John Garbutt (1886 - 1937)

Born 1886 in Marske-by-the-Sea, Yorkshire, England

Husband of Annabella (Brown) Garbutt — married 18 Mar 1913 in Nelson, New Zealand

Descendants

Died 18 Sep 1937 at about age 51 in Dunedin, New Zealand

Biography

Jack was born in Maske-by-the-Sea in Yorkshire in 1886.

Jack Garbutt's lineage extends back through John (IV), John (III), John (II), John (I) to Leonard Garbutt [b.1763] all born in Yorkshire. Jack’s father John Garbutt (IV) was a police sergeant and he married Mary Hannah Appleton [b.1840] in 1881 when she was 41. They had two children: Mary and John Garbutt (V) (Jack). After their mother died their father remarried, and the two children were turned out of their home. Their father died in 1925 and his daughter Mary Drennan had remained so bitter that she refused her inheritance.

In 1901 he was living with his parents in New Marske and was an apprentice joiner.

In 1910 aged 22 Annabella Brown was working in an asylum at Darlington and was living in Whitby, Yorkshire. It was here that she met John Garbutt (Jack). Not long afterwards he emigrated to New Zealand via Australia, with the intention that Annabella would join him once he became settled.

Annabella received a letter from Jack from Cape Town in November 1910. While waiting to emigrate she had various jobs including working at a number of hotels in Glasgow, and stayed with her parents at various times.

In 1911 Jack emigrated to New Zealand. Jack and a friend stopped off in Tasmania, Australia and were involved in a mining venture in which they lost their money. While in Tasmania he contracted malaria and rheumatic fever. He arrived in Nelson in April 1911 where he worked in a sawmill.

Jack and Annabella were married on 18 March 1913 in Nelson. subsequently they moved to Porirua near Wellington, where they both worked in the Porirua Mental Hospital. Jack became quite ill at this time. In late 1915 Jack applied to join the police force and after he completed his training in Porirua he was posted to Dunedin. He served as the court orderly for a number of years before he was appointed as Otago’s first probation officer in 1927. He was a very large man who had to have all his clothes custom-made. Initially they lived at a number of addresses in Dunedin and then they ran a small dairy farm at Pine Hill on the outskirts of Dunedin. Jack died on 18 September 1937 aged 51. [Infomation from Tom Garbutt in 2015.]

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