The Denshires
by Alice Reeves nee Blunden
 Henrietta
Langton Blunden, nee Denshire, was born in 1884, and was my mother.
My mother’s father, William Banks Denshire, was from England. The
Denshire family tree goes
back to 1743, George Denshire being Mayor of Stamford and lived at Stamford
Manor, a huge estate with its own parks etc.
My
grandfather, William Banks Denshire, was born at Bowton Rectory,
Lincolnshire, and educated at Marlborough
Grammar School and Marlborough College (England).
In 1872 he came to New Zealand and left again for England in 1874.
After spending some time in England and America he returned to New Zealand and
took up farming in Ashburton where he procured 2000 acres. He took a keen
interest in sport generally, being elected the first Captain of the Ashburton
Golf Club, and well known as an owner of thoroughbred
horses. He married, a daughter of Mr Joseph
Reid Dodson who was Mayor of Nelson and owned the 1st breweries
there.
(Copied from New Zealand Encyclopaedia of Notable Families).
Grandma Denshire and her daughters lived the life of the idle
rich. They played Bridge and golf and went to the races etc. They frequently
travelled backwards and forwards to their relations in England. They spent every
winter away from the Christchurch cold, in Nelson at a lovely guesthouse by the
river. They were very witty, gay and entertaining and completely selfish.
My brother Bill in his writing on the family called Grandma
Denshire "a selfish miserly old lady".
Grandma said that all the men, who would be suitable
husbands, had been killed in the war and it seemed that no man was good enough
for her daughters to marry. However, my mother who was a very beautiful young
girl with spirit (and was also said to have had a very sweet disposition) was
captivated by my father, who was very handsome and dashing. He persuaded her to
run away with him and so they eloped. What a scandal!!!
Grandma never forgave my father and never ever spoke to him
again. I do not think any man would have relished the thought of having Grandma
Denshire as a mother-in-law. Actually, one of the other daughters did get
married but Grandma had mellowed by then.
In our adult years we did visit them and they were
always charming towards us but my father was never mentioned.
We were remembered when the estate was wound up. With
a lawyer in attendance, we were each given a ball with a number on it. As each
ball was rolled, the number on the item that corresponded with the ball, was
yours. Absolute luck! All the crested family silver had gone, possibly sent back
to England.
Grandma Denshire never got sick and she died at the ripe old
age of 104. She still had all her wits about her, just died of old age as did
the Aunts, who died in their 80’s. At least they gave us a legacy of good
health, if nothing else!
One of Grandma’s grandchildren spoke on Gary McCormick’s
(Heartland) television show on Early Christchurch recently. She was over eighty
(my cousin) and she too, was fit and hearty and very amusing. A real character!
The Denshires kept on giving my mother an allowance though,
and she had put money in trust for all her children, which we got when we were
21.
 My sister recently went to the old family home Ashtead House
in England. It has our family crest there, and there was a stained glass window
in the church in memory of Great Grandfather.
The house is now cut into 3 separate freeholds, one being
made out of the former kitchen! (A huge house)
Lord and Lady Hayter have one part – Mr and Mrs Wollaston
another part, and another lady owns the rest. It was 3 storeys high. When my brother called there years, he
was told to go to the servant’s entrance until he was checked out!
This photo shows the beautiful 12th century entrance doors to St
Giles Church in Ashstead, Surrey, where the stained glass windows are dedicated
to Grandfather Denshire.
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Denshire
Silverware Collection
Presentation to Museum
Six pieces of London sterling silver ranging from a cake
basket made in 1763, early in the reign of George 3rd, to a later Georgian cream
jug of 1812 have been presented to the Canterbury Museum.
They were given by Miss Kathleen P. Denshire (Aunty Kath), just before her death
in Christchurch.
The items, engraved with the coat of arms and crest of Miss
Denshire’s paternal ancestor, WILLIAM BANKS, of Surrey, comprise the pierced
silver cake basket, 1863; a silver coffee pot made by Charles Woodward of
London, in 1771; a trophy silver horse racing cup inscribed "Stamford
Donation, June 13 1771" and made in London in 1770; a matching trophy cup
made in London in 1790 to commemorate a cock-fighting win; and the late Georgian
cream jug of 1812.
Miss Denshire also gave $270 to the museum’s anniversary appeal fund.
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