Joseph Hewlett PERCY - Hutt Valley Biographical Index and ...

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Joseph Hewlett PERCY (1797-1864) 

Parish Register Sherborne, Dorset 

Baptism 18 March 1797 Joseph Hewlett Percy son of Joseph & Elizabeth. 

1841 Census Westbury, Sherborne, Dorset 

Joseph PERCY 40yrs Builder born in the county 

Hester PERCY 40yrs born in the county 

Joseph PERCY 19yrs born in the county 

Eliza PERCY 17yrs born in the county 

Henery PERCY 7yrs born in the county 

Eunice PERCY 2yrs born in the county 

Passenger List for the ship ‘Clifton’ - http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ourstuff/Clifton.htm 

Sailed London 02 Oct 1841, arrived Wellington 17 Feb 1842. Joseph Hewlett Percy (40yrs) Carpenter & Joiner; Esther (39); Joseph Henry 

(19) Carpenter & Joiner; Elizabeth (16) Dressmaker; Henry James (7); Eunice Esther (2). Archives NZ Wellington Reference NZC 34/2 p181 

Wellington Independent 10 Feb 1858 Birth 

At Petone, Hutt, on Sunday, the 7 th inst., the wife of Mr Joseph Percy, of a son. 

Wellington Independent 10 Feb 1860 Birth 

At the Koro Koro Mill, Petone, on the 4 th of February, 1860, Mrs Joseph Percy, of a son. 

Wellington Independent 25 Mar 1862 Birth 

At the Koro Koro, Petoni, on Wednesday, the 19 th instant, the wife of Mr Joseph Percy, of a daughter. 

New Zealand Spectator and Cook’s Strait Guardian 22 Oct 1864 Death 

On the 20 th October 1864 at Pitone-road, Hutt, Mr Joseph Hewlett Percy; aged 67. 

Wellington Independent 14 Jan 1865 Birth 

On the 9 th January, at the Korokoro, the wife of Mr Joseph Percy, of a son. 

HBIG A-Z Percy Last updated 16 February 2013 Page 1 of 5


Evening Post 24 Jul 1869 In the Supreme Court of New Zealand – Wellington District 

In the matter of the Bankruptcy Acts, 1867 and 1868; and in the matter of Joseph Percy, of the Lower Hutt, in the province of Wellington, 

miller, an insolvent. Notice is hereby given that Joseph Percy of the Lower Hutt, in the province of Wellington, miller, did this day file in the 

Supreme Court, at Wellington, a declaration of insolvency. Dated at Wellington, twenty-third of July, 1869. J. G. Allan, Solicitor for Joseph 

Percy. 

Evening Post 21 Sep 1869 

Sale of Mixed Poultry at the Hutt. Mr James Smith will sell at the Korokoro Mill, Petoni, by instructions from the trustee of Joseph Percy’s 

estate, on Wednesday, 22 nd September, without reserve, 200 (more or less) Fowls of various kinds. Terms cash. Sale at 2 o’clock. 

Evening Post 06 Oct 1873 Death 

On the 4 th inst., at the residence of Mr William Cleland, Taita, Esther Percy, relict of the late Joseph Hewlett Percy, of the Koro Koro, Hutt, 

aged 74 years. 

Evening Post 11 Sep 1883 Funeral Notice 

The Friends of Mr Joseph Percy are respectfully invited to attend the funeral of his late son, Frederick Richard, which will leave Petone for 

the Taita Cemetery at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, 12 th September, 1883. E. & A. Collett, Undertakers. Petone, 11 th September. 

Evening Post 15 Mar 1886 Death and Funeral Notice 

On 14 th March, 1886, at his residence, Petone, after a short illness, Joseph Percy, aged 64 years 6 months; deeply regretted. Wairarapa 

and Home papers please copy. The Friends of Mr Joseph Percy are respectfully invited to attend his Funeral, which will leave his late 

residence, Petone, for the Taita Cemetery, on Tuesday, 16 th March, at 3 p.m. E. & A. Collett, Undertakers. 

Evening Post 01 Nov 1901 Death 

On 1 st November, 1901, at her residence, Hutt-road, Petone, Annie Maria, widow of the late Joseph Percy, in her 73 rd year. 

Otago Daily Times 17 Feb 1910 Personal 

Mr J. H. Percy, who died at Petone last week, formed one of the guard-of-honour that escorted the Duke of Edinburgh from Wellington to 

Upper Hutt, when his Royal Highness visited New Zealand some 46 years ago. He was born in Petone over 50 years ago, and spent the 

whole of his life in the district. His father, the late Mr Joseph Percy, arrived in New Zealand by the ‘Clifton’ in 1841. Mr Percy is survived by 

his wife and 10 children – six daughters and four sons. 



Evening Post 12 Jan 1914 Death 

On the 11 th January, 1914, at his mother’s residence, 164, Hutt-road, Petone, Arthur Everest, beloved son of Mrs Ada and late Joseph 

Percy, aged 19 years and 9 months. Private interment. Funeral on Tuesday, 13 th January, 1914, at 1.30 p.m. for Taita Cemetery. 

Evening Post 03 Feb 1934 Mr W. J. Percy 

The death of Mr Walter John Percy, a member of the well-known family in the Hutt Valley, occurred yesterday. The late Mr Percy was born 

in Petone 73 years ago. He was the son of the late Mr Joseph Percy and was educated at the state school in Lower Hutt. Early in his career 

he was a builder and contractor, and with his brothers built quite a number of the houses in the Hutt Valley in the early days. He was once a 

keen cricketer, rifle shot, and fisherman. He had been retired for a considerable number of years, and with his brothers lived on a beautiful 

property above the Hutt Road. He was of a retiring disposition and of strong conservative political principles. He was a single man and was 

survived by two brothers, Messrs William and Arthur Percy. The Percy brothers have perhaps the finest collection of native flora to be found 

in one area in the Dominion, and the collection and preservation of native flora was an absorbing passion in the life of the late Mr Percy. No 

trouble or expense was too great for him in obtaining new specimens, and not only specimens from the whole of New Zealand, but rare 

specimens from the outlying islands are among the collection on the hillside at Petone. On one occasion he and his brothers watched over 

two rare seeds for three years, and felt amply rewarded when at last one of them germinated. The late Mr Percy was the promoter of a 

recent petition to Parliament, asking that it be made a penal offence for anyone to destroy native flora by taking it from its natural habitat. 

Evening Post 20 Jul 1935 Mr William Percy 

The death has occurred in a private hospital of Mr William Alfred Percy, a member of one of the pioneer families of Petone, in his 82 nd year. 

The father of Mr William Percy, Mr Joseph Percy, in the early days of the district, leased a mill on the Korokoro Stream, where the Woollen 

Mills now stand, and his son, who has just died, used to help him. There was another mill, run by Mr Henry Percy, off the Hutt Road, and 

when the owner removed to Masterton it was unoccupied for a number of years. Eventually, when the mill at the Korokoro Stream was 

leased, Mr Joseph Percy took over his relative’s mill, which still stands in Old Mill Road. The family lived in a house near the end of the 

Petone side of the Hutt Road ramp, but when the railway was put through the house was taken to pieces. Some of the timber in this house 

was taken from the first Hutt Bridge. The house was never re-erected, although the timber is still there, the family living in what is known as 

Percy’s Gully, in really beautiful grounds. In the early days of Petone’s development many of the houses in the Hutt Valley were built by the 

late Mr Percy’s brothers. The family also owned a considerable amount of land, which they subdivided. When Mr Joseph Percy came out to 

New Zealand in 1840 he brought an acorn with him and planted it. The oak was the oldest in the Wellington Province, and the only other 

one in New Zealand believed to be older is in the North Auckland district. When the railway was put through Mr Percy’s tree was cut down 

2ft from the ground by employees of the Public Works Department. The butt was then uprooted, with very little of the roots remaining, and 

was left lying about for four months. Then, at the instigation of Mr William Percy, it was replanted near the old mill, carefully watered every 

day, took root, and now is about 15ft high. The late Mr William Percy was an expert horticulturalist. He was an extremely retiring man. Of 

the original family, which consisted of Joseph, Frederick, John, James, William and Arthur (sons) and Lucy and Adelaide (daughters), 

Arthur is the only one now alive. 



Evening Post 17 Jul 1937 Obituary – Mrs J. H. Percy 

Mrs J. H. Percy, who was a member of a well-known family in the Hutt Valley, died recently at the age of 77 years. The late Mrs Percy was 

born at Kaiapoi and came with her father to Petone when she was only a child. She married the late Mr Joseph Percy, whose parents came 

out to New Zealand in the ‘Clifton’ in 1842. Mrs Percy’s father kept the first toll bridge over the Hutt River. She leaves two sons, six 

daughters, 27 grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren. 

Evening Post 12 Jan 1939 Obituary – Mr A. W. Percy 

The last member of the third generation of the Petone pioneer family of Percys, Mr Arthur Welch Percy, died at his home on the western 

hills of Petone on Sunday, at the age of 75. The Percy family was one of the first to settle in the Hutt Valley and for many years the Percys 

were among the foremost of the builders and contractors in the district. Among their many contracts was one for building one of the first 

bridges to span the Hutt River, near the site of the present Lower Hutt bridge. They also owned one of the first flour mills in the valley; the 

building still stands at the end of Mill Road, Petone. The late Mr Arthur Percy and his brothers took a keen interest in native flora and it was 

largely owing to the initiative of Mr Joseph Percy that the present law protecting native flora was passed. It was the desire of the brothers to 

have on their extensive property a specimen of every known native plant and the collection they made is extremely valuable and forms a 

beauty spot on the border of Petone and Lower Hutt. The late Mr A. W. Percy, who never married, was a keen cricketer in his younger days 

and was a “googly” bowler of great merit. He was also an expert fisherman. He did many oil paintings on canvas and on glass, preparing 

his won canvas and colours after the manner of the old masters. Some of these paintings were of rare merit. He made a violin which in its 

way was a work of art, being entirely composed of native timbers and of excellent tone. In his later years he was interested in botanical and 

horticultural research, producing many beautiful and rare hybrids, his Ligridium crosses being outstanding. He propagated many native 

mistletoes of at least four kinds, considered to be a very difficult feat. Along with his brothers he planted and cultivated the well-known 

Percy Gardens, which are of great scenic beauty and contain, beside a lake and a cave, many rare and beautiful plants. The late Mr 

Percy’s father, Mr Joseph Hewlett Percy, planted an acorn on the bank of the Hutt River in 1843, and then transplanted it to the Percy 

homestead near where the ramp now is, and where it grew to a tree of 60 feet spread. It was cut down in 1926 and the stump removed and 

left above ground for three months exposed to all weathers. It was again planted in front of the old mill at the end of Mill Road, where it has 

grown to a height of 15 feet or more. The old mill, the first wheat mill in the Hutt Valley, was built in 1851 and operated by the family. It has 

never had a coat of paint and the weatherboards are still sound. 



Evening Post 10 Nov 1945 Scenic Resort – Petone Project – Negotiations in Hand 

Provided negotiations for the Petone Borough Council are successful, a scenic reserve of more than 50 acres near the southern end of the 

Western Hutt Road, will be opened to the public. When fully developed, it will contain a lake of about half an acre, a natural waterfall, 60 

feet high, practically every type of native flora, a multitude of flowers in ornamental plots, and several miles of paths, which will cross the 

two streams in the area by rustic bridges. The control of Percy’s Reserve, a 13-acre portion of the total area which the council hopes 

ultimately to obtain, has already been vested in it by proclamation. The adjoining properties, for which negotiations have been commenced, 

are an eight-acre section at the top of Percy’s Reserve, owned by the Lower Hutt City Council, and beyond that, a 12-acre scenic reserve, 

at present controlled by the Government. The fourth property which will complete the reserve, is a block of 20 acres of bush-covered land to 

the south of Percy’s Reserve, controlled by the Public Works Department. Although the council is prepared to buy the eight-acre block 

owned by the Lower Hutt City Council, it anticipates that control of the other two properties will be vested in it without expenditure. The 

boundaries of the 50-acre property will be the new Korokoko Road at the south, and the Lower Hutt City boundary at the north, while the 

land will extend back from the road as far as the natural waterfall. 

Percy’s Reserve Development 

The development of Percy’s Reserve has been progressing slowly since 1942 under the direction of a special sub-committee set up by the 

council, augmented by four members of the Native Plant Preservation Society who serve in an advisory capacity. The curator of the reserve 

is Mr A. Morgan, and the developmental work is following, as closely as possible, a plan laid down in 1942 by the superintendent of 

reserves at New Plymouth, Mr T. Horton. Percy’s Reserve was for almost 50 years held by the Percy family. The original owner, Mr Joseph 

Percy, came from a branch of the historic Percy family of Northumberland. A pioneer settler, he resided for a time after his arrival in a 

settlement of huts on the west bank of the Hutt River at the head of Gear Island and then obtained the land which is now the reserve. One 

of the most picturesque buildings on the property when it was taken over by the council was an old mill, one of the first to be built in the Hutt 

Valley, and destroyed by fire last month. The lake on the reserve was originally a dam, from which water was supplied to drive the mill, and 

the channel which carried the water from the lake to the mill is still in existence. Another old building still standing on the property is a small 

summer house on a mill overlooking the Hutt Valley. The opening of the reserve will take place as soon as it can be partly developed. One 

of the chief attractions of the reserve will be a picnic ground of about two acres on the top of a hill from which an uninterrupted view of the 

Hutt Valley from Taita to the sea and of Port Nicholson from Pencarrow Heads to Wellington Harbour is obtained. This area will be reached 

by a road running from the new Korokoro Road, and by footpaths. Another attraction will be the lake, which will be one of the most beautiful 

scenic spots. The bottom is to be cleared of mud and silt and probably laid with stone, and the borders will be planted with water-loving 

plants. In the lake is an island upon which, at some future date, native trees will be planted to replace some of the scrub. Paths existed 

throughout the reserve when the council took over the area, and they have been cleaned and in some cases widened. Additional paths are 

being made.

Joseph Hewlett PERCY - Hutt Valley Biographical Index and ...

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