Hussey Street, Oakura

Recently this column covered the history behind Waverley’s Hussey St, named after William Hussey, but Ōākura also has a Hussey St, which appears to be named after William’s brother, John.

John Edward Wright Hussey was born in Scotland in 1836, served in the 39^th Regiment of Foot and most likely came out to New Plymouth with his brother William in the early 1860s. By 1861 he was a member of the Taranaki Rifle Volunteers and was involved in military action around the New Plymouth area and was stationed for some time at the Kaitake redoubt near Ōākura – possibly leading to his name being memorialised in the street name.

In 1865 he married 15-year-old Hannah Jones, the eldest child of Joseph and Elizabeth Jones of Whanganui and they had their first child, William Hussey, presumably named after John’s brother William, who died only a few month later while fighting with the Taranaki Military Settlers in Wairoa.

Hannah and John had five children in the following ten years, most of them born in the military bases dotted around the South Taranaki and Whanganui areas, like Waihi redoubt and Rutland Stockade, that John was posted to in his role as a constable with the Armed Constabulary.

Outside of his military career, John must have had interests in the arts as he performed on stage in various skits and plays for several years as a member of the Waihi Theatrical Company, formed in the early 1870s at Waihi Redoubt, just outside of Normanby. Newspaper reports applauded the company for; “doing all in their power to enliven a rather monotonous existence at this outpost”. He is described as one of the Company’s “leading comedians”.

John died in 1875 in Waverley at the age of 39 leaving his twenty-four-year-old wife with five young children. The youngest of these children, one-year-old Laura, died the year after John’s death. Five years later Hannah married Thomas Peachy in Whanganui and had two more children. Thomas Peachy died after 15-years of marriage and then Hannah married Robert Kenderick in Whanangui in 1898 at the age of 47. She died in Whanganui in 1920.