Alfred Carlile Gubb (1847 - 1879)

Born 1847 in Topsham, Devon, England

Died 24 Sep 1879 at about age 32 in Thames, Thames-Coromandel, New Zealand

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Alfred Gubb migrated from England to New Zealand.

Biography

Alfred Carlile Gubb was the son of ironmonger William Gubb, and was born in Topsham, Devon in about 1847.

Alfred married in 1871 to Elizabeth Grace Bonken (or Bunkham?). Prior to his marriage he had been working as an engine fitter.

In 1874, at the age of 29 and with his wife aged 28, he journeyed to New Zealand, where his brothers Thomas and Benjamin had settled. He arrived with Elizabeth on board the Hydaspes, with young sons Alfred and Henry (age 2 and 1).

He found work in the mining town of Grahamstown (Thames) as an engineer, and lived on Baillie Street. Early 1879 also saw him as acting pound keeper in the area. ^[1]

Alfred did not live long in New Zealand. He died in 1879 at the age of 33. He apparently rose the morning of 24 September in good health, but in the course of a coughing fit, burst a blood vessel and died.^[2]

''In the midst of life we are In death." A man named Alfred Gubb, an engineer by trade, but who for some time past has been acting as keeper of the public pound, rose yesterday morning at six o'clock, being in good health and spirits, and half-an-hour later was a corpse. Soon after rising he felt a lump in his throat, and immediately afterwards commenced a violent fit of coughing which broke a blood vessel. The blood spurted from his mouth in a dark stream, and he fell dead. Deceased was in the prime of life, and was married and had a family of two children. THAMES ADVERTISER, VOLUME XII, ISSUE 3428, 25 SEPTEMBER 1879. ^[3]

The Thames Advertiser published a few days later:

The funeral of late fireman Gubb of the Shortland Fire Brigade, took place yesterday afternoon, Both Brigades followed the remains to the cemetery, and as the mournful cortege left the deceased's residence in Willougbby-Street the firebells of the district tolled once a minute.. ^[4]

Alfred Gubb is buried in the Shortland Cemetery in Thames.

Sources

1. ↑ POLICE COURT.—Yesterday,,Thames Advertiser, Volume XII, Issue 3215, 11 January 1879, accessed at Papers Past, National Library of New Zealand on 16 June 2017 [1]
2. ↑ GRAHAMSTOWN. 25th September.,Evening Post, Volume XVIII, Issue 76, 26 September 1879, accessed at Papers Past, National Library of New Zealand on 16 June 2017 [2]
3. ↑ THE Thames Advertiser. THURSDAY, SEPT. 24, 1879.,Thames Advertiser, Volume XII, Issue 3428, 25 September 1879, Accessed at Papers Past on 16 June 2017 [3]
4. ↑ THE Thames Advertiser. SATURDAY, SEPT. 27, 1879.,Thames Advertiser, Volume XII, Issue 3430, 27 September 1879, accessed at Papers Past on 16 June 2017 [4]

• 1851 England Census - Taylor, Ron, comp.. 1851 United Kingdom Census Sample [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004. Original data: 1841 Census Returns. London, England: The National Archives of the UK (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO). HO 107 Census Returns. Name: Alfred Gubb; Address: High Street, St Thom; Enumeration District: Topsham St Thom; County: Devonshire; Birth Place: Topsham, Devonshire, England; Age: 4; Gender: Male; Relationship: Son; Occupation: Scholar
• Marriage Index - FreeBMD. England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1837-1915 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006. Name: Alfred Carlile Gubb; Registration Year: 1871; Registration Quarter: Jul-Aug-Sep; Registration district: St Thomas; Inferred County: Devon; Volume: 5b; Page: 119
• 1871 England Census - Name: Alfred O Gubb; Age: 24; Estimated birth year: abt 1847; Relation: Boarder; Gender: Male; Where born: Topsham, Devon, England; Civil Parish: Coppenhall Monks; Ecclesiastical parish: St Paul; Town: Crewe
• Passenger List - PORT OF AUCKLAND. ARRIVALS. October 29.,Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXX, Issue 5385, 25 November 1874, Accessed at Papers Past, National Library of New Zealand on 16 June 2017 [5]
• New Zealand Death Index - Ancestry.com. New Zealand, Death Index, 1848-1966 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. Name: Alfred Corlisle Gubb; Death Date: Jul-Aug-Sep 1879; Registration Place: Thames
• New Zealand, Cemetery Records, 1800-2007 - Ancestry.com. New Zealand, Cemetery Records, 1800-2007 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. Name: Alfred Carlisle Gubb; Death Age: 33; Death Place: Thames; Burial Place: Thames Valley, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand; Cemetery: Shortland
• Australia & New Zealand Find a Grave Index - Memorial #175880746 [6] Name: Alfred Carlisle Gubb; Death Date: 24 Sep 1879; Cemetery: Shortland Cemetery; Burial or Cremation Place: Thames, Thames-Coromandel District, Waikato, New Zealand