In order to develop and drain the Heretaunga block, and to pay back Auckland financier James Watt, Tanner borrowed in 1868 £12,000 (2018: $1.3 million) from Algernon Tollemache.
Algernon Tollemache was born in Petersham, England, in 1805. He became an MP for Grantham from 1832 to 1837.
When the New Zealand Company began selling land and encouraging settlement in New Zealand, Tollemache became interested in the business opportunities this presented and came to New Zealand in 1849, settling in Wellington.
His family was considerably well off, and having the resources, Tollemache financed many small farmers, including Donald McLean and Henry Russell of Waipukurau.
In 1857, while back in England, he married his first cousin. They would have no children as they were in their mid-50s.
The Tollemaches returned to England around 1865, having made a small fortune in New Zealand from financing and property.
He had collected many Maori artefacts, which became part of the British Museum's collection after his death.
Russell, the founder of Waipukurau, went to stay with his old friend and financier, Algernon Tollemache, in England in 1883 to recover his health, but never returned to New Zealand, passing away in 1891.
The next year, Tollemache passed away aged 86 at Wick House, succumbing to an 1892 influenza epidemic.
In his memory, his widow built six almshouses (poorhouses) in Ham, London, with an endowment of £16,000 ($3.1m) to support three married couples and three single residents.
They still remain in use as almshouses, 126 years after being built.
His fortune was estimated at £1.25m ($248.5m) – a large fortune even today. It was reported that he left a Mrs Margoliouth of Napier £15,000 ($2.9m). His will was generous to many, including his footmen.
The New Zealand government received stamp duty of £35,000 ($6.9m) in 1893 from the considerable New Zealand properties he owned in the transfer to his widow.
When she died in 1893, the government would again net a large amount (the papers called it a "windfall") in stamp duty from the properties.
The amount of Tollemache property in New Zealand exceeded £400,000 ($79.2m) and the New Zealand government wanted estate duty paid on this from the estate executors in England.
When the executors refused, the case went to the High Court. The court found in the executors' favour, but on appeal, the Court of Appeal favoured the government.
An appeal against this decision in the House of Lords in 1897 gave judgment for the Crown, and the estate duty claimed of £111,850 ($22.9m) was payable.
Tollemache, the man who financed the Heretaunga block and its early development, is remembered in Hastings by the naming in 1894 of Tollemache Rd and later the nearby Algernon Rd.
Tollemache Rd had a large swamp on it. To form the road cost £75 ($14,700) and to drain £46 ($9000).
Coincidentally, Tollemache had financed many of the swamp clearances in Hastings 30 years earlier.
Before proceeding to drain the newly named Tollemache Rd, the Hastings Borough Council would wait until it heard whether the Hawke's Bay County Council would share the cost.
• Michael Fowler (mfhistory@gmail.com) is a chartered accountant, freelance writer, contract researcher and speaker of Hawke's Bay's history.
