I'll start with the infant ramblings because they are just so off the wall. After music group this morning Mr O -just turned 3- was sitting at the table eating his toast and peanut butter. He started with "I want my Daddy" - fair enough- we had passed said Daddy doing fascinating-for-a-small-boy home maintenance on our way in. Stalling I said "what do you want your daddy for?" to which he replied (and I quote) "I want to put him in the fridge for two hours, and then put him up there (gestures to window sill by the dining table) and we can eat him for our food. Thats funny! to cook a man! that's funny!.......... (wait for it) My Dad is a beautiful man". Now obviously I agree on that last point - but it's not the kind of thing I say - so it was very odd to hear it from the midgets mouth. Such are the entertainments of parenthood.
Back to George. When I last left him he was 17 and immigrating to New Zealand with his family. They settled in Nelson where his father held the important post of District Manager of railways. During his time in Nelson George met the young Helen Bush who he went on to marry.
In 1880 at the tender age of 21 George took up the post of Station Master in Dunedin a year after Dunedin was linked by rail to Christchurch. Dunedin had been growing quickly with seriews of gold rushes over the previous 10 years, Julius Vogel's immigration and development scheme brought thousands more before recession set in. The young Station Master was held in very high regard, in fact he was noted for his courtesy and consideration towards the travelling public at all times. Over the next years George transformed into a husband and father travelling to Nelson to marry Helen in 1882 followed by the birth of three children over the next four years Ronald (1883), Gladys (1884) and My Great Great Grandfather Basil in 1886).
George was successful in business early in his life and his three younger brothers also did very well for themselves. As well as his post as Station Master George was an enthusiastic volunteer for the Anglican Church, involved himself in the amateur dramatic club of Dunedin and was a member of the B Battery of field Artillery where he would have been involved in regular drills and training.
Early in 1889 George made some money out of mining speculations (the internet informs me that 'speculations' in this context means risky investments i.e. you hope you'll get a really good return but you risk losing your investment completely). His parents then returned to England - a much different concept that it is now that we have long haul flights, phones, skype etc. Shortly after his parents departure George had some less successful dealings getting himself in financial strife over mining speculations. Newspapers around this time reported that Mr Pyke - the Australian mining magnate with mining interests in Dunedin unsuccessfully attempted to float his mining business on the London Stock Exchange. It is possible that this is the venture George invested in - but I haven't been able to find details of the exact nature of his financial down fall except that it involved that very dodgy sounding "mining speculation". George's uncle James Ashcroft took an interest in his nephew's affairs - possibly at the request of his brother, George's absent father. Despite George's strong preference for privacy James was able to warm him early on of the dangers of speculating, and later to notice that George was unhappy and to link that observation with possible financial woes.
George died on the 22nd of December 1889 aged 30. I have more detail than I know what to do with on the events of that day - what they will add to my understanding of George I don't know.
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