North Shore History: David Verran

W. J. Napier M.H.R. and his tin trunk By David Verran

I have been writing and talking about William Joseph Napier (1857-1925) for some while now. He was a barrister and solicitor, and served as a Liberal Member of the House of Representatives from 1899 to 1902. Amongst other things, he chaired the Auckland Harbour Board on two occasions, developed the Napier estate in the Esmonde Road area and was a Devonport resident from the early 1880s until his death.

A descendant of his sister has told me that that he came to New Zealand from Limerick in Ireland on the passenger vessel ‘Bombay’. He arrived in Auckland on 18 December 1863 as William ‘Napper’, along with his father John, his mother Mary and sister Eliza (later Elizabeth). Also, according to that descendant, his parents were both illiterate, and Mary’s death can’t be traced, while John died in 1881 and Elizabeth (Elizabeth Parsons from 1866) died in 1882. Around the time of John and Elizabeth’s deaths Napier was qualifying as a lawyer in Auckland.

Still in the possession of his family is a tin trunk, emblazoned with ‘W.J. Napier. M.H.R.’, which every parliamentarian received for their political papers etc. This contains a number of items, including studio photographs of Napier and political pamphlets, as well as some of the telegrams and letters he received as part of his parliamentary career, especially for the month of July 1902. Quite a number of those letters are from people seeking government employment for themselves or their sons, as was the custom in those days.

The telegrams and letters are also especially interesting as Napier served in Parliament at the time of the South African War and there are some referring to that war. Also included is an envelope of collected newspaper cuttings covering his ultimately unsuccessful parliamentary campaign in the Waitemata electorate in 1911, along with pages or clippings from other newspapers with items of local and world news that no doubt interested him. He was a political protege of Sir George Grey and naturally enough there is a supplement from the Auckland Weekly News of 30 September 1898 acknowledging Grey’s death in London (Grey had died on the 20th).

Also included in the trunk is a copy of a closely typed four page ‘Sketch of his career’ (as at 1923) and three copies of a ‘note’ profiling his mother-in-law Louisa Felicite Prideaux Evelyn Mills. Along with that is a copy of a full-page profile of him from the ‘New Zealand Town & Country Life Farmers’ Weekly and Land Agents’ Record’ of 21 October 1908 (page 11), which was published just before the 1908 parliamentary elections.

A lot of the material written about him at that time was concerned with what he had done and events he had been involved with, but little on his personality. The above magazine does say “He is a hard hitter in debate, and when in a fight all his energies are concentrated in a determination to win. Sometimes his biting sarcasms wound and rankle long after the occasion has passed which had called them forth. But he has no malice, and once a matter is decided which may have roused strong feelings, he is ever ready to be on the friendliest terms with his opponents.”

The family also has a diamond brooch Napier gave his wife Henrietta or Hettie when they were married in 1890, along with an oil painting of their son Granville Harley Mills Granville Napier (1896-1919), whose name is on the monument outside the Devonport library. There is also a coastguard hat of which the uniform is on display in the Auckland War Memorial Museum, two swords, a bayonet, Te Kooti’s mere (which was presented to

AWNS_19251203_42_2 courtesy of Auckland Libraries Heritage Collection

Napier), a family Bible, a prodigious stamp collection and many very old coins.

When Napier died in 1925, he left a significant estate with a number of assets. However, a letter in the family’s possession and dated 28 July 1926 is addressed to his then widow from New Zealand Insurance’s Trustee Executor and Agency Branch. That letter notes that properties Napier owned had outgoings of 1,100 pounds per annum, but had an income of only 300 pounds per annum. They recommended the properties be auctioned at ‘upset prices’ or priced to sell, particularly noting property in Kohimarama, at Rutland and Grey Streets in central Auckland, at Jutland Road in Hauraki and a 1300-acre farm at Taringamotu, northwest of Taumarunui.

Fascinating what a tin trunk can reveal after 120 years.