Ernest Newet Tyler Passfield

Ernest Newet Tyler Passfield was born at Plumstead in Lewisham, Kent, England [now Greenwich, southeast Greater London] on 31 August 1860 to Isaac and Alice Amelia Passfield (nee Steeden) who had married in Oxford on 16 October 1845. Ernest is said to have worked as a blacksmith. His mother Alice died on 26 November 1866, and his father Isaac died on 8 December 1877. On 21 November 1878 Ernest married Florence Pearson in London. She was the daughter of Samuel Pearson. Their son, Walter Ernest Passfield, was born in Kent on 14 September 1879. Ernest travelled out to NZ in 1882 (after receiving an inheritance from his father), leaving Florence behind. In 1882 Ernest (and most likely Walter) arrived in Melbourne, Australia, on board the ‘Melbourne’. They arrived in Napier, New Zealand on board the ‘Arawata’ on 23 August 1882.

Ernest married Elizabeth Barraclough at the home of her parents William and Mary Ann Barraclough (nee Hamilton) in Katikati on 14 July 1894. Elizabeth had been born in Katikati in c1878, her birth unregistered and her mother likely 14 years of age at the time. Their son, Henry Ernest Passfield, was born in Katikati just three months later. It is thought that Ernest was working as a gumdigger. Twins, James and John, were born in Katikati on 16 February 1896, but John died at 8 weeks old on 18 April 1896 and was buried in Katikati Cemetery. The following year Alice Rachel Amelia was born in Katikati and the year after Charlotte on 8 October 1898. Jessie Jane was born in Katikati on 21 August 1900, followed by Mary Ann Margaret a year later on 1 August 1902.

The couple appear to have separated as Elizabeth was had two McGilvray children between 1904 and 1906. She then either married or had a relationship with Henry McQuan in around 1907, then married Charles McGilvray in 1913. Elizabeth then had another relationship and a child, Georgina Vujcich, in 1918.

Ernest died at Kenny Street in Waihi on 25 January 1930 from bronchitis and cardiac failure. He was buried in Waihi Cemetery on 27 January 1930. Elizabeth died under the name Phyllis Elizabeth McGilvrary at 15 College Hill in Auckland on 23 November 1944 due to cerebral damage sustained as a result of a fall from the first floor verandah of her home. She was buried in Waikumete Cemetery in Auckland.

Source: Biography by Debbie McCauley (2017). Still being researched (djm).