Individual Details

Baptism

Sponsors were father and Mary Anne WILLIS

Census

At 9 Union Street, St Helier, Jersey. Age 2. (Y)
(Y= born St Helier. N=born elsewhere. E=born England)
(Exact age given for those under 15. All others to the nearest 5 years
below.)

Census

At St Helier, Jersey. Age 12. b. St Helier, Jersey

Occupation

Was apprenticed to his father.

Residence

Union Court, off Union Street, St Helier

Emigration

Left Jersey at age 15 years on "Joseph Fletcher" on 20th June 1854.
Arrived in New Zealand, firstly at New Plymouth, then Auckland on 13th
October 1854. Accompanied his older brother, Robert BARTLEY.

Interests

1856 Was a member of the Auckland Choral Society as vocalist and
celloist
Was Choirmaster at Holy Trinity Church, Devonport, for 14 years.

Community work

Involvement included as vocalist, celloist, and double bass player.

Military

Served with the Royal Rifle Company of Volunteers, No 5 Militia

Marriage

BARTLEY - HANNKEN On Monday 16th February 1859, by Rev A McDonald, Mr
Edward Bartley, to Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Mr Frederick Hannken
of Auckland.

The New Zealander
19 Feb 1859

Community work

A founding member with 15 others

Civic Activity

1886 Served as councillor.
1886 Designed Devonport Borough's "Seal of Office" and crest.

Community work

1891 - 1893 Tutored two nights a week

Community work

Was a co-founder with 9 others

Census

Residence: Devonport. Occupation: Architect

Reminiscences

REMINISCENCES OF MR EDWARD BARTLEY - Written c.1916

"My brother [Robert] and I came to Auckland in 1854 by the good ship
"Joseph Fletcher" [departed London 20 June 1854, arrived Auckland (via
New Plymouth) 13 October 1854, captain John Foster] and there being no
wharf, our vessel anchored in the stream and the passengers and cargo
were taken ashore by lighters (large cutters).
These cutters were run ashore and grounded on the beach at a spot
where Victoria Arcade now stands, and we were then transhipped into
drays, which conveyed us up a slopping way known as "the slip", and
thus deposited us on the dry land just above where the stone staircase
of the Arcade now is on the corner of Queen and Shortland Street.
Both my brother and I were carpenters and joiners by trade and we had
no difficulty in obtaining employment, as builders were awaiting
arrival of our ship with hopes of securing the necessary labour to
carry out prospective building.
We landed on a Thursday and commenced work on the following Monday,
our first employer being A Black, who was about to erect a block of
five two-story shops on the corner of Queen and Victoria Street East
for L S McFarlane.
We started by placing in position wooden blocks for the foundations,
after which we proceeded with the frame work, all of which work was so
strange to us as joiners and so vastly different to the employment we
had been accustomed to at home.
There were no timber mills and therefore all the floor boards had to
be hand-planned and the tongue and groove worked by hand. This was
termed "flogging the boards" and I found it anything but easy work to
be constantly employed at from 6 o'clock in the morning until 6 in the
evening.
I was next employed by E J Matthews, a retired officer of the Royal
Engineers' Department, who had left the service to become a building
contractor.
While I was with him, he built all the Government Buildings, viz;
Military Training Stables, stores on Britomart Point, Large stores in
Princes Street, Huts in Albert Barracks, Powder Magazines, Mt Eden
gaol, etc. The Military Stables were in Symonds Street and occupied
almost the whole frontage from Grafton Road to the present site of St.
Pauls Church.
Since those days the whole of Britomart Point has been removed and the
Albert Barracks has become Albert Park.
The first portion of the Mt. Eden gaol was erected in about 1857,
under the supervision of Mr Reader Wood, Architect. Some of the good
conduct prisioners were employed as labourers and occupied temporary
buildings on the site. These prisioners had plenty of liberty and I
remember one, a shoe maker, who was allowed to mend and sole our
boots, for which we lodged payment with the authorities to go to his
credit. He must have lifted quite a goodly sum at the expiration of
his term.

Mrs Bartley has already informed you of the gaol at the corner of
Queen and Victoria Street and the hideous gallows erected in Victoria
Street. I witnessed three executions which were carried out to the
full gaze of the public who usually gathered in crowds of men, women,
and children. These sickening operations were conducted without any
attempt being made to obscure the horrid sight from the public view,
and there the unfortunate victim would remain hanging for an hour.
I must confess the first execution I witnessed made me feel squeamish,
and looking back on those days, one can hardly conceive how such
horrid sights attracted such numerous spectators.
The bodies were buried in the gaol yard, just inside the Queen Street
wood wall and their graves were marked by a little head-board.
When the premises were no longer used for a gaol these bodies, which
were many, were removed and reburied in the Symonds Street Cemetery.

The site of the Post Office in Shortland Street was on a slope running
down to the beach, and on the beach front was the first Customs House,
merely a small four roomed cottage with a verandah in front.

There was a narrow lane leading from Shortland Street to the beach,
and on one corner was a low one-storey building, being the Victoria
Hotel, and it simply had a path in front dividing it from the beach.
This was known as "Poorman's Corner", on account of the labourers
hanging about this spot waiting for a job. On the other corner of the
lane in Shortland Street was Weston's Auction Mart, now the site
occupied by Hobson Buildings.

Weston was an Anglican who took an active part in church matters, and
when the first St. Matthews church was built I remember he imported a
hand organ with which he led the singing at the services. It was Mr T.
Weston we have to thank for the present stone church, he started the
fund for this purpose and when it amounted to £500, the money was
invested on mortgage at 10%, which, together with careful
administration, this small beginning in 1860 produced the magnificent
sum of £32,000 which built the stone church in 1904, and I might
mention that the erection of the stone church was carried out under my
supervision.

In 1862 I was foreman for my worthy boss, E.J. Matthews and we built
St. Pauls church on the site of the triangle now laid out, with paths
and shrubberies at the junction of Shortland Street and Princes
street. There was an old church on the site, which we demolished
except for the front gable and tower.

Colonel Mould, of the Royal engineers, was the architect, and the
church when finished was always considered to be a very good example
of true Gothic architecture, and the design and construction of the
roof principals being specially good.

About this time the Maori war was in full swing, and all the men came
to their work with guns and accoutrements. I was Orderly-Sergeant of
the No.5 Militia but prior to the war I was a member of the Royal
Rifle Company of Volunteers. I was ordered to the front but after a
few weeks I and ten others were brought back to town to complete the
Fort Britomart "Stores", as hundreds of tons of military stores were
landing and there was no place to store them.

About this time I remember an incident in Shortland street when a
number of men-o-warsmen from the "Maranda" and "Esk" under the command
of a young midshipman marched to the front of the "New Zealand"
Printing Office and then demanded from the editor an apology for a
statement in reporting the taking of Gate Pa. The paper accused the
crew of the "Maranda" and "Esk" of cowardly forsaking their officers.

The men threatened that, failing an apology, they would wreck the
building, and with this in view I saw one sailor mount the shoulders
of a mate and by means he entered one of the top-storey windows. He
took with him a stout rope and came out again by another window, and
tying the rope securely, he descended to the street. Then the men took
up their positions on the rope awaiting orders, but the middy came out
of the building with the desired document of apology in his hand,
therefore the rope was removed and the men marched back to respective
boats.

I remember the wreck of H.M.S. "Orpheus" - February 7th, 1863 - which
took place on the Manukau Bar; the first we knew of the affair was by
seeing dray loads of sailors being brought into Auckland.

Commodore Burnett and 189 officers and men were drowned and for days
after the wreck bodies were being washed ashore. Three officers
succeeded in reaching the shore on a plank of teak from the wreck, and
from this I made for then several momentos such as picture frames,
paper knives, etc. I made for myself a model of a book which I still
have in my possession.

It was about the same year that we started the eight hour movement. It
was started by a Mr. Griffin, a painter who was a "chartist", and in
consequence had been transported for life from England for being a
leader of that movement. He was a fine noble man with a large heart
for his fellow working men. Probably his only crime in the mother
country was the "one man one vote" proposition, or otherwise aiming at
the betterment of the working classes, with a view of reducing the
great distress that existed, thereby causing bread riots and almost
creating a revolution.

Yet such a man who would endeavour to find a remedy for such defects
was hunted out of his native country, but he found a more favourable
field for his labours in little New Zealand, and I am proud to be able
to say that I worked as one of his committee-man and thus helped to
lessen the working-man's burden from 10 hours to 8 hours per day.

The movement was first established in Auckland, after which it became
law throughout the land, and also throughout the whole of Australia.

I also feel proud of being associated with our Free, Secular, and
Compulsory system of education, by which the poorest lad in the land
may pass from the primary to the secondary schools, and thence to the
University, by which every lad has the opportunity of becoming
qualified for any position in life. I have been a member of the
Devonport School Committee for over 35 years, and I am thankful that
it has been my privilege to help in maintaining the principles of so
noble a cause.

We have had to fight many times in keeping our education system free
from clerical element, and this has been more especially the case in
respect to the attitude assumed by the clergy of the Roman Catholic
Church.

As a case in point, only a few weeks ago when Bishop Brodie was laying
the foundation stone for the two new Catholic schools, certain
addresses were given in which the following statements were made:- (a)
"The Catholic School was in reality the Vestibule of the Church, which
did not bring up children on homeopathic doses of religious
instruction given once a week, but they were so taught every day,
which was the reason that the school was the entrance to the church."
(b)"That the ceremony in which they were taking part was an assertion
of the principle that education without religion was seriously
defective and incomplete."

Now I maintain that sound education is one thing and religious
training, with all its party strife and denominational antagonism, is
quite another thing, and the two must be kept apart at all costs, for
the mixing of the two must be with fatal results to the former.

I have always taken a keen interest in Technical education, and in
1891 started, in connection with our Devonport school, evening classes
for Architectural drawing, and a year later we provided a workshop in
which I taught the lads two evenings a week for two years.

When I could no longer devote the time to the matter we employed an
expert carpenter and joiner as instructor, and at the Auckland
Exhibition of 1898 our scholars obtained first honours for quite a
number of well-made and useful articles.

In 1895 I was one of ten who founded the Auckland Technical School,
which was maintained for many years by private subscriptions until the
Education Department took it over.

It may be interesting to some to know a little respecting the History
of the Auckland Society of Arts. I was one of the sixteen who founded
the society as far back as 1869 and have continued to be a member
throughout it's existence, and for many years have filled the position
of Hon. Treasurer.

It is now a good many years since I contributed an exhibit but in
former years I was a constant exhibitor and in 1872 I won "Honourable
Mention" at the Sydney Exhibition for a water colour landscape.

It cannot be said that the early Aucklanders neglected the fine arts
in any degree, for I not only came in contact with many fine artists
of the picture painting world, but I was also associated with many
gifted musical friends.

I joined the Auckland Choral Society in 1858, in which I assisted
vocally and also as an instrumentalist on the 'Cello and double Bass.
I have still a copy of the first book of rules printed in 1855.

I was also one of the four who formed the original Male Glee Party,
then termed the "Orpheus Glee Club", and for many years the same four
kept together and assisted at the principal musical functions.

Now I trust I have not wearied my readers, and I hope that the little
past information I have been able to furnish will assist in linking up
the early history of Auckland with that of the present day.

ED. BARTLEY
ARCHITECT

Death

Transcript of Entry of Death in thr Register-General's Office, Place
of Registration: Devonport.
When died: 28 May 1919
Where died: Victoria Road, Devonport
Name & Surname: Edward Bartley
Profession: Architect
Sex and age: M 80
Causes of death and intervals between onset & death: Senile decay,
cardiac syncope asthenia - 6 months
Medical attendant by whom certified & date last seen alive: H C
Bennett 25 May 1919
Name & Surname of father: Robert Bartley
Name & Surname of mother: Elizabeth Bartley
Maiden surname of mother: -
Profession of father: Builder
Where & when buried: 29 May 1919 O'Neill's Point Cemetery
Where born: Jersey
How long in NZ: 65 years
Where married: Auckland
At what age married: 17
To whom married: Elizabeth Hannken
Age of Widow: 80
Ages & sex of living issue: M 59 55 48 F50 44 43

(children living: Arthur 59, Alfred 55, Tal 47, Tottie 50, May 44, Eva
43)

Reminiscences

EDWARD BARTLEY BRINGS BEAUTY TO AUCKLAND
Reminiscences by Ewen Allison - Wednesday, 24th January 1962

At Devonport, when I was a boy, we had some prominent families living
among us, and one of the most eminent was that of Edward Bartley.
The Bartley family lived in a big house which still stands at the
corner of Victoria and Calliope Roads (Devonport), well-known as
Bartley's Corner.
The family was a very large one. Mr Edward Bartley, head of the clan,
was born in Jersey, in the Channel Islands, in 1839. He was educated
in his native place where he learned something of the building trade
under his father, an architect and builder. In 1854 he came to New
Zealand with his elder brother, Robert, who also became a well-known
Devonport resident. For more than 20 years Edward Bartley was in
business as a builder, but for the next 25 years he devoted his
energies into architecture. The Auckland Savings Bank in Queen Street,
one of the most beautiful buildings in Auckland in its day, the Jewish
synagogue in Bowen Ave, the Sailors Home in Sturdee St, Milne and
Choice's handsome block at the corner of Wellesley Street East, Mr
Edson's block close to the Savings Bank, and many other notable
buildings were erected under his supervision and in accordance with
his designs. St John's Church in Ponsonby Road, St David's, and Holy
Trinity Church in Devonport were also noteworthy specimens of his
skill and judgement.
Mr Bartley was one of the founders of the Arts Society, chairman of
the hanging committee at the City Art Gallery, as well as being
Choirmaster at Holy Trinity Church for 14 years.
Settling in Devonport in 1871, Mr Bartley took a prominent part in
Church and education affairs. He started a boys' workshop in
conjunction with the Devonport District School where he instructed two
nights a week for two years.

Occupation

Learnt the building trade under his father, who was an architect and
builder, in Jersey.
1854 - 1874 Builder
1862 Foreman carpenter for E.J.Matthews, Auckland
1874 - 1900 Architect

Edward Bartley was a diocesan architect who designed or built many
Anglican churches, some of the more notable being St Andrews, St Pauls
and St Matthews-in-the-city, the Holy Trinity Church, Devonport, St
John's in Ponsonby Road, and St. David's.

He also was the architect/built the Mercury Theatre building in
Auckland in 1910. The oldest surviving theatre in Auckland. This
English Baroque styled building was constructed in 1910 as the Kings
Theatre. When it was converted into a cinema in 1926 a new entrance on
K Road was built [now the Norman Ng building]. Between 1962 and 1990
it was the location of the Mercury Theatre Company. Currently owned by
a church, it is occasionally used as a theatre.

He also designed the band rotunda at Devonport (1911) which became a
focal
point and landmark on Devonport's Windsor Reserve seaward side.
Other prominent buildings built under his supervision and in
accordance with his designs were The Auckland Savings Bank in Queen
Street (one of the most beautiful buildings in Auckland in its day),
the Jewish synagogue in Bowen Ave, the Sailors Home in Sturdee Street,
Milne and Choice's block at the corner of Wellesley Street East, and
Mr Edson's block close to the Savings Bank.

Interests

1869 Was a founding member of the Auckland Society of Arts
1872 Gained an "Honourable Mention" at Sydney Art Exhbition
Was chairman of the hanging committee at the City Art Gallery.