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| The Bible family grave Photo: Cathy Currie |
The words ‘Erected by his sorrowing mother’ inscribed on the leaning headstone of John William Bible, haunted me until I began to probe into the death of this man, who passed in what one would expect to be the prime years of his life. He rests with his family in a grave surrounded by kauri fencing that has stood the ravages of time in a heritage area of the cemetery.
Early newspapers indicate that William had built up a reputation in both the Hawkes Bay and Auckland for being a drunkard. It was obvious the man had suffered an alcohol addiction for many years. The seriousness of his illness was reported through his repeated court appearances from 1888 onwards. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] Newspaper reporters made light of Williams illness when his concerned mother took out a prohibition order in November 1890 to prevent people from suppling her son with spirits [8] [9]. The more I read of charges brought against him and the penalties imposed including fines [10] and incarceration with periods of hard labour, [11] [12] [13] medical treatment,[14] injury suffered while intoxicated,[15] his begging [16] and effects after drinking including Delerium Tremens; the more I realised the significant impact his illness must have had on his loved ones, and wondered what part it may have played in his death.
Early newspapers indicate that William had built up a reputation in both the Hawkes Bay and Auckland for being a drunkard. It was obvious the man had suffered an alcohol addiction for many years. The seriousness of his illness was reported through his repeated court appearances from 1888 onwards. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] Newspaper reporters made light of Williams illness when his concerned mother took out a prohibition order in November 1890 to prevent people from suppling her son with spirits [8] [9]. The more I read of charges brought against him and the penalties imposed including fines [10] and incarceration with periods of hard labour, [11] [12] [13] medical treatment,[14] injury suffered while intoxicated,[15] his begging [16] and effects after drinking including Delerium Tremens; the more I realised the significant impact his illness must have had on his loved ones, and wondered what part it may have played in his death.
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| Daily Telegraph, Issue 6741, 25 April 1893 |
So with passion ignited I braved the airport traffic and visited Archives New Zealand’s Auckland reading rooms where I ordered hospital registers and asylum case books from the stack to help deepen my understanding of the suffering behind the words inscribed on the Bible headstone.
The Auckland Hospital registers did not indicate that William’s death was directly related to his alcoholism. They showed that William Bible a single male aged 30 years who was a steward of Newton Rd, spent 23 days in ward 7 in January and February of 1894 with a urethral stricture which was relieved. [17] He had previously spent 6 days in hospital with the same malady in December 1892. [18] A stricture is a narrowing of the urethra due to scar tissue or inflammation usually caused by injury or infection, which over time can produce a variety of unpleasant urinary symptoms. [19] William was hospitalised again in 1895 from the 2nd – 17th of March with urinary effusion. An excess of fluid (urine) around the lungs which causes difficulty in breathing due to a urinary tract obstruction. [20] [21] Sadly in the results column of this record it was marked death.
William was a young child aged around 3 years when he arrived in New Zealand with his family in 1867. His father John William Bible was punished for being drunk soon after their arrival and within a few short weeks was detained by police and ordered to the asylum on being declared a dangerous lunatic by 2 doctors in the July. [23] [24] [25] [26] [27]
John had been overseeing unskilled labourers working on a cotton plantation in Tahiti for the Paris Exposition. He was instructed to beat them but would not and was abused himself. By the managers orders he was placed in irons where he remained in the same position until “he became a raving maniac” [27] He was eventually sent to the Papette an institution which enforces the threats and orders of the bosses and managers on the island. John's pregnant wife Margaret went with him and was told that they were to be sent back to England. However the Bible family were placed on board a ship that transported them to Auckland, New Zealand. [27]
John claimed that he had been a bank master and Lance Sergeant in the British army in which he served for almost 24 years including through the Crimean and Indian campaigns. [28] Indeed UK Military Campaign Medal and Award Rolls, show that he was in the 34th Regiment and received a Crimean medal for his service. [29] John was proud of his war medals, one Indian and two Crimean which he requested Governor Grey to have sent to him from his family during his confinement. [28]
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| Auckland Asylum 1880 – 1889 creator Frith, H A. 'Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, 7-A3032' |
John’s behaviour slowly settled, he became more calm during 1869 and was discharged on trial [30] on the 14th Jan 1870, to be re admitted a month later in an excited state after “having lately become violent and having previously mutilated his wife”. [31] John continued to display sudden unprovoked outbursts of abusive language and behaviour, and had persistent delusions of grandeur. He was particularly boastful of his skill as a soldier saying he was the best shot in the British army. Otherwise he was clean, well conducted and industrious. His treatment consisted of outdoor exercise, and medicine was also noted in his records. [31]
Margaret informed doctors that a maternal grand aunt of John’s died in an asylum, his mother was very eccentric and his father was deficit in brain power suggesting a genetic weakness. His first signs of mania were in 1866 when he refused to go to bed and illtreated her, then threatened to set himself on fire. [32]
Margaret informed doctors that a maternal grand aunt of John’s died in an asylum, his mother was very eccentric and his father was deficit in brain power suggesting a genetic weakness. His first signs of mania were in 1866 when he refused to go to bed and illtreated her, then threatened to set himself on fire. [32]
John claimed that his wife had attempted to murder him twice, once in in Tahiti with an axe and once in Auckland with a knife, and had escaped with his life due to his own strength. He held a hostility towards her, referring to her as "a murderer in her heart”.[28] He believed that he was sound in body and mind and pleaded to Sir George Grey for release. Mr Morpeth the inspector of asylums did not recommend John’s release on account of his intense hatred for his wife and violent assault of her prior to being incarcerated. He noted John’s insistent writing to the Governor stating that lunatics letters were generally unworthy of the slightest consideration and began to with-hold them. [28]
Just prior to John’s letters being with-held the inspector of Asylums suggested to the Governor a small remuneration be paid for Johns services while at the Asylum. John wrote his own supporting letter stating that he was of the highest of character and his employment was useful. [28]
Case book notes for John over the years are sparse, it was evident by 1886 that his memory was failing him. He was forgetting things, and lost items accusing others of stealing them. [31] In 1895 John’s infected right foot was amputated after giving him more than 12 months of trouble and worsening to the point of necrosis. The amputation took some months to heal with the bone becoming diseased. [32]
John passed away in the Auckland Asylum at 8.10 pm on the evening of 19 July 1897, in the presence of attendant Owen. He was released from the pain he had suffered for the last 2 months caused by a swollen testicle. It was the same date 30 years prior that John was first admitted to the asylum, he had spent almost a full 30 years of his life institutionalized. [32] [30]
Tragically, John’s children grew up not only without the financial security and the positive influence of having a father in their lives but with his rejection and the stigma of him having a mental illness. One wonders if this was enough to drive William to drink? Margaret had to cope with John's violent outbursts and negative attitude towards her, and also the fear and stigma around his illness, as well as the trials and tribulations of raising a young family without him in what at first would have been an unfamiliar place. It is not known how she managed to support her growing family, although it appears from letters written by John in 1875 to Sir George Grey that his pension which he says was one shilling per diem, was given to her despite his disgust, protest and declarations of disowning his wife and children. [28] If a pensioner entered an asylum, the war office deducted 4s from the returned soldiers pension for his maintenance which was paid to the institution, leaving little for the support of the mans family. This would have left Margaret with 3s each week to live on. Pensions were usually paid quarterly in advance, encouraging those not used to possessing much money all at once to blow it on alcohol. [33] One assumes that the family’s income would have to have been supplemented in some way. Much later Margaret appears on the Auckland electoral roll living in Newton Rd carrying out home duties in 1896. And in 1905 Auckland, Grey Lynn, Williamson Ave also undertaking home duties. [34]
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| AUCKLAND STAR, VOLUME XXXVI, ISSUE 139, 12 JUNE 1905 |
The family rest in Anglican Division C, Row 4
The Waikumete burial book records:
Plot 12: Margaret Anne Bible (73) 1905
John James Mitchell (78) 1935 – Draper
Plot 12-14: Sarah Ann Jane Mitchell (54) 1919
Stillborn Mitchell 1920
Plot 14: John William Bible (30) 1895 – Steward
John Bible (71) 1897
In Loving Memory of
JOHN WILLIAM BIBLE
who died 17th March 1895
aged 31 years.
Erected by his sorrowing mother.
Also
JOHN BIBLE
who died 17th March 1895
aged 31 years.
Erected by his sorrowing mother.
Also
JOHN BIBLE
father of the above
who died July 1896
aged 72 years.
And
MARGARET ANN
wife of John BIBLE
who died June 11th 1905
aged 73 years.
JANE
daughter of above
beloved wife of
J. J. MITCHELL
who died July 1896
aged 72 years.
And
MARGARET ANN
wife of John BIBLE
who died June 11th 1905
aged 73 years.
JANE
daughter of above
beloved wife of
J. J. MITCHELL
died 1 Sept. 1919
Compiled by Cathy Currie using the following Sources:
[1] POLICE COURT.-THIS DAY, Auckland Star, Volume XIX, Issue 177, 28 July 1888 http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS18880728.2.29
[2] A ROW WITH THE UNITED STATES, Auckland Star, Volume XIX, Issue 259, 2 November 1888 http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS18881102.2.11
[3] LAW AND POLICE, New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 8414, 15 November 1890 http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH18901115.2.9
[4] Auckland Star, Volume XXI, Issue 269, 14 November 1890 https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS18901114.2.7
[5] Hawkes Bay Herald,Hawkes Bay Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 9319, 14 March 1893 https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HBH18930314.2.6
[6] Daily Telegraph,Daily Telegraph, Issue 6742, 26 April 1893 https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DTN18930426.2.9
[7] Hawkes Bay Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 9336, 4 April 1893 https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HBH18930404.2.7
[8] Beer and the Bible Observer, Volume X, Issue 622, 29 November 1890 http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TO18901129.2.7.2
[9] POLICE COURT.-THIS DAY, Auckland Star, Volume XXI, Issue 277, 24 November 1890 http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS18901124.2.9
[10] Hawkes Bay Herald, Hawkes Bay Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 9326, 22 March 1893 https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HBH18930322.2.8
[11] LAW AND POLICE, New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 8784, 26 January 1892 http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH18920126.2.7
[12] New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 8799, 12 February 1892 https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH18920212.2.7
[13] Hawkes Bay Herald,Hawkes Bay Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 9356, 27 April 1893 http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HBH18930427.2.11
[14]Hawkes Bay Herald,Hawkes Bay Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 9342, 11 April 1893 http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HBH18930411.2.9
[15]Hawkes Bay Herald,Hawkes Bay Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 9316, 10 March 1893 https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HBH18930310.2.9
[16] GENERAL GOSSIP, Observer, Volume X, Issue 629, 17 January 1891 http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TO18910117.2.8
[17] Auckland register of patients No. 4156 – 122260 1893 – 1899 Archives New Zealand ref ZAAP 15288/3a pg28 pg65
[18] Auckland register of patients No. 1 – 4155 1889 – 1893 Archives New Zealand ref ZAAP 15288/1a pg229
[21] Respitory Medicine CME volume 2 issue 4 2009 pages 179 – 80 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1755001709000086
[22] POLICE COURT.—Monday,New Zealand Herald, Volume IV, Issue 1134, 3 July 1867 http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH18670703.2.21
[23] The Daily Southern Cross,Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIII, Issue 3122, 19 July 1867 http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DSC18670719.2.15
[24] The Daily Southern Cross,Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIII, Issue 3123, 20 July 1867 http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DSC18670720.2.13
[25] POLICE COURT.—Friday. [Before T. Beckham, Esq., R.M.],Daily Southern Cross, http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DSC18670720.2.26
[26] Register of committed patient admissions Archives NZ ref YCAA A441 102/1 pg 53
[27] Coolie Slavery in the Pacific, Cromwell Argus, Volume I, Issue 22, 13 April 1870 http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CROMARG18700413.2.31
[28] Inwards letters. 9 April - 16 June 1875 - John Bible - Remuneration for services - Claim of John Bible, an inmate of the Lunatic Asylum, for remuneration for his services (R22427435) 1875 - 1875
Archives ref R22427435 ACFM 8180 A1627 AP2 33 /1925/75
[29] Ancestry.com. UK, Military Campaign Medal and Award Rolls, 1793-1949 Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
Campaign Medal and Award Rolls 1793-1949 (General Series). The National Archives microfilm publication WO 100, 241 rolls. The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey, England.
[30] Auckland Asylum Case file, Archives NZ ref YCAA 1026/1 53
[31] Auckland Asylum Case Book, Archives NZ ref YCAA 441 1048/1 pg 93
[32] Auckland Asylum Casebook, Archives NZ ref YCAA 1048/5 pg5 pg 24
[33] Skelley, AR, The Victorian Army at Home, Montreal, McGill Queens University Press, 1977, pp 205 – 211 http://www.victorianwars.com/viewtopic.php?f=82&t=5904
[34] New Zealand Electoral Rolls, 1853–1981. Auckland, New Zealand: BAB microfilming. Microfiche publication, 4032 fiche .Ancestry.com. New Zealand, Electoral Rolls, 1853-1981. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
[35] AUCKLAND STAR, VOLUME XXXVI, ISSUE 139, 12 JUNE 1905 https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19050612.2.105?query=Margaret%20bible
Image: Death notice John William Bible New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 9775, 23 March 1895 https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH18950323.2.2.2
Image: Derelict Daily Telegraph,Daily Telegraph, Issue 6741, 25 April 1893 http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DTN18930425.2.8
Image: Auckland Asylum 1880 – 1889 creator Frith, H A. 'Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, 7-A3032' 1
Image: Death notice Margaret Ann Bible AUCKLAND STAR, VOLUME XXXVI, ISSUE 139, 12 JUNE 1905 https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19050612.2.105?query=Margaret%20bible
Image: Bible Grave, Cathy Currie
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