Charles Evans was the fourth son of Richard Evans and Mary Shaw-Hellier born on 6 Nov 1830 at Pendeford Hall near Wolverhampton.
Charles Evans (born 6 Nov 1830)
He emigrated to Australia at the age of 22 and after a period in Tasmania went to New Zealand, where he set up home and married Eleanor Davis in Gisborne on 3 Dec 1869.
He had a large family and his career and achievements are well documented by his various descendants in New Zealand and Australia. He nonetheless kept in touch with his family back in England. We have a small collection of photos that must have been sent back to England in about 1897. They show his house in Te Arai in Gisborne and family. One of these pictures shows a family gathering on New Years Day 1897.
This picture probably shows the three daughters Alpha, Theta and Sigma and at least two of his sons, including the nine year old Dudley. One of the seated ladies is almost certainly his wife Eleanor.
New Year’s gathering at Gisborne 1 January 1897
We also have a collection of letters from the 1930’s from Charles’ eldest son, Charles Hellier Evans, to Molly Downing, again with many photographs of Charles Evans descendants in Australia and New Zealand from 1920 to 1937.
Charles Evans himself died in Gisborne in 1916