Elizabeth died in Auckland in May, 1904 at “the good old age of 78.” After she died, James moved back to Wanganui* to live with his son in his Durie Hill residence. His son was by then an architect, and a very nice building he designed can still be seen on Victoria Street across from the old Bank of New Zealand. James died in Wanganui on April 3, 1907 of asthenia and cardiac disease after two years of suffering (according to his death certificate). He is buried in the Heads Road Cemetery, one of the oldest in New Zealand. I visited him there in 2017.
George Dobson’s brother Arthur (Sir Arthur Dudley Dobson) went on to have a spectacular career as surveyor and engineer, spending the last twenty years of his working life (1901 to 1921) as the city engineer of Christchurch. He was knighted in 1930, partly as a recognition for his family’s impact in opening up the South Island to road and rail, and by exploration.
Two of George Dobson’s younger brothers, Herbert and Robert, moved to Gisborne and Napier on the east coast of the North Island. Robert died young in 1893, aged 41. But his son, Ralph Boyd Dobson, married Rhoda Graham, my grandmother’s sister. I did not know of the familial connection when I began this book.
George Dobson is now little more than a footnote to history: the man who was killed by the Burgess gang before they committed the murders on the Maungatapu, the oldest son of an illustrious New Zealand family who is known mostly for his early death. I have tried to bring him back to life in this book, and hope I have succeeded.
*Wanganui is now spelled with an H - Whanganui. I have used the older spelling which was used in the nineteenth century.
If you would like to see photos of some of these people, or have any questions about what became of them, please visit my website at www.wendymwilson.com
A Cold Wind Down the Grey Page 26