Street's namesake a star of the stage

ADVENTURE: The cartoon is by Edward Wyllie and shows Wairarapa adventurer and businessman Septimus Bacon promoting a tract he has written called The revival of Balaam's Ass. It is from late 1885.

THE family of Mary and Charles Dixon has had a long-lasting bearing on Masterton's street names, with Dixon St named for them, Worksop Rd honouring their farm (and the village they came from in England) and Herbert, Hessey and Kirton streets also named after family members.

When we first produced our book on Masterton's street names, Street Stories, in 1998, following a research project with gifted children from local primary schools, we attributed Miriam St as another to be named for the Dixon family. According to a newspaper cutting from the 1950s, members of the Masterton Historical Society said it was named after a pet name for Mary Dixon. As it is in the same vicinity as the other Dixon family streets, it seemed logical.

But further research showed the street had been built slightly later than the others, and was developed by a man named "Tom Wrigley".

We had a slight problem though - we could not work out who Tom Wrigley was. Recently we have thoroughly searched for the elusive Tom Wrigley, and any "Miriam" we could find in his family, and have unearthed a trail that stretches from England to Auckland, to Wairarapa, then away to other parts of New Zealand, the United States, the Kermadec Islands, Australia and back to New Zealand.

It turns out Miriam St is named after a published poet and accomplished singer, and a cousin to one of New Zealand's youngest All Blacks.

There is a famous Wrigley family in Masterton - Wrigley St is named after them - but it turns out this Tom Wrigley comes from another unrelated family, one of three Wrigley families living in Masterton in the late 19th century.

The story starts with the 1865 arrival of the Fogden family in Auckland - Henry Fogden, his wife, Elizabeth, their daughter, Sarah, and their two sons, Harry and Robert. The family came from Kent - Elizabeth was born in Beckenham, the daughter of John Russell, and her brother, Samuel, later followed her to New Zealand. Henry Fogden and Elizabeth Russell were married in 1853.

Quite what happened to Henry Fogden is unclear, as there is no further record of him in New Zealand, but he had previously served in the merchant navy so it is probable that he took to the sea again. Elizabeth formed a liaison with another English immigrant, the wonderfully named Septimus Bacon. In 1871, Elizabeth bore a child whose name was registered as Alfred Bacon Fogden, the father being recorded as Henry Fogden, but it is clear that Septimus was the father.

The family shifted to Masterton where they became involved in the building industry in a number of different private companies. At one stage, Septimus formed a company with two English-born brothers, Edmund and Thomas Wrigley, two of the sons of Edmund Wrigley, a builder of Rochdale. Edmund had married Betsy Hannah Taylor in 1869 and came to New Zealand shortly after. They were to have a number of children, including three sons who were good rugby players, Tom, Frank and Edgar. The latter was New Zealand's youngest all Black until deposed from the position by Jonah Lomu.

However, Edmund's brother, Thomas Henry Wrigley, was more than a business partner for Septimus Bacon - he was also his step-son-in-law - he married Sarah Fogden in 1878. Their first child, born the following year, being the Miriam the street is named after.

Tom Wrigley also shared some other traits with Septimus Bacon - they were both active members of the Masterton Freethought Association, and shareholders in the Rationalist Newspaper Company. Sarah and Tom Wrigley were also noted local stage performers, she a singer while Tom was an actor. They performed with the famed Masterton cross-dressing chemist Robert Gant.

Unfortunately, their success on the stage was not accompanied by business success, and the partnership of Bacon and Wrigley failed after their sawmill burned down while Bacon was in Wellington - arranging insurance cover. Tom Wrigley was bankrupted on his own account in 1887.

He next appears in the newspaper in the form of a letter from the ex-Masterton cartoonist, then living in Tulare City in California, Edward Wyllie. Writing back to Masterton, in a private letter published in May 1888, he reported: - "To our surprise Tom Wrigley and a friend of his turned up a few days ago, on their way from Frisco to Los Angeles. They stayed one night and a day. I strongly advised them to go on to Los Angeles, as it has the name of being the most go-ahead town in California. Well to my surprise, I heard from Wrigley after being there a day, in which he seemed quite down-hearted and said he could not get anything to do, and that there were hundreds of men idle. I cannot help thinking that Wrigley is a bit home-sick."

Wrigley was back in New Zealand shortly afterwards, in Petone, but by the end of the year was off on another adventure with Septimus Bacon and his family as they attempted to colonise the Kermadec Islands. A party headed for Sunday Island in early 1889, but conditions were terrible and it was not long before the colonists returned.

Bacon returned to Wairarapa, but eventually ended up running a newspaper in Kohukohu. Tom and Sarah Wrigley lived in Petone for some years, running a hotel, before shifting to Wellington and then returning to Auckland. By the late 1890s, Miriam was performing on the Auckland stage and receiving favourable reviews.

In 1900, Miriam Wrigley married Abel Rowe, another well-regarded performer who was described as having the best tenor voice in New Zealand. They stayed performing in Auckland until moving to Brisbane in 1913. Miriam took a new stage name, combining her own forename with her grandmother's maiden name and becoming "Miriam Russell".

Shortly after the outbreak of World War I, the Rowes returned to New Zealand, living in Auckland at first, but coming to Wellington in late 1915. They performed as part of a combined concert/movie production.

Miriam and Abel continued to perform but over time they became estranged, and divorced in 1924.

Miriam also remarried, to Clyde Ryland in 1933. He died in 1948; she lived on until 1970, before dying in Auckland.