Matilda Bayfeild
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Original information:
Matilda Bayfeild (1817-1909) and husband Arthur came out in the fore cabin with a young family. He set up in business in Lyttelton as a druggist and chemist. In 1853 he moved to Cashel Street, Christchurch, while he was building his own shop opposite the White Hart Hotel, but he did not carry on with this plan and was soon back in Lyttelton. The Lyttelton Post Office was moved into his shop and he was appointed sub-postmaster.
He was a member of the Lyttelton Colonists Society, a church property trustee and a vestryman for the Holy Trinity Church. He died in 1861.
Mrs Bayfeild carried on for a year and then sold the business. By 1867 she owned a chemist’s business in Lyttelton called the Apothecary’s Hall.
She lost £800 in the Great Fire of Lyttelton (October 1867). She had no insurance and was declared bankrupt, but was discharged on the grounds that she had suffered great misfortune. She died in Sumner in 1909, aged 92.
*Correction 19.02.2025 Surname changed to correct spelling
Matilda D’Oyly Bayfeild (correct spelling as per inherited family bible) and her husband Arthur Bayfeild came out with their first son, Arthur D’Oyly Bayfeild. Their other six children were born in New Zealand.
Re: surname spelling. Looking at their headstone in the Orowaiti Cemetery, the correct spelling is as you have said… Bayfeild.
Headstone photo can be viewed here
I can verify the correct spelling as Bayfeild too, as it appears in family documents. Matilda Bayfeild is my great grandmother, her daughter Mary married Peter Keller. Their son Geoffrey Keller, the second of six Keller children, is my father.