'Wedding Wednesday' highlights a wedding portrait from the Heritage Images photograph collection and this week we are featuring Mr and Mrs Robertson.

Photographed standing outside the front steps of a house and they are both elegantly attired for the occasion as would be expected. Mr Robertson wearing a dark coloured jacket, striped trousers, a white waistcoat, a fob watch chain draped across a white shirt with a rounded collar and tie, holding a top hat and gloves; Mrs Robertson wearing a light coloured wedding dress with lace on the bodice, a pendant necklace, a veil and holding a gorgeous large bouquet.

Mr and Mrs Robertson, 1914. Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, 31-WP597

Of all the interesting jobs our forebears may have taken, running a pub would surely be right up there in the interest stakes. There’s something quite romantic about walking down a street and spotting a glorious old pub, wondering what it was like back in the early days of the city, what tales there are to tell about the people who frequented the establishment, and wondering who actually ran the joint. No doubt, the romance would die a very rapid death if we were transported back in time, but it is fun to imagine.

The Occidental (aka the Ox) in Auckland’s Vulcan Lane is such a pub. It was built in 1870 by an American sailor, Edward Perkins. He was said to have married a Maori princess (although the marriage didn't survive) and every fourth of July, he would hoist the Stars and Stripes from the hotel and invite all Americans living in Auckland to dinner. In subsequent years the Ox boasted several female publicans, among them Nora Lynch (who ran the pub from 1912-1927) and Mary Frances Nation (1943-1951).

The Occidental Hotel in Vulcan Lane, Auckland Sir George Grey Special  Collections, Auckland Libraries, 435-B5-157A

Both women had managed pubs with their husbands, although Irish-born Nora came to the Occidental as a widow. Before that, she and her husband William had run the Clarendon on Wakefield Street, and after his death, Nora was granted a license to run the Ox. She died in 1927 on the premises; the Auckland Star of 14th October 1927  reported her death in an obituary and noted she was highly regarded by all who knew her.

Eleanor Catton’s Man-Booker award-winning tale “The Luminaries” is an excellent yarn, but it unfortunately fails the Family History test. Not giving anything away, much of the plot centres on a stolen identity, and a missing birth certificate for Crosbie Wells who was born in Newington, London around 1809. Oops! This was, of course, well before the advent of civil registration, consequently Crosbie Wells would not have had a birth certificate to steal!

Auckland Libraries catalogue

If a prize-winning novelist can make such an error, it is perhaps worthwhile reminding ourselves of the timeline for vital records.

Although a form of Civil Registration for England and Wales was proposed as early as 1752/3, the system of registering births, deaths and marriages that we know today was not actually introduced until 1 July 1837. In Scotland, registration began on 1 January 1855, and in Ireland births, deaths and marriages were registered by the state from 1864, with non-Catholic marriages registered from 1845. Civil registration in Australia commenced in Tasmania in 1838, Western Australia in 1841, South Australia in 1842, Victoria in 1853, New South Wales and Queensland in 1856, and Northern Territory in 1870. In New Zealand official recording of European births and deaths began in 1848, with marriages recorded from 1854. So, remember that if you are searching for a birth, death or marriage before these dates you will need to consult the relevant church registers - where they exist!

Keith