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Thomas Rowling 1817 - 1894

Thomas Rowling was born on 22nd June 1817 [or, less reliably, 9th June 1819] in Redruth, Cornwall, one of six children of Mary [Williams] and William Rawlings, a butcher in Cambourne. He died in Riwaka, near Nelson, a relatively balmy area at the top of the South Island of New Zealand. His name, and that of his Cornish ancestors, was originally given as Rawlings; it apparently changed when he settled in New Zealand. As with Frances & Thomas Shayle George, he represents one wing of my family’s migration to New Zealand. Like them, he was likely seeking fresh opportunity, although in a different milieu, since they were middle class professionals, and he came from a farming/working class background.
Thomas Rawlings/Rowling was the great grandfather of both my grandmother Gwendolen Rowling and Wallace (Bill) Rowling, former NZ Prime Minister.
The following is extracted from an unattributed booklet Rowling Reunion 1841 – 1962, where his occupation is variously described as cabin boy, stone mason, and farmer. By inference, he was married with two children before he set out to New Zealand the first time.


In 1841 Thomas Rowling sailed as a member of the preliminary expedition of the New Zealand Land Company. This expedition, under Captain Arthur Wakefield, was to choose and survey the site of Nelson settlement. It comprised the ships Whitby (barque, 437 tons), Will Watch (barque, 251 tons), and the Arrow (brig, 200 tons). They sailed from Gravesend on 2nd May 1841, and after calling at Wellington sailed across Cook Strait to drop anchor off Kaiteriteri on 9th October 1841. Thomas had been chosen because of his cleanliness of dress and person, as cabin boy or personal valet to Captain Wakefield. It is claimed by many that he was the first man to step ashore and was thus given the nick-name "Hop-ashore Tommy."
The expedition explored much of the land around the bay. Wake­field had almost decided on Kaiteriteri but a boat sent to explore the other side of the bay returned with the news of the discovery of Nelson Haven and so was Nelson founded.

The wives and families of the advance expedition among whom, were Thomas Rowling's wife Elizabeth [Pascoe, born 1817], arrived in Nelson at the end of February 1842 in the "ill-fated" barque Lloyds - 65 of the children aboard had died on the voyage out, of whom three were Thomas and Elizabeth's [aged 2, 1, and 9 months, according to Lloyds list].
On 2nd May 1842, Thomas Rowling arrived in Riwaka, this time to settle there, with a survey party under Samuel Stephens. Others in the party included Henry Fry, William Lodder. Bernard McMahon, William Mickell and David White. Later in the year the first women settlers arrived and with Elizabeth Rowling came Ann Fry, Anna Lodder, Margaret McMahon, Euphemia Mickell and Elizabeth White. In later years Thomas Rowling's son Edward married Lucy, daughter of Anna and William Lodder.

In the next ten years Thomas Rowling became one of the foremost citizens of Riwaka and in 1852 was appointed as a trustee of the first public school ground in Riwaka.
Thomas Rowling, who by trade was a stone mason, built the first and last brewery in Motueka, for Staples Bros in 1855. At this time there was not a bridge over the Motueka River and David Drummond recalled that as ferry boy he used to row Thomas Rowling to and fro each morning and night when he was building the brewery.

Elsewhere, it is noted that subsequent to migration Thomas "hewed himself a farm".

Subsequent to the tragic voyage, Thomas and Elizabeth started a family again. They had six further children, the first of which was my great-great-grandfather Edward Rowling, apparently the first white child born in Nelson. Thomas died at Riwaka on 20th June 1894 at the age of 75, and with Elizabeth who died on 12th August 1885 is buried in the Riwaka cemetery.