Mary Bassett

Biographical information provided by Hugh Rennie, QC for the He Tohu exhibition:

Mary Bassett (1850-1941) was the daughter of Peter and Ann Elliot of Devon, England. On 6 January 1874 in New Plymouth, she married a carpenter named William George Bassett (b.1849), a son of William Bassett and Sarah Sandercock, two of the first migrants to marry in New Plymouth. Peter, Ann, William and Sarah had migrated in 1841 on the Amelia Thompson of the Plymouth Company.

After their marriage, Mary and William moved to Whanganui, where William and his partner Rundle had grown their railway and bridge business to secure the Aramoho Railway Bridge contract. He then developed his own major construction, joinery and building products firm. From a small cottage in Aramoho, through two further homes, Mary came to rule over “Matai Awa”, a 17-room, six-bedroom house designed by Thomas Battle and built on the brow of St Johns Hill in 1912.

Staunchly Methodist, dedicated to the prohibition movement, committed horticulturalists, and students of Māoritanga and te reo Māori, both Bassetts were prominent in local life. Mary was also a foundation member of the Plunket Society.

William died in 1928; Mary in 1941. At her death she had five children and eighteen grandchildren.