Photo: Te Kuiti Museum.
Harry Lampra, a 19-year-old from Te Kūiti, disappeared at the end of June 1889. He worked for Mr Tanner, a boarding house keeper, and had been sent out on horseback to look for some cows which were thought to have strayed across the Mangaokewa River.
Since the time he left Mr Tanner’s nothing was seen or heard of him. The horse, however, was found the next day near the river. Constables Lowther and Berriman and several railway workmen searched for the lad but no trace of him was found.
Harry’s mother, Elizabeth, was a widow, residing in Alexandra Street, Auckland. Eleven years previously she, her husband John and their five small children had arrived in New Zealand from England by the immigrant ship Appelles. John, 28, found work as a stableman at Auckland’s Crowther’s Stables where his obliging disposition meant he was well liked. But within three months of the Lampras’ arrival John died from injuries after accidentally falling through the stable loft floor. He was buried in Auckland’s Symonds Street cemetery.
John left his wife and children in very precarious circumstances having arrived in the country without money and being unable to save anything out of his wages. A subscription was raised on their behalf and contributions were collected by the Auckland Star and Mr Crowther. Over 87 pounds was raised for the Lampras and Mr Crowther said of the generous response that not a single request for a donation had been refused and many were voluntary and unsolicited. He proposed to get a laundry box mangle with part of the money, so Elizabeth could take in work, and place the balance in a bank account. He would be glad, he said, to receive a better suggestion or any guidance on estate management.
He was warned to beware. In Auckland large sums of money were often raised for widows and orphans. A proper deed needed to be drawn up, and the widow be made to party to it. Otherwise, any loafer may beguile her into marriage for the sake of the money or wheedle it out of her without the ceremony of marriage.
Elizabeth, though, did not fall prey to any swindlers and purchased a box mangle. This was a cumbersome affair consisting of a large box filled with rocks that rested on a series of long wooden rollers. Damp laundry was laid flat under rollers or wound round the rollers. They required a fair bit of strength to operate but soon Elizabeth was advertising ‘Mangling done in a superior manner in a First-class Box Mangle.’
By the late 1880s the mangle was sold, and her eldest son Harry was missing in Te Kūiti. It was feared he had drowned while trying to cross the flood swollen river. Four long weeks passed before his body was found caught against a snag a short distance below a ford. Constable Berriman had him removed to the railway goods shed.
The inquest found that Harry had accidentally drowned. The difficulty of where to bury him then arose as local Māori objected to their land being used. Harry was ultimately buried in a corner Te Kūiti’s railway station reserve.
