Becklands Place (Inglewood)

Becklands Place runs off the southern end of Mahoe Street in Inglewood. It was formed in 2008 and named after a grand homestead built on the land by Thomas Harcourt Ambrose Valintine (1865-1945).

Thomas Valintine was born in West Sussex and trained as a doctor in London. He travelled to New Zealand in 1890, intending to stay six months for the good of his health, but ended up marrying Margaret Ellis McTaggart (1870-1910), the daughter of an English judge who had recently immigrated with her widowed mother, and was admitted to the medical register here. The newlyweds settled in Inglewood where an outbreak of diphtheria meant a new doctor was most welcome.

The Valintines built ‘Becklands’ on 21 acres of land in 1896. Engineer Richard Hutton Davies (1861-1918) had only recently surveyed the area and its name comes from the Old English word ‘beck’ meaning a stream or brook. It was a substantial home, with eight bedrooms and five fireplaces, and originally fronted onto Maire Street. To get into town, Thomas, Margaret and their children (also named Thomas and Margaret) had to follow a track through thick bush to Mountain Road. The family sold the property in 1904, living for a time in Wellington then Lepperton. Subsequent owners included butcher Henry Weston and farmer Francis Dudley Drake who bred Brown Swiss cattle on the site.

Thomas operated a private medical practice in Inglewood for a decade until he was appointed assistant Chief Health Officer in 1901. His energy and abilities eventually led to him becoming Director-General of Health in 1920. Alongside his illustrious medical career, he also served in the military, achieving the rank of Surgeon-Captain in the Hāwera Mounted Rifle Volunteers. Named Director of Military Hospitals during the First World War, he was made a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1919 in recognition of his efforts in that demanding role.

After Margaret’s sudden death in 1910, Thomas married Barbara Vickers (1891-1977), the teenaged daughter of an Inglewood farmer and went on to produce four more children. He retired in 1930 and died on 30 August 1945 at the age of 79, being buried next to his first wife in Lepperton Cemetery.

Valintine Place in New Plymouth was named after the hard-working doctor in 1973.

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.