Harold Henri de BOURBEL [21632]

  General Notes:

Baptisms
Henry Harold de Bourbel
Baptism Date: 25 Jan 1841
Baptism Place: Wargrave, Berkshire, England
Father: Augusta Harold de Bourbel
Mother: Constance Cecilia de Bourbel
FHL Film Number: 1040710 Reference ID: item 1-8

Harold held a commission in the 4th Light Dragoons.

Index to Register of Passport Applications 1851-1903
Henry H Debourbel
Application year 13 May 1854
Passport No. 11459
Travel & migration

New Zealand Jury rolls 1842 to 1862
Harold DE BOURBEL
Year 1860
Residence Woodend
Occupation Gentleman
Source Lyttelton Times 19 May 1860
Type of record Jury List
State Province of Canterbury
Country New Zealand.

New Zealand Civil Establishment Nominal Roll 1871
H H De Bourbel
Appointment year 1866
Appointment date 9 May 1866
Job title Curator Of Intestate Estates, Canterbury
Salary 0s 0d
Length of service 5Y 1M.
Country New Zealand

New Zealand Electoral Rolls 1865 to 1869
Harold henry De Bourbel
Number 115
Electoral year 1874-75
Qualification (1) freehold (2) leasehold
Residence Christchurch
Land description (1) Part rural section 7686-20 acres, south of South road, old river bed and leasehold House and 10 acres part rural section 12 Riccarton both Riccarton provincial district
Electorate Avon
Country New Zealand
New Zealand electoral rolls.

Harold Henry Debourbel
Number 289
Electoral year 1874-75
Qualification freehold & leasehold
Residence Cathedral square & Durham street
Land description House and 5 acres part rural section 41 North Stanmore road W side Papanui provincial district. Offices part section 735 Cathedral square east
Electorate Christchurch East
Country New Zealand
New Zealand electoral rolls

Harold Henry Debourbel
Number 333
Electoral year 1874-75
Qualification leasehold & household
Residence Durham street south
Land description Part town reserve 141 house and land Durham street south Christchurch
Electorate Christchurch West
Country New Zealand
New Zealand electoral rolls

Harold Henry De Bourbel
Number 100
Electoral year 1874-75
Qualification freehold
Residence Christchurch
Land description Rural sections 13517, and 13518, McQueen's valley, Port Victoria
Electorate Akaroa
Country New Zealand
New Zealand electoral rolls.

Harrold Henry Debourbel
Number 165
Electoral year 1874-75
Qualification freehold
Residence Christchurch
Land description Rural sections 13881, 13882, Ashley Gorge, Oxford provincial district
Electorate Ashley
Country New Zealand
New Zealand electoral rolls

Harold Henry De Bourbel
Electoral year 1878
Number 147
Residence Christchurch
Electorate Akaroa
Qualification Freehold
Land description Rural sections 13517 13518 McQueen's Valley
Country New Zealand
New Zealand electoral rolls.

Henry Harold Debourbel
Electoral year 1878
Number 257
Residence Christchurch
Electorate Kaiapoi
Qualification freehold
Land description Rural section 374 Eyreton
Country New Zealand
New Zealand electoral rolls

Harold Henry Debourbel
Electoral year 1878
Number 236
Residence Christchurch
Electorate Ashley
Qualification Freehold
Land description Rural sections 13881 13882 Ashley gorge
Country New Zealand
New Zealand electoral rolls.

Harold Henry Debourbel
Electoral year 1878
Number 170
Residence Broom farm
Electorate Avon
Qualification leasehold
Land description Part rural section 183 Broom farm north bank Avon
Country New Zealand
New Zealand electoral rolls

NZ Gazette 1880 Pg. 533
NOTICE is hereby given that the several parcels of land hereinafter described will be brought under
the provisions of "The Land Transfer Act, 1870,"
unless caveat be lodged forbidding the same within
one month after the date of the Gazette containing
this notice.
4193. CHARLES DUDLEY and HENRY
SLATER.-101 acres, part of Rural Section 183,
Christchurch District. Occupied by Harold Henry
de Bourbel.
R. W. D'OYLY,
District Land Registrar.

Harold Henry De Bourbel
Electoral year 1881
Occupation Merchant
Residence Christchurch
Electorate Coleridge

Qualification Freehold
Property qualification Rural section 31914, Malvern
Country New Zealand
New Zealand electoral rolls

Harrold Henry Debourbel
Electoral year 1881
Occupation Merchant
Residence Christchurch
Electorate Ashley
Qualification Freehold
Property qualification Rural sections 13881 and 13882, Ashley Gorge
Country New Zealand
New Zealand electoral rolls.

Harold Henry De Bourbell
Electoral year 1881
Occupation Merchant
Residence Tauranga
Electorate Tauranga
Qualification Residential
Property qualification -
Country New Zealand
New Zealand electoral rolls

Harold Henry De Bourbel
Electoral year 1893
Number 756
Occupation Manager
Residence Tauranga
Electorate Bay of Plenty
Type Residential
Country New Zealand
New Zealand electoral rolls.

Harold Henry De Bourbel
Electoral year 1911
Number 1964
Occupation/status settler
Residence Devonport
Electorate Waitemata
Qualification -
Country New Zealand
New Zealand electoral rolls

Ref: All the above Findmypast 2015

Harold Henri was aged 86 at his death
Ref: NZ BMD

  Research Notes:

Harold Henry de Bourbel was a handsome aristocratic young man, always busy, keen to try a new venture and an agent of many kinds. He was a dandy of a man, giving the impression that he was aristocratically connected. Indeed, in different sources he is described as being "of a noble French family" and his father is described as a Marquis and as a French Count. Many people were impressed by his charm, his faultless dress and his bearing.
In "Early Days of Canterbury" by A Selwyn Bruce, he is described in Chapter 8 as " de Bourbel gave one the impression of the early Victorian - faultlessly attired, with high stand-up collar and large bow tie, waxed moustache and wearing a grey, very shallow, soft felt hat ."
Harold had first come to Rangiora in NZ in 1851 but had returned to England where he joined a the 4th (Queen's Own) Regiment of Light Dragoons and fought in the Crimean campagn as a subaltern. He was promoted to Cornet on 11 May 1855 and to Lieutenant on 31 Aug 1855. He apparently missed the charge of the Light Brigade because he was in bed with a sprained ankle. He returned to Canterbury as a Chief Cabin passenger on the "Westminster", arriving at Lyttelton near Christchurch on 9 Jan 1858. With two fellow passengers, Harry Kenrick and Josiah Birch, he appeared at Rangiora making enquiries about the availability of standing trees. There was an obvious and growing demand for building timber and before the end of January, de Bourbel and Birch had bought 26 acres and ten perches of forested land for 358 pounds.
They then purchased a heavy dray and six bullocks for 150 pounds and prepared to bring a steam engine up to Rangiora. The opinion was that they would never get the engine beyond Kaiapoi but they did, possibly taking the un-formed Direct Road across the swamps. It took four days to drag the mill a quarter of a mile beyond the Southbrook Stream, even with logs laid out along the track to improve the surface, but the mill was eventually set up in the bay on the northern side of the bush. By April 1858 de Bourbel and Birch had the steam sawmill working.
But the mill was only able to continue as long as landowners needed sawn timber themselves or were willing to sell their standing trees. Consequently it was not in constant operation. Two fires also reduced the area of trees and scrub, the first on 6 Dec 1858 and the second on 13 Oct 1859. It is believed that during the second fire the mill building was burnt and that the steam engine and machinery were dragged out to the Direct Road, where it was installed in a shed.
When a Rev Wallace, who was a sickly gentleman, died, de Bourbel married his widow.
Towards the end of the sawmill's useful life at Rangiora, de Bourbel and Birch gave it up to Ingram Shrimpton and Harry Kenrick. Josiah Birch settled at Kaiapoi where he became a prominent merchant and provincial politician while Harold de Bourbel stayed in the milling game, later part-owning or managing several mills, some flax, others flour and timber.
Ref: Monica Foggin Ancestry

  Other Records

1. Census: England, 7 Jun 1841, Woodcott South Stoke Oxfordshire. Harold is recorded as aged 9 a pupil born Foreign Parts

2. Harold H de Bourbel: Letter concerning Thames Gold Fields, 1869, Wellington.
The letter dated 21 Nov 1869 appears to be signed off by Bourbel in Christchurch and concern various samples of rock from the Thames Goldfields.
Some knowledge of geology is necessary to understand it !

Ref:Outward letter: De Bourbell, Mr. : Page 690, 21 October 1869, by Colonial Museum, Sir James Hector. Te Papa (MU000013/001/0001/0510

Harold married Emma ADDISON [21638] [MRIN: 7779] on 1 Sep 1859 in NZ. (Emma ADDISON [21638] was born in 1836 in Chigwell ESS and died on 24 Dec 1872 in Pimlico LND MDX.)

Harold next married Marion Theresa CONROY [21646] [MRIN: 7782]. (Marion Theresa CONROY [21646] was born about 1856 and died in 1940 in Nth Sydney NSW.)