Sandown Villa, Campbell St, Whanganui. Artist: Cranleigh Barton, date unknown. Cranleigh Barton Bequest, Whanganui Regional Museum Collection ref: 2000.4.31
Sandown Villa, Campbell St, Whanganui. Artist: Cranleigh Barton, date unknown. Cranleigh Barton Bequest, Whanganui Regional Museum Collection ref: 2000.4.31
Mary Caroline Taylor, known as Caroline, married Reverend Richard Taylor in July 1829.
The couple settled in Coveney where her husband was vicar of Coveney and Manea on the Isle of Ely.
The Reverend Taylor, who had been accepted for missionary service in New Zealand, became renowned for his many achievements, not least his work as a missionary priest in New Zealand, his science and scientific writing, and his involvement in the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.
Caroline had a far quieter profile, yet her work and efforts in the land she came to call home were as notable as her husband's. With four young children and her husband, Caroline Taylor left England, bound for New Zealand, in 1836.
At a break in their journey in New South Wales, the Reverend Samuel Marsden directed Richard Taylor to serve in Liverpool NSW, where Caroline gave birth to a son, Robert.
Taylor was appointed to the Church Missionary Society Mission Station at Waimate North in the Bay of Islands in 1838. While living in Waimate North, Caroline was present with her husband at the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. Later that year their eldest son Arthur was killed in a riding accident. Caroline's last living child, Bertha, was born at Waimate North in 1842.
In 1843 Richard Taylor was appointed to the Wanganui Mission Station, arriving with his family on the Columbine in April or May. In December of the same year, Caroline gave birth to premature twin daughters, one stillborn and the other dying within an hour. Her distress at losing her children is not recorded but was inevitable.
Mary Caroline Taylor in her later years. Photographer unknown, 1870s. Cranleigh Barton Bequest, Whanganui Regional Museum Collection ref: 1802.3441
Caroline helped with her husband's mission work as well as bringing up her family and entertaining and caring for the constant stream of visitors to the Mission Station at Pūtiki.
The diaries of the Taylors' daughter Laura, held in the Whanganui Regional Museum archives, give an insight into the work and life of her mother.
Caroline frequently went to sit by the beds of the ill and infirm, taking invalid food with her for their comfort. She made sure that children left without a mother were clothed properly, sewing outfits with her daughters.
She taught Sunday School and her own children. She managed the work of the Pūtiki Mission during her husband's frequent absences and occasionally travelled with her husband around his widely spread Māori pastorate, travelling on foot, horse or canoe.
Laura's diaries record that her mother was frequently quite ill but never state what exactly was wrong with her.
Caroline kept in constant touch with her family in England, particularly her sister Charlotte in Huntington, England. In the museum archives is a letter dated 1837 from Charlotte who wrote family news on both sides of a large sheet of paper folded into four, making eight pages altogether, with cross-hatched writing on every part of every page, very hard to read.
"My very dear Sister you will readily imagine the joy and pleasure your long expected letters assuring us of your safety and the birth of your dear little nameless boy … letters arrived on our dear Mother's birthday …"
The little boy was Robert, born in New South Wales.
Caroline and her husband and youngest daughter Bertha had an extended visit to England in 1867-1871. The Reverend Taylor was engaged in preparing works for publication and Caroline and Bertha helped him. They also paid extended visits to relations and friends.
Caroline filled two journals during her time in England and these are also in the museum archives as part of the Cranleigh Barton Collection. Barton was her great-grandson.
After their return to New Zealand in 1871, a house was built for Caroline and Richard's retirement in Campbell St and in 1873 they moved into the newly finished Sandown Villa. Richard died there later that year. Daughter Laura later moved in to look after her mother until her death in 1884.
