Letter, Betty Mellor
Maker
Mellor, Betty Muriel
Production date
23 Feb 2001
Object detail
Brief Description
A three-page letter written by Betty Mellor to the Hawke's Bay Cultural Trust in February 2001, recalling her memories of the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake. In the letter, Betty gives details of the names and addresses of her family members, and her recollections of 3 February 1931. She speaks of her brother, Dr Jack Boston of Clive, who attended Nelson Park School at the time of the earthquake. Other family members she names are: Ellen Joan Brill Fox, nee Boston; Robert; Stuart and a cousin, Ernest Rouse.
It was also Betty's first day at Nelson Park School and she recalls that her brother and sister went home without her and of being walked to Wellesley Road, by another senior pupil, Jean Josephs, who also lived nearby. She writes that this is her earliest memory. Betty's father, Bert Boston, then drove the family to Dannevirke to stay with an aunt, before returning to Napier, as his father's electrical shop in Boston's building, was on fire. Betty also provides a little of the history of Boston's building.
Betty's husband John Edgar Mellor lived at the back of the butcher shop, Mellor & Son, formerly Trubshoe's, directly across the road from Nelson Park School. Betty also quotes a letter written by a Mrs E Drummond of Napier, in which Mrs Drummond corrects details from a Mrs Monk's quake memories: Centennial Reflections, regarding Mellor's butcher shop in Kennedy Road, Napier. Mrs Drummond relates that following the earthquake, Mrs Mellor had collected the distraught children and washed and soothed them with hot water from coppers in the smallgoods factory, until their parents could collect them. Betty also writes that the day after the earthquake, Mr Mellor drove his wife and three children to the Palmerston North Showgrounds, and then drove straight back to Napier to help with the clean-up.
The letter is signed by Betty Mellor and gives her address at the time of writing.
It was also Betty's first day at Nelson Park School and she recalls that her brother and sister went home without her and of being walked to Wellesley Road, by another senior pupil, Jean Josephs, who also lived nearby. She writes that this is her earliest memory. Betty's father, Bert Boston, then drove the family to Dannevirke to stay with an aunt, before returning to Napier, as his father's electrical shop in Boston's building, was on fire. Betty also provides a little of the history of Boston's building.
Betty's husband John Edgar Mellor lived at the back of the butcher shop, Mellor & Son, formerly Trubshoe's, directly across the road from Nelson Park School. Betty also quotes a letter written by a Mrs E Drummond of Napier, in which Mrs Drummond corrects details from a Mrs Monk's quake memories: Centennial Reflections, regarding Mellor's butcher shop in Kennedy Road, Napier. Mrs Drummond relates that following the earthquake, Mrs Mellor had collected the distraught children and washed and soothed them with hot water from coppers in the smallgoods factory, until their parents could collect them. Betty also writes that the day after the earthquake, Mr Mellor drove his wife and three children to the Palmerston North Showgrounds, and then drove straight back to Napier to help with the clean-up.
The letter is signed by Betty Mellor and gives her address at the time of writing.
Maker
Production date
23 Feb 2001
Production place
Production period
Production technique
Media/Materials description
Handwritten in blue ink on lined paper.
Media/Materials
Measurements
Height x Width: 295 x 210mm
Classification terms
Subject person
Subject period
Subject date
03 Feb 1931
Other number(s)
73458
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