St Pauls Papanui Cemetery - Christchurch City Libraries

From his first days in Canterbury, Blakiston was a J. P. He represented St. Luke’s
parish on the Diocesan Synod and belonged to the governing body of Christ’s College,
was on the Cathedral Commission which was responsible for the building of
Christchurch Cathedral and was a member of the Church Property Trustees.
In St. Luke’s parish Blakiston worked hard to get St. Matthew’s church built ‘in what
was then an outlying part … but the severance of which from the mother church … he
strenuously opposed’.
The 2 September 1898 Press has the following information about Charles Blakiston’s
demise.
Though not of a robust constitution, he was a man who was singularly free
from illness during his lifetime, and his death was not expected to follow so
suddenly the attack of congestion of the lungs and pleurisy which caused him
to take to his bed on Sunday last. At 11 o’clock yesterday morning his wife
and brother, who were attending him, noticed an apparent improvement in his
condition but, in less than an hour and a half afterwards, he succumbed to the
complication of diseases which had attacked him.
The Church news considered that
No. 246
Travis
… Mr. Blakiston belonged to that band of honourable, unassuming, devout
and good men who were leaders in founding the province and whose fine
example and influence have been an inestimable blessing.
William Travis, a Staffordshire man, belonged to the Guild of Silversmiths. In 1856
he emigrated on the Joseph Fletcher with his wife, Sarah, and two sons; two
daughters were born in Canterbury. Travis worked as a watchmaker in premises on
Gloucester Street between Oxford Terrace and Colombo Street and had a family home
in the Merivale section of Papanui Road.
Very soon Travis took to buying and developing farm land in the Eyreton and
Rangiora districts. By 1882 he had about 1800 acres worth more than 12, 500 pounds
in the Ashburton, Ashley, Selwyn and Waimate counties. At his death he had 22
farms ranging in size from 25 to 100 acres.
Travis’ most famous purchase came in August 1883 when Edmund Norcross Corser
sold him - for almost 3500 pounds - the block of land which is bounded by Burwood
Road, Travis Road, Frosts Road and Mairehau Road. The property, known as Travis
Swamp, was leased to tenant farmers. Profits cannot have been large – indeed, Mrs.
Travis thought the swamp a curse – as further land had to be purchased so that water
from the property could be drained into the Avon. Travis would come around to
collect the rent from his tenants. Tom Bisman, the son of one tenant, described him as
‘a real English gentleman.’
St. Paul’s Papanui Cemetery
2007
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