The Early Settlers of Canterbury


 The Early Settlers of Canterbury. 


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The Early Settlers of Canterbury. 
Mr W. Bush, of Cashel street west, painter, has undertaken the task of collecting portraits of the early settlers in Canbury (sic) for presentation to the Museum. He has already secured a large number, all of which have been photographed in uniform style and size by Mr C. H. Manning. With a view of completing the collection, anyone who arrived in Canterbury earlier than 1855 is invited to call at Mr Manning's studio in Colombo street any morning during October to be photographed. In the event of inability to attend in person, a recent photograph or picture may be sent and will be copied and returned. Mr Bush is particularly anxious to secure a separate group of the Mothers of Canterbury who arrived prior to 1855, and trusts that these ladies will permit their photographs to be taken, to be handed down to posterity as mementoes of the early colonists.
Star, Issue 7397, 19 October 1892, Page 3

The Veterans' Club.(cricket)
The Veterans fairly opened their season this morning on the Hagley Park ground ... During the luncheon adjournment Mr C. H. Manning, an honorary member of the Club, photographed the members, most of whom are included in the pictures of old identities being prepared for the Canterbury Museum by Mr W. Bush and we are informed that copies of either picture can be obtained at Mr Manning's by early settlers at a nominal charge.
Star, Issue 7401, 24 October 1892, Page 3


Old Times Souvenir. — Mr W, Bush is adding daily to the "Old Time" souvenir group of portraits which he is collecting. Those who send in their photos are requested to note on the back the year of arrival and the ship in which they came out.
Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 8311, 24 October 1892, Page 4


The Early Settlers of Canterbury.
As no less than seven hundred have been already photographed by Mr C. H. Manning, at the invitation of Mr Bush, he wishes to notify that the invitation is closed from this date, and thanks all who responded to his invite. It is imperative that the taking of any more early settlers should be discontinued at present, so as to enable Mr Manning to finish all the work already on hand. Any individual who came by any one of the first four ships, who has not already been taken, will oblige by giving Mr Manning a sitting on behalf of Mr Bush at the earliest convenience, but the taking of all subsequent arrivals to that time must be suspended until further notice owing to carnival time and Christmas holidays. The grouping of those already taken, will now be commenced by Mr Manning, under Mr Bush's instructions, and, when completed, will be placed on exhibit  by Mr Bush, either at Mr Manning's studio or at some large and suitable premises in the city for a short period, until removed to the Museum. Facsimile photo copies of each individual already taken singly for this great historical work may now be obtained from Mr C. H. Manning only, at his studio, at a nominal charge. The larger groups, when classified, will be reduced to a uniform size, 15 x 12, and will be obtainable also. This great undertaken will be finished by the second week in February next, 1893, and the execution of such a work, the first in the annals of New Zealand, will, without doubt, be greatly appreciated by all old  Canterbury residents, and be handed down to posterity.
Star, Issue 7413, 7 November 1892, Page 3


 Star, Issue 4532, 30 December 1892, Page 2




 Press, Volume L, Issue 8435, 18 March 1893, Page 1



Will some kind friend let Mr C. H. Manning, photographer of Christchurch, know how many people he is sending mad. He is a nice sort of fellow, and a good photographer, and I'm sure he doesn't mean to do it. Perhaps he subscribes to the S.P.C.A.

He can't be cruel; and yet how very many people whom he is driving towards Sunnyside are thinking him the most adjective wretch on the face of the globe.

And 'it's all along o' those early Colonists of Canterbury.' How long is he to have that awful collection in his window. I have to pass it often and every time a hideous fascination draws me to gaze on those simpering, scowling, inane faces. As specimens of art they're excellent; as samples of humanity — Oh Lord — they are awful. Men I know in town as clever accountants there appear as grinning donkeys. Good husbands and kind fathers show there behind masks of sullenness almost amounting to brutality. One or two shrewd hard headed farmers surely must have been caught after having not only wetted but thoroughly soaked a good bar gain in grain.

Even the worthy Dean of Christchurch looks more as perhaps he did at that first Jockey Club ball at the Golden Fleece, than as we now like to see our loved and respected Very Rev. For the credit of the Settlement my friends urge Mr Manning to pass on the crowd. For the peace of their progeny in mercy hide those awful pictures of their illustrious fathers.

Onslow may grin, Meath look harmless, and even a bishop look a trifle inflated, and no one be any the worse. But for goodness sake let us remember the men and women who did glorious work in the foundation of our Settlement, as we have seen them at their honest, kindly earnest work, and not in their 'Sunday clothes' smiling painfully at nothing and trying to look wise.
Ellesmere Guardian, Volume XII, Issue 1152, 27 May 1893, Page 3


 (From "our Own Correspondent.) Those early colonists - Allow me to thank Mr C. H. Manning for removing from his window that awful collection of grinning, scowling, and inane photo masks which, under the name of Early Settlers, made his shop studio I beg his pardon horrible and that side of Colombo Street a nightmare for so many weeks. The pen is mighty sometimes. It moved that unique show into the next street where they frighten away the public from a house decorator's premises.
Ellesmere Guardian, Volume XII, Issue 1159, 21 June 1893, Page 3



Pioneers. - The third and fourth of the groups of large framed photographs of the pioneers of "Early Canterbury" have just been completed in an artistic manner by Mr C. H. Manning. These pictures are now on view in Mr Bush s shop in Cashel street, and are attracting a good deal of attention. The work is rapidly approaching completion, and three more frames of the photographs of those who arrived in the years 1854-55 will shortly be on exhibition. The groups which will prove of great historical value are to be placed in the Museum, and will form one of the most popular exhibits in that institution. 

Press, Volume L, Issue 8583, 9 September 1893, Page 7



Contributions to the Museum.
The Curator acknowledges with thanks the following donations to the Canterbury Museum during the three months ending 30th September, 1893:-
Three groups of photographs of Canterbury pioneers and pilgrims, Mr W. Bush...

Photographs of moa, Messrs E. Wheeler and Son...
Press, Volume L, Issue 8603, 3 October 1893, Page 3






Press, Volume L, Issue 8667, 16 December 1893, Page 4
 Mr W. Bush, House Decorator, 200 Cashel Street, Christchurch




Mr Bush has received a notification from the Museum authorities that they cannot afford further space for the display of the pictures of the old settlers in the Museum. The series, therefore, will not be completed.
Press, Volume LI, Issue 8740, 12 March 1894, Page 6

 
The Old Settlers' Portraits.
It was an excellent idea of Mr W. H. Bush to form a collection of the photographs of the early settlers of Canterbury, and to place it in the Museum, and it is a thousand pities that the powers that rule the Museum have decided that there is no room for the collection therein. The portraits of the men and women who laid the foundations of Canterbury are as interesting, in their way, as moas, mummies and minerals are in theirs. Even the most careless visitor to the Museum would probably find them attractive. It must be remembered, also, that collections such as that formed by Mr Bush are extremely rare for while it is true that all settlement have preserved the portraits of some few of their most prominent pioneers, it is a very uncommon thing to find gathered together in one place representations of the faces of well nigh the whole body of the early settlers. Mr Bush's collection comprises over five hundred portraits of person who came, to the shores of Canterbury either before the arrival of the historical "first four ships," or in the fifteen years following the formal founding of the settlement.

The pictures are arranged in fourteen frames, of which the museum authorities can find room for only three, that containing portraits of people who were here before the "First Four," and those of settlers of 1851 and 1852. It is to be fervently hoped that a home may be found elsewhere for the whole of this very interesting collection, for it must not be separated. If the bulk of the pictures be placed in some building other than the Museum, the three frames of portraits of the earliest settlers should accompany them. It seems a pity, however, that they cannot all be lodged in the Museum, where they would be seen by the public. Indeed, it would be well if there were added to the Museum a collection, not only of portraits of the old Settlers of Canterbury, but of documents and relics of the early days of the province. Such a collection would grow in value with the growth of time, and in years to come would probably be regarded by the general public as the most interesting feature of the Museum — the most interesting, because the one appealing most directly to certain of the most powerful of their sentiments.

The formation of the collection is a task which might well have been undertaken by the Early Settlers' Association, which, it is to be feared, must itself be numbered with things of the past. However, it may perhaps be revived, or, if not, a society might be formed with the special object of preserving records and relics of the foundation and progress of the settlement. Such societies have been formed elsewhere, for instance, in the American States — not only in the older ones, but in the comparatively young State of Kansas, which has its Historical Society. Excellent work has been done by these organisations, and a society on similar lines here would do much good by preserving memories and mementos which are well worth preservation, but which are in danger of being lost.
Star, Issue 4900, 15 March 1894, Page 2


An Interesting Photograph.
Yesterday Mr W. Bush showed us a photograph of the members of the first police escort which left Christchurch for the West Coast. The picture, which was taken in 1864, is in capital state of preservation. Mr Bush will be glad to show it to anyone interested.
Press, Volume LI, Issue 8872, 15 August 1894, Page 4


The museum authorities are surely a queerly constituted set of people. One would suppose them to be anxious on all occasions to secure for the institution over which they preside such records, mementoes and remembrances of early settlers of Canterbury as may at any time be obtainable.

It is not so, however, and why it should not be so is just one of those things that "no fellah can understand." Our well-known townsman, Mr W. Bush, patriotically enough, set himself to work some time since to get together the photographs of settlers who arrived in Canterbury between the years 1845 and 1860, and he has been very successful indeed. He has arranged and framed the photographs as they became available, and inside every frame he has placed a record of the people, the ships they arrived in, and other valuable information. These groups of photographs are of the greatest value, historically and otherwise, and Mr Bush ia worthy of the best thanks of the people of Canterbury for the good work he has accomplished.

He has succeeded in getting, though very grudgingly, enough space for several of the frames in the Museum; but on applying for space for an additional number of frames, he has been met with a letter from the authorities, stating that they will accept the additional two frames on condition that no more are sent forward!

It may not be considered by the Museum authorities that these pictures are of as much value as the concentrated entanglement of a cobweb, or the fossilised remains of a June bug, but those who are to come after us will know how to appreciate the patriotism of the man who furnished a public institution — at his own personal cost — with an invaluable record of the old identities of Canterbury.
Star, Issue 5037, 24 August 1894, Page 2


Musical Celebrities.— Mr Bush, whose collection of portraits of early settlers has attracted so much attention of late, is how forming a second collection consisting of photographs of the musical celebrities, both visitors and residents, who have appeared in Christchurch. The collection, which is expected to be ready in two or three months' time, will be exhibited at Messrs Milner and Thompson's.

Star, Issue 5047, 5 September 1894, Page 1



 
G. R. MacDonald's Dictionary of Canterbury Biographies states that Charles Manning was "best known for the fact that he took nearly all the photographs in Bush's famous collection of Early Settlers, now in Canty Museum."






 Press, Volume LII, Issue 15649, 22 July 1916, Page 8

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