Richard John Guy (1855 - 1913)

Born 1855 in Limerick, Ireland

Husband of Eleanor (Josselyn) Guy — married 5 Aug 1884 in St. John's Anglican Church, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Descendants

Died 9 Jan 1913 at about age 58 in Tuarangi House, Ashburton, Canterbury, New Zealand

Biography

Birth

Richard John Guy was born in 1855, in Limerick City, Ireland to Francis Guy and Mary Ann Guy (nee Canter). Richard was the oldest son in a family of seven children.

Marriage 1

Richard Guy and Mary Jane Mayne were married at the Parish Church of St Luke, Cork City on 27 February 1877. Richard and Mary lived in Cork and Limerick as Richard worked in the family printing business, first at Guy and Co in Cork and then from about 1880 at Guy and McQuaide in Limerick.

They had 4 children

Anne Guy (1877- )

Robert Francis Guy (1878- )

Percy Claude Guy (1880- )

Violet Constance Guy (1881- )

Aged only 23, Mary Jane died in Cork on 27 January 1882 of Brights Disease, a severe disease of the kidneys, which she had suffered for about 8 months before her death of "cardiac effusion". After Mary's death Richard left his children with his sister and departed from Ireland.

Marriage 2

On 5 August 1884 Richard John Guy and Eleanor Josselyn were married in St. John's Anglican Church, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Emigration

After the death of their second son Cecil in Argentina, they returned briefly to England before emigrating to New Zealand.

They arrived in New Zealand on board the R.M.S. Kaikoura, arriving with two sons on 18 June 1889.

On arrival in Wellington, they immediately embarked on the SS Wanaka, a coastal vessel regularly traveling from Wellington to Auckland and arrived at New Plymouth, Taranaki on 19 June 1889.

There he set to farming on property on Hursthouse Road, Inglewood.

Children

Three sons born before this migration were

John Canter Guy (1885-1967)

Cecil Guy (1887-1888)

Horace Seattle Guy (1888-1958)

Children born in New Zealand to Richard John Guy and Eleanor Josselyn ^[1]

1890/9835 Thomas Gerald (1890-1984)

1891/13582 Eleanor Kate (m. 1913 Samuel Fulton Holland, d. 1982)

1893/14175 Mary Henrietta

1896/3821 Bertha (m. 1923 Albert Edward Butterfield)

1898 (son) Jocelyn (birth registration not found)

Marriage 3

After his second wife's death he married a third time. On 8 August 1899 Emily Elizabeth Marshall and Richard John Guy were married. ^[2]

This ended in divorce in Christchurch in 1909. ^[3] Christchurch Supreme/High Court Divorce Files Guy, Emily Elizabeth v Guy, Richard John 1909

Emily remarried in 1910 to Ernest Charles Thomas Hazlehurst.

Summary

Richard John Guy was born in 1855, in Limerick City, Ireland to Francis Guy and Mary Ann Guy (nee Canter). Richard was the oldest son in a family of seven children. He married three times and had at least 12 children by his first two wives, but none with his third wife who divorced him not long after the marriage. It is possible, but unlikely, that another child was born in Kumara, New Zealand in the 1890s,.

Richard appears to have been a troubled person. Coming from a wealthy Cork family, he abandoned the family and left Ireland shortly after the deaths of his father and his first wife Mary Jane Mayne in 1882. Leaving his children in Ireland he then apparently travelled to England and on to Argentina where in 1884 he married Eleanor Josselyn. After the death of their second son in Argentina, they returned briefly to England before emigrating to New Zealand, first to a farm in Taranaki and then to the gold fields of the West Coast where he was a labourer. Eleanor died there after giving birth and again he abandoned the family and moved to Christchurch where he married a third time to Emily Marshall (nee Harrison). Emily divorced him shortly afterwards and Richard lived in Christchurch, working as a gardener and labourer until his death in Ashburton in 1913.

Buried 10 Jan 1913 at Ashburton Cemetery in plot Plot 16, Block 103, an unmarked grave

Died from cancer of the throat

Sources

1. ↑ New Zealand Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages Online search
2. ↑ NZBDM marriages 8/8/1899 1899/3601 Emily Elizabeth Marshall, Richard John Guy
3. ↑ NZ Govt Archives

• http://family.kiwicelts.com/15_Guy/FT_Guy_02.html