Charlotte Tonks

Another of Wellington's pioneers, Mrs. Charlotte Tonks, passed away recently in her 87th year. The late Mrs. Tonks was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Lovelock, who came from Kent, England, in the ship Bolton in 1840. She was born in Cuba street in 1842, and so saw the city of Wellington grow to what it is now. She could tell somd interesting stories of the early days. She attended the school near the Parliamentary Buildings, walking to and from it and having two streams to cross on the way. Lady Grey, wife of the Governor, took a great interest in the school, teaching the children to sew, supplying them with hot milk, and having their eggs cooked at lunch time. Later on, at the age of 15, Miss Lovelock became a teacher in the school. The late Mrs. Tonks remembered the great earthquake of 1855, when a tidal wave swept across from Lyall Bay to Evans Bay, and in receding loft the ground much higher than it was before. So many fish were stranded high and dry that it was feared they would become a nuisance, so all those able to handle a shovel went out and buried them. At the age of sixteen, Miss Lovelock married Mr. William Tonks, who arrived with his parents in 1842 and who predeceased her thirteen years' ago. She figured in the stirring early days of tho city, when all the men took their turn as sentries around tho bushclad hills for fear of a sudden attack trom the Maoris, who wero then hostile to the pioneers. Mrs. Tonks resided at Melrose for the last thirty-three years, and watched Kilbirnie and Miramar grow from a wilderness of sandhills to nourishing townships. She was of a genial and sociable disposition, and was loved by a large circle of friends. Of her thirteen children, eight survive her, three sons and fivo daughters. They are: Mr. F. G. Tonks and Mr A F. Tonks (Wellington), Mr. H G Tonks (Hawera), Mrs. N. Malcolm (Dunedin), Mrs. A. Chapman (Hamilton) Mrs- A- M. Lewis, Mrs. Martyn Williams, and Mrs. H. D. Duff (all of Wellington). A sister, Mrs. David Thomas, Carterton, also survives her.

(Evening Post, 24 May 1929)