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| Headstone of Robert Adams Wesleyan Division A, Row 6, Plot 10. Photo: Cathy Currie |
The talented young musician Robert
Adams succumbed to Typhoid which ravaged Auckland during the summer of 1888, plunging
communities into fear with the uncertainty of not knowing whom would next be
afflicted, and praying it would not strike down a loved one.
The outbreak hit the Ponsonby area hardest, where Bob resided in Ponsonby Road, and was involved in running the music shop ‘Adams Brothers’. [1] [2] [3] Although the cause of the dramatic increase in numbers of citizens suffering with the fever was not officially established by the health inspector despite complaints regarding practices of the local tramways and abattoir businesses, it was a widely accepted view that the spread of the disease was due to the Auckland stinks – poor drainage and hygiene practices that caused an abhorrent smell which was intensified by the summer heat and contaminated the water supply. [4] [5] [6]
The outbreak hit the Ponsonby area hardest, where Bob resided in Ponsonby Road, and was involved in running the music shop ‘Adams Brothers’. [1] [2] [3] Although the cause of the dramatic increase in numbers of citizens suffering with the fever was not officially established by the health inspector despite complaints regarding practices of the local tramways and abattoir businesses, it was a widely accepted view that the spread of the disease was due to the Auckland stinks – poor drainage and hygiene practices that caused an abhorrent smell which was intensified by the summer heat and contaminated the water supply. [4] [5] [6]
It was reported in the New Zealand
Herald that during March the Auckland Hospital was accommodating over 50
percent more typhoid cases than they had done previously that year and the
numbers were expected to continue to rise until Auckland’s sanitation was improved.
[7]
Indeed a complaint had earlier
been brought against Julia O’ Brien for spreading night soil over her property in
Fernleigh St, Ponsonby. She was found guilty of the offence even though it was
revealed that the city’s councils contractors cart could not reach her house
and she was given permission to do this by a council employee. The Auckland
City Council were also fined 2s 6d for allowing their contractor to spread the
contents of the city’s night cart over the ground relatively close to the city,
with the sanitary inspector condemning the practice. [8]
“Typhoid fever has claimed
another victim. Mr. Robert Adams, music teacher, son of Mr. James Adams,
Vermont-street, Ponsonby, died of that fell disease yesterday afternoon. He was
only twenty-two, and was a young man of much promise. His musical abilities
were considerable, and his services were in great request at concerts and other
entertainments. He possessed a wide circle of friends and acquaintances, by
whom the news of his early death will be received with deep regret.”
-
[9] New Zealand Herald, New Zealand Herald,
Volume XXV, Issue 9011, 26 March 1888
The death notice placed in the
Auckland Star informed friends and family that the funeral for Bob was to leave his home on Tuesday the 27th of March for Waikomiti Cemetery at 1pm. [1]
A headstone embellished with ivy and oak, symbols of strength, honour, faithfulness
and eternal life marks Bobs final place of rest. [10] It features an image of a
lyre carved in relief.
The lyre is considered to be the
instrument of the gods. According to ancient Greek mythology, the young god
Hermes created the small stringed instrument similar to a harp and gifted it to
his half brother Apollo, who gave it to his son Orpheus, the musician of the
Argonauts. It is said that the walls of Thebes were created by a musician named
Amphion who moved the stones by playing his lyre in a special way. [11] The
lyre, an ancient symbol of the musical arts, is clearly depicted in
recognition of Bob’s exceptional musical talents.
The headstone inscription reads:
In Loving Memory Of
BOB
Second son of JAMES ADAMS.
Posonby.
Who died March 25 1888
Aged 21 Years
“To live in hearts We leave behind
"is not to die”
If those close to Bob truly believed the verse inscribed on
his headstone, Bob did not die when the typhoid took him, as he was remembered. His
father’s business partner Mr Ross wished to keep Bob’s memory alive within the
community by writing and publishing a short biography of the “happy Bob Adams” titled
Days of Sunshine, containing some of Bob's favourite songs. He announced this in
the August following Bob's death in the newspaper and published the following poem:
DAYS OF SUNSHINE
IN MEMORY OF ROBERT ADAMS AGED 21 YEARS.
Was it because the sunshine in thy life
Could only; last but for a little time
The good Lord called' thee, from this world of strife
To His own everlasting sunshine clime -
Ere aught of earth should cloud thy happy face
Or dim the brightness of thy sparkling eye,
Before life’s sorrows could have left a trace
Upon thy brow— He
summoned thee to die?
We cannot tell; but like a thread of gold
Thy sunshine warped' the pattern of our lives,
And He alone who all things doth unfold'
Makes record in, the depths of His archives.
Meantime this golden thread links us to thee
In bonds of pure, because of heavenly, love,
Content to know that what we cannot see
Down in this vale of tears, we shall above,
Where all is sunshine and eternal day,
Where life and love are blended into one,
While in the twilight here, we strive to say
“Thou knowest best
Thy holy will be done!"
A. TAINE
ROSS
-
[2] DAYS OF SUNSHINE, Auckland Star, Volume XIX,
Issue 188, 11 August 1888, Supplement
The West burial and Cremations online records:
WESLEY DIVISION A
Row 6, Plot 10
MR ADAMS ROBERT 21 MUSICIAN
Date Of Death
: 25-Mar-1888
Date Of Burial : 26-Mar-1888
Funeral Director
: T ADAMS
New Zealand Cemetery Records NZSG (Available at Ancestry.com):
Adams Robert 22
yrs 27.3.1888 Plot 10 Wesleyan A row 6
Baby
Stillborn 25.6.1892 plot 10
Wesleyan A row 6
Compiled by Cathy Currie using the following sources:
[1] deaths.,Auckland Star, Volume XIX, Issue 72, 26 March
1888
[2] DAYS OF SUNSHINE, Auckland Star, Volume XIX, Issue
188, 11 August 1888, Supplement
[3] DIRT AND DISEASE.,Auckland Star, Volume XIX, Issue
50, 29 February 1888
[4] TYPHOID IN PONSONBY.,Auckland Star, Volume XIX, Issue
52, 2 March 1888
[5] TYPHOID FEVER IN PONSONBY.,New Zealand Herald, Volume
XXV, Issue 9009, 23 March 1888
[6 ]CAUSE OF FEVER.,Auckland Star, Volume XIX, Issue 54,
5 March 1888
[7] TYPHOID FEVER, New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue
9012, 27 March 1888 http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH18880327.2.20
[8] TYPHOID IN PONSONBY, Auckland Star, Volume XIX, Issue
57, 8 March 1888 http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS18880308.2.24
[9] New Zealand Herald, New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV,
Issue 9011, 26 March 1888
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