Born 1811 in Blackburn, Lancashire, England

Ancestors

Husband of Puai Makarena (Tuhaewa) Clough — married 1837 in Akaroa, Canterbury, New Zealand

Descendants

Died 1874 at about age 63 in Alford Forest, Canterbury, New Zealand

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Biography

Early Life

England to Australia

James (Jimmy) was born in 1811 in Blackburn, Lancashire, England. In 1827, at the age of 15, he was sentenced for theft and sent to New South Wales, Australia. He served seven years in prison before being released in 1834. He married Catherine Wilson in Sydney and had a daughter named Hendrica.

Whaling Journey

After spending several years at with the East India Company, Jimmy found his way to America and joined a whaling ship in Massachusetts named the Roslyn Castle. He abandoned his family in Australia and stayed on the Roslyn Castle for three years. Sometime during this time, the crew tried to catch a particular sperm whale. This backfired and the sperm whale crushed the boat in two, killing the two oarsmen in the middle of the ship.

Island Arrival

Later, the ship arrived in Stewart Island for wood and water, where they found four Maori men that were put as oarsmen. The ship then sailed up the east coast of the South Island and the crew eventually decided to take a break at the town of Akaroa, where Jimmy settled for some time.

Akaroa

Marriage and Children

In Akaroa, Jimmy married Puai Tuhaewa, the daughter of the notable tribal chief Iwikau from the Ngai Tahu iwi. Jimmy and Puai had three children; George, Robert and Abner.

The Move South and Illness

Eventually, Jimmy, Puai and their children moved to the whaling station of Ikeraki, south of Akaroa. It was during this time that Jimmy was stabbed by the cook of the whalers' at the station sixteen times while lying in bed drunk. Jimmy was wearing a thick sailor's jacket at the time, which saved him from death.

Jimmy also had another near-death experience when he caught an extremely high fever. Puai managed to carry him over 30km to a native doctor, who cured Jimmy with native herbs.

Jimmy then split from his family for a few months, travelling around Canterbury with a few Maori as guides.

Akaroa Return and Later Travels

After returning to the Akaroa Peninsula for a few years, Jimmy lost Puai; it is unclear whether she went missing, died, or was divorced from Jimmy.

Jimmy traveled around the rural area surrounding Ashburton for many years with his three sons trying to find somewhere to live.

Children Leaving

In the 1850s, he was farming in the Selwyn District; he discovered coal there. However, the neither the farming or mining life interested him, so he left to find somewhere else to live.

By the time Jimmy came across the Alford Forest, and constructed a house there, he was living alone.

• Abner became a farmer near Mount Peel
• George moved back to Little River on the Akaroa Peninsula, and
• Robert went missing.

Later Life

Living in the Alford Forest

Although alone, Jimmy did not mind living in the Alford Forest. His house was tidy and neat. It also had a garden covered in fruit trees, the fruit of which Jimmy sold and earned a lot of money. Around 1872, Jimmy's house was burnt down and the resulting bush fire raged for over a week. Although his neighbours assisted him in building a new house, many of his possessions were lost. Most of his fruit trees also burnt down, so he could not earn much money.

Death

Not long after this Jimmy suffered a paralytic stroke. He passed away in 1874 in severe poverty.

In a published newspaper article or letter reflecting on the death of Robert Clough:

"...brings me back to the scenes of 1868... In that year in South Canterbury, at Alford Forest, I came across on old whaler, James Robinson Clough who would be close on 80 years of age, and deeply interested in the early history of Canterbury. He told me that he arrived in Akaroa in 1837 in an American whaling ship named the Roslyn Castle, and was there in 1840 when the French arrived to take possession of the place. The Britomart, Captain Owen Stanley, had arrived a few days before and hoisted the British flag;^[1] in this he took a prominent part boarding the ship in his whale boat, with his Maori wife and eldest son Abnor, father of the deceased Robert. Jimmy Robinson, by which name he was known to everyone, was appointed interpreter^[2] by Captain Stanley, and it was he who read to the natives the proclamation taking possession of the islands in the name of the Queen of England.^[3] Abnor afterwards went on to work on Acland's station known as Mt Peel, where Robert was born... I afterwards met Abnor on the Chatham Islands, where he died. Bob, as we called him, went to live with the Maoris at Little River where he worked on the stations about there. George Robinson, the well known wrestler, was an uncle of his..."^[4]

James was buried in the Old Ashburton Cemetery.^[5]

Memory

JIMMY ROBINSON.

"My esteemed old friend, Mr C. J W. Cookson, write as under in Thursday's "Press," and I thank him for his interesting reminiscence.—H. C. Jacobson'."

Sir,—Referring to the article in your issue of August 24th re Jimmy Robinson, properly, James Robinson Clough, father of Abner, and George Robinson, the late athlete and wrestler, who died at Little River lately, there is one phase in the life of the late Jimmy Robinson that has escaped the pen of Mr H. C. Jacobson in his very interesting 'Stories of Ranks Peninsula,' and his graphic account of the life and adventures of that individual. In 1852 or 1853 I was with the late Mr Dugald Macfarlane and his shepherd, on an exploring trip in the Malvern district, with a view to obtaining some coal, which was reported to have been found in the riverbed of the Waikarikari. We left Mr Macfarlane's station of Ledard, on the Waimakariri, very early one morning, and arrived at the Messrs Deans' Homebush station in the evening. We were there received and most hospitably entertained in the old bush fashion—muttom damper and tea —by the late Jimmy Robinson, who was at that timee "hutkeeper," as it was called, on the Messrs Deans' cattle station. Our horses wero also well looked after. Jimmy did the honours right royally, and we sat up far into the night spinning yarns and smoking till the small hours. Jimmy was a most interesting raconteur, and we could have listened to him much longer, but we had to be up and doing early in the morning; and right early we were up, and a bountiful repast was ready for us, and also our horses were got up, fed, and harnessed by his two boys, Robinson and Abner, who then lived with him and were about 12 or 14 years of age. Jimmy had brought them up pretty strictly, teaching them to read the Bible, but if they erred he would correct them with a stockyard rail. We succeeded in our mission, and after sundry adventures arrived back at the hut in the evening with the first load of New Zealand coal which was taken from the Malvern Hills to my farm at Avonhead.—Yours, etc., C. J. W. COOKSON. Lyttelton, August 25th.^[6]

Research Notes

• Letter to the Editor of the Akaroa Mail, 1908.^[7]
• A 1976 letter to the editor written by D.M. Deans refers to a diary of James Robinson Clough, with entries from the 1850s:^[8]
• From a 1953 newspaper article titled Canterbury's first white settler, quoting Mr C. Straubel, joint editor of the official history of Canterbury: Sailors who deserted from whaling or flax-trading ships might have been living among the Maoris [sic] in Canterbury from a much earlier date - even from as early as 1816 ... For example, James Robinson Clough deserted from an American whaler in Akaroa harbour in 1838, and, with another european, was living among the Maoris when the French colonists arrived there in August 1840.^[9]

Sources

1. ↑ See also: Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28291, 31 May 1957, Page 2
2. ↑ See also Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 22956, 28 February 1940, Page 8
3. ↑ See also: Otago Daily Times, Issue 23084, 9 January 1937, Page 17
4. ↑ Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume XLIX, Issue 5064, 1 May 1925, Page 2
5. ↑ "Find A Grave Index," database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6ZR3-TK4J : 17 August 2023), Jimmy, ; Burial, Ashburton, Ashburton District, Canterbury, New Zealand, Pioneer Park Memorial; citing record ID 226685724, Find a Grave, http://www.findagrave.com.
6. ↑ Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume LXIV, Issue 3338, 28 August 1908, Page 2
7. ↑ Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume LXIV, Issue 3338, 28 August 1908, Page 2
8. ↑ Press, 15 October 1976, Page 12
9. ↑ Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27046, 22 May 1953, Page 13

• Unsourced family tree handed down to Samarah Turner.
• rosebaycrew.blogspot.co.nz
• https://lostchristchurch.wordpress.com