St Pauls Papanui Cemetery - Christchurch City Libraries

adhered to it with unflinching pertinacity, despite all opposition. Indeed, it
seemed that opposition only increased and redoubled his efforts …. Kindly to
a fault … he will be missed by many.
The Lyttelton times, which shared John’s world view, stated that the auctioneer
… was a man of large heart and undaunted energy and … always foremost in
assisting in any movement that he conceived to be for the benefit of the colony,
often to his own personal disadvantage.
Marion Matson was ‘a woman of strong personality and force of character’ whose …
influence was felt within a large circle of friends. Her knowledge of the Bible was far
above the average and her faith such that made her religion practical.
In her younger day Marion ‘was ever in the front in doing all that was in her power to
help in the church’s work’ though ‘the infirmities of age’ meant that, later, she could
not take an active part in church matters. Despite this she was, for over 50 years ‘a
staunch supporter of St. Paul’s, Papanui’.
Marion, 75, died on 23 November 1917. Ironically, at the time of her death, the
church tower was subject to structural weakness. The bells hung, ‘a silent witness to
the generosity of one [J. T. Matson] who, up till the time of his death, took a living
interest in the affairs of the parish’. They could not be rung at the time of his widow’s
death.
John Thomas – Jack – Matson, eldest son of John Thomas and Marion Matson, was
born in 1865 and was a man of promise. The Lyttelton times wrote that
… at school, at college and … as an auctioneer for the firm of H. Matson and
Co., Jack Matson was admired and respected by all who came in contact with
him. In his business career he showed a more than ordinary fitness for his
avocation, into which he threw his whole energy. A cheerful disposition aided
him greatly to achieve success as an auctioneer and his good-humoured banter
and smart repartee with which he was wont to enliven otherwise dull
gatherings did much to make him one of the most popular auctioneers in the
district.
Jack, ‘the life and soul of the social circle at Papanui’, was ably supported by his wife,
Louise. Alas, he fell ill with typhoid and, although his ‘very large circle of friends’
was led to believe that the critical stage of the illness had passed, he died, at 27, on 9
November 1892. He left behind ‘a sorrowing young widow, two fatherless children,
loving parents and brothers and sisters, to whom …[he] was a brother in the fullest
sense of the term’.
About 600 people representing ‘every class and … every age’ followed Jack to his
last resting place. Immediately behind the hearse came ‘the well known gig and horse
used by the deceased’. Next came carriages occupied by family members and then
friends and ‘leading businessmen of Christchurch’. One very handsome wreath bore
the inscription ‘From his brother salesmen’.
St. Paul’s Papanui Cemetery
2007
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