in the open and I was at that time not carrying my bags. All trainlines at that time were working perfectly. I wandered to the hostel and grabbed my bags, which meant I looked like a battering ram as I made my way to the station again. Turns out the line I needed to catch was now out of order and blocked off, which meant I had to find the new platform and get the train from there. I wandered down to the platform as there were two platforms on the bottom level and only one of them being used for the airport line. It was crowded, people wanting to hop onto the train. I walked down and watched before going back up and asking to make 100% certain I was on the correct track. I was and went back down. The next train overshot the platform a touch and I nearly decided to wait for the next one, but pushed myself on and dropped my bags as it was extremely crowded outside and inside. Bags were everywhere in the aisles. There was yelling as people passed over my main bag as it was heavy and my backpack was beside me. I managed to get a seat while watching the chaos. Alarms went off and people got off and others got on as people were getting frustrated. As soon as the train started moving, I felt for my wallet in my cargo pants pocket. It was gone and the pocket open.

My first thought with my vanished wallet was they have everything as I had three types of bank cards together plus my drivers license. Two travel cards and my direct debit card were in the wallet. Only reason, I had the cards together and not separated was several days before, one of my travel cards had been blocked and I had to call the bank to unblock it. There had been issues in France through using my cards from outright not working to working or in the case of Mcdonalds saying there was no transaction, when there actually was one made. Then I realised they didn’t have everything as I kept my credit card separate and hidden with my passport in my backpack. I asked on the train if anyone had seen my wallet and people said no and asked what colour it was. One of them even said without moving that they will look for it. A French lady said that she will take me to the police station at the airport as they will speak English. I realised that I could access my cards via online banking as I did happen to have data roaming on my travel card. That came in handy when I could connect to the bank as the signal kept dropping out. I could literally see money going out as I started transferring it out before cancelling the card instead and my direct debit card as soon as I cancelled it, I got a new one sent home. I was slow off the mark, but I managed to save the rest of my money and I transferred all out of the account just to be safe. They were that quick in using the stolen cards at what looked to be a flower shop of sorts. They did get around $700 with conversion fees on top that ended up around $800, which was a weeks pay and I had only just been paid too. I did the same with my travel cards, but those I had to phone up to replace later on.

 When we got to the airport we found trying to find the police station to be tougher than expected. No one seemed to know if there was actually one and that included the military police that were wandering around with their guns. I was told by the lady that it was arrogance on their behalf. We ended up at the checkin counter for my plane and the guy there sent me to the assistance area, which I would end up after sorting my bag as I could set that to head off onto the plane. I did thank the French lady for her help even though she was likely late for her flight and I hoped she would have been on time for hers. I went to the assistance area and found they were the people who helped those in chairs and elderly onto the plane, but they did help me by grabbing one of the other airport workers who directed me to the police around the corner. I did give them all the details thinking I wont be there for long and that the lady who could speak some English was helpful. I was asked several times if I wanted to make a report and I said yes as I thought my travel insurance would need it. They took my passport and boarding pass where an officer would be with me soon. Around 2 hours later after watching my passport walk up and down stairs at least 3 or four times, I was getting anxious at the time running out for my flight. I was getting very close as the officer gave me paperwork to sign and I was off and running. I was even stuck at the gate after one of the immigration guys decided to go home and there was one passport stamper. I pleaded my case politely with the guy who was watching the line and he walked me to the passport stamper and off I went thinking I was very late. I was 5 min on time before my flight started boarding. By this time I had no lunch and nothing to drink either. I was not even sure if the pay wave on my credit card would work or if it would actually work. I only had foreign currency on me.

I didn’t tell family or even friends until after I landed about what had happened as I knew mum was in bed and needed her sleep and everyone else didn’t need to worry about me. It was around 9pm in Australia when I was sorting out the police stuff. Everyone was long away on the other side of the world, so couldn’t really help other than moral support. It was something I needed to deal with and actually turned out to be relatively easy and simple.

The saga did continue when I landed in Edinburgh, but I was happy to be there and I was drained. I changed what little money I had left over to the pound and that wasn’t very much, but it was something. From memory, I think it was something like 16 pound as I had Danish notes and Singapore dollars. I went to catch the tram into the city where I was staying and I inserted my credit card as I had been informed tap and Go wouldn’t work. I was getting upset when the card was rejected twice. I tried tap and go on the ticket lady’s advice and that worked. I did end up calling the bank about my travel cards as soon as I got into the hostel and I was feeling down. The cards couldn’t be sent to me as they had to arrive via home and then be sent on. I found my credit card works and also that I could withdraw money out, which eased some fears. I couldn’t increase my credit card limit as that was rejected. I wondered how I was making these long phone calls without being charged and found they were reverse charged. It was the next day that I rang to soprt out my credit card and to ease my fears of the bank swallowing my only means at accessing money. I explained to the guy on the phone as I had to ring in Australian bank call centre opening hours. I somehow had my card linked to my savings account and he told me I had to find the right ATM that would give me the options. I never actually found that type of ATM, but I made sure to separate my cash when ever I withdrew it. I felt happier once I spoke to the bank at home about the issues and they did help. It took me several days to talk to the bank again about the fraud and they looked into it and it was only several days later that I got my money back as I gave them the exact amounts and where the money had been taken from.

It took just over a week for my new cards to arrive in the UK as they had been posted home and then express posted to a post office. I activated one travel card immediately as I had money on it to pay for my next accommodation. I was lucky in that respect as all the placed with the exception of one had already been paid for before leaving Australia. I do consider myself to be very lucky as I only lost my wallet and drivers license that I reordered a week later. I didn’t use my travel insurance as the bank in my opinion took care of me, but there were small continuing issues with the long lost cards as some train tickets you could not retrieve without the card you purchased with. I bought new tickets, but nearly all the places I had already had a ticket in hand, so travel wasn’t too put out. I did have a new wallet too by that stage and I kept my cards separated and my only ID now was my passport, which made me fear losing that or the problem of it quite possibly getting wet.

There were other small problems like trains being cancelled and the biggest one was my luggage didn’t arrive in Singapore with me and I was actually happy, I didn’t have to carry that around through Singapore just on dark as I ended up getting lost going to the hotel. I was more than happy to stink my way through Singapore even though I did have help with clothes. I did however have chargers and powerpacks on my person luckily. That’s another story of fun and I learnt so much about my ability to handle pressure. Just shrug and move on.