William Miles Maskell (1839 - 1898)

Born 5 Oct 1839 in Mapperton, Dorset, England

Husband of Lydia Cowper (Brown) Maskell — married 15 Sep 1874 (to 5 Oct 1883) in Leithfield, Canterbury, New Zealand

Died 1 May 1898 at age 58 in Wellington, New Zealand

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Michelle Millar [send private message]

William Maskell is Notable.

Biography

William was born in October 1839 in Dorset, England and was baptised at Mapperton on 3 November of the same year.^[1] He was the son of William Maskell and Mary (Scott) Maskell.

He first emigrated to New Zealand in 1860 on the William Miles arriving at Lyttelton on 21 August.^[2] William left a "Journal of Events" which included his account of the voyage. The journal is held at the Nationla Library of New Zealand. ^[3] After a couple of years farming in Marlborough he returned to England on the Chrysolite in 1863.

William was back in Canterbury by 1865 and was farming the 2000 acre property of Broadleaze near Leithfield in September of that year.

He served on the Canterbury Provincial Council for ten years from 1866 until 1876.

He married Lydia Cowper Brown on 15 September 1874 in Leithfield.^[4][5] His brother Alfred was one of the witnesses.

He married (2nd) Alice McClean in 1886.^[6] There does not appear to have been any children from either marriage.

In the 1870 he became interested in entomology - particularly regarding agricultural pests - and by 1889 was a world authority on scale insects.

He passed away in 1898^[7][8] and is buried in Karori Cemetery, Wellington.^[9]

Research Notes

• A photo of William can be viewed here [4]
• Treasurer of the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury 1879 -1884
• Served on the board of the New Zealand Institute 1885-86
• William was the author of An account of the insects noxious to agriculture and plants in New Zealand (1887)

Sources

1. ↑ "England, Dorset, Parish Registers, 1538-2001", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QJDH-CW97 : 9 March 2021), William Miles Maskell, 1839.
2. ↑ Passenger List Image [1]
3. ↑ https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22871400?search%5Bi%5D%5Bcentury%5D=1800&search%5Bi%5D%5Bsubject%5D=Wellington+Region+%28N.Z.%29&search%5Bpath%5D=items&search%5Btext%5D=shipboard+account
4. ↑ https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz - NZBDM - Marriage 1874/10846; Lydia Cooper Brown and William Miles McKell
5. ↑ Marriage Notice; Press, 19 Sep 1874, pg 2 [2]
6. ↑ NZBDM - Marriage 1886/1285
7. ↑ NZBDM - Death 1898/1944
8. ↑ Death Notice; New Zealand Times, 4 May 1899, pg 4 [3]
9. ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/221533548/william-miles-maskell

• Obituary; New Zealand Mail, 5 May 1898, pg 17 [5]
• Probate Documents [6]
• Dictionary of New Zealand Biography - Entry for William Miles Maskell [7]
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Miles_Maskell
• MacDonald's Dictionary of Canterbury Biography - Entry for William Miles Maskell [8]