Percy Francis Boucher (1870 - 1929)

Born 29 Oct 1870 in Cheddleton, Staffordshire, England

Husband of Jessie Mabel (Vercoe) Boucher — married 31 Dec 1901 in Te Puke, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

Died 28 Nov 1929 at age 59 in Hillsborough, Auckland, New Zealand

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Biography

Percy Boucher was born in England.

Percy Francis Boucher was born in England and emigrated to New Zealand. His father was Rev. Alfred Francis Boucher, of Kempsey House Estate (a clerk in Holy orders, and the Vicar of Cheddleton), and his mother was Anna Bolton (his father's second wife). The 1881 Census shows he attended a private boarding school in Hackney at Stamford Hill.

Percy Boucher migrated from England to New Zealand.

Percy Boucher lived in Te Puke, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand.

In 1897, as a 27 year old farmer in Te Puke, he is noted as owning 250 shares of the Te Puke Gold Mining Company.[3] His father died the following year in England in 1898. Probate record on FamilySearch sourced from New Zealand Archives. Percy was the beneficiary of a thousand pounds in his father's will and was to receive one of the farms in Te Puke that were owned by his father Alfred Francis Boucher. The farm he had been occupying, "Sunnyside", was to go to his brother Ernest, and instead Percy was to be gifted the farm "Fairfield" which was being leased to H W Vercoe (later his father-in-law). However in a codicil to the will, his father revoked this and stated that any New Zealand properties were to be sold and the sums obtained to be part of his residual estate.^[1] From the Land ownership summary of Te Puke, it appears that Rev Boucher had instead gifted or sold land to these two sons before the codicil was written.^[2]

He married Jessie Mabel Vercoe on 31 December 1901 when he was 31 years old. Jessie was his brother's sister-in-law, as Ernest W Boucher had married Jessie's sister Anna in 1892. Jessie had been a bridesmaid at that wedding and Percy had been groomsman. Nearly ten years later Percy and Jessie "tied the knot" themselves in Te Puke in the Church of St John the Baptist. They honeymooned in the vicinity of Rotorua. ^[3]

Jessie and Percy raised a family together.

In the early 1900s they continued to live in Te Puke, and later farmed in Kumeu, then Taupaki East.

In 1908 the family travelled back to England, to Kempsey House, to visit Percy's mother and other family. A photo taken around 1909 shows Percy, his wife Jessie, and children Freda, Reg, Marjorie & Harry with Anne Boucher (nee Bolton) at Kempsey House.

Percy Boucher died in Auckland and is buried at Hillsborough Cemetery.

Sources

1. ↑ Copy of will of Rev Alfred Francis Boucher - "New Zealand, Archives New Zealand, Probate Records, 1843-1998," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2XL-4J6B : 11 January 2017), Alfred Francis Boucher, 1898; citing Auckland, , record number 3108, Archives New Zealand, Auckland Regional Office.
2. ↑ Te Puke Landowners from 1880 [1]
3. ↑ Wedding Bells Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 0, 6 January 1902 [2]

• Birth Index - FreeBMD. England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006. Name: Male Boucher; Registration Year: 1870; Registration Quarter: Oct-Nov-Dec; Registration district: Cheadle; Inferred County: Staffordshire; Volume: 6b; Page: 286
• 1871 England Census - Source Citation: Class: RG10; Piece: 2887; Folio: 6; Page: 4; GSU roll: 836393. Source Information: Ancestry.com. 1871 England Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.
• 1871 England Census - Source Citation: Class: RG11; Piece: 286; Folio: 20; Page: 34; GSU roll: 1341062; Source Information: Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1881 England Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.
• New Zealand Marriage Index - Ancestry.com. New Zealand, Marriage Index, 1840-1934 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. Name: Percy Francis Boucher; Gender: Male; Marriage Year: 1901; Relation: Bridegroom; Spouse: Jessie Mabel Vercoe; Folio Number: 4710
• Marriage registration - Reg no. 1901/4496, precise date of marriage 31 December 1901, Groom: Percy Francis Boucher, Bride: Jessie Mabel Vercoe; BDM Online (Births, Deaths & Marriages, Department of Internal Affairs, New Zealand)
• UK Incoming Passenger Lists - Source Citation: The National Archives of the UK; Kew, Surrey, England; Board of Trade: Commercial and Statistical Department and successors: Inwards Passenger Lists.; Class: BT26; Piece: 337; Item: 16. Source Information: Ancestry.com. UK, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008. Name: Percy Boucher; Birth Date: abt 1871; Age: 37; Port of Departure: New York, New York, United States; Arrival Date: 26 Jul 1908; Port of Arrival: Liverpool, England and Queenstown, Ireland; Ship Name: Umbria. Shipping line: Cunard Steamship Company Ltd; Official Number: 91159
• New Zealand Death Index - Ancestry.com. New Zealand, Death Index, 1848-1964 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. Name: Percy Francis Boucher; Death Date: Oct-Nov-Dec 1929; Registration Place: Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand; Folio Number: 3201
• New Zealand Cemetery Records - Ancestry.com. New Zealand, Cemetery Records, 1800-2007 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. Name: Percy Francis Boucher; Birth Date: abt 1870; Death Age: 59; Death Date: 28 Nov 1929; Burial Place: Auckland, New Zealand; Cemetery: Hillsborough
• Australia & New Zealand Find-a-Grave Index - Memorial #163784342[4] Name: Percy Francis Boucher; Death Date: 28 Nov 1929; Cemetery: Hillsborough Cemetery; Burial or Cremation Place: Hillsborough, Auckland Council, Auckland, New Zealand