St Pauls Papanui Cemetery - Christchurch City Libraries

sympathy from Caleb Whitefoord. The government more than once appointed him to
conduct commissions of inquiry, for example, into conditions at Dunedin Gaol. He
was concerned about the welfare of individuals and, on one occasion, was in charge of
raising money for the widow of a police officer.
Soon after his appointment as Kaiapoi’s magistrate, Whitefoord bought a property to
the north-west of the town which he named ‘Waverley’; (the name of the farm was to
become the name of the area.). Whitefoord created a ‘nice compact property … out of
what was practically a swamp’, had a ‘charming home’ and established a fine dairy
herd. The farm was known for the excellent butter produced there.
Whitefoord was churchwarden and lay reader at St. Bartholomew’s, Kaiapoi. When,
in 1875, High Church adherent Hubert Edward Carlyon, 27, arrived as Vicar, he
divided the congregation into passionate supporters and opponents; Whitefoord was
among the most vigorous of Carlyon’s critics. In 1876 Whitefoord received a petition
asking him to conduct Sunday services in the Orange Lodge Hall and another where
Bishop Harper was asked to take Easter services because the parishioners would not
receive the Sacrament from the Vicar. In the worldly as distinct from the spiritual
sphere, Carlyon was humiliated when he allowed his horse to obstruct the footpath.
Dragged before Resident Magistrate Whitefoord, he was tried and convicted.
In 1877 the Bench of Bishops found Carlyon guilty of erroneous teaching and
unlawful practice in regard to confession and the administration of Holy Communion.
He resigned, proceeded to England for further advice, retracted but did not return to
New Zealand. He served in South Africa and England, got into a dispute which was
similar to that which he had experienced at Kaiapoi and, while on leave, in 1900, died
of pneumonia in Moreton-in-the-Marsh cottage hospital.
In 1885 the British Empire feared that the Russian Empire had designs on India. Thus
was the Volunteer movement revived in New Zealand. Caleb Whitefoord accepted
command of the Kaiapoi Rifle Company and young men marched round the town in
scarlet tunics, black trousers and helmets. Whitefoord ‘neglected no drills nor omitted
any opportunity to give his men encouragement’.
Whitefoord took part not only in Kaiapoi parochial matters but also in diocesan affairs.
On 15 December 1890 he attended the Standing Committee of the Diocesan Synod in
Dunedin and, during ‘a somewhat heated discussion’, suffered ‘sunstroke’ or a
‘partial apoplexy’.
After a period at Dr. Meikle’s place, Whitefoord obtained leave-of-absence from his
judicial post and went to Glenmark. ‘A month’s quiet in the charming residence of Mr.
G. H. Moore, since destroyed by fire’, appeared to re-establish him in health. On 26
January 1891 he left his home for Dunedin ‘as his health … [was] far from
satisfactory’. In the southern city he stayed with his sister and brother-in-law
preparatory to making a sea trip to Tasmania. Suddenly, on the morning of 13
February, he died peacefully in the presence of his wife and sister. He was 52.
The Press wrote: ‘… few people have any idea of the enormous amount of work
which he [Whitefoord] could discharge with patient diligence and precision’ and that
‘sterling integrity, honesty, dignity and manliness stamped him as a man among men’.
St. Paul’s Papanui Cemetery
2007
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