You’ll never believe how far he went for love

Watch the full video on YouTube

Today we meet the Dallimores, and specifically my great grandparents, Henry and Edith Dallimore.

We start in London, 1873. Henry Dickens Dallimore is born, the 7th of what was to be 9 children, to Henry George Dallimore and Susan Dallimore, nee Dickens. They are a big family, and, at the time Henry junior is born, not terribly well off.

These are the days of Charles Dickens, and Sherlock Holmes. London is the bustling centre of the commercial world, but there is also a stark contrast between rich and poor.

One of Henry’s earliest memories is a tragic moment with his mother. He was only six.

“I remember being taken to her bedroom – she was propped up with pillows and there were 3 or 4 people standing round her bed. I was lifted on to the bed to be kissed – it may have been goodnight but more probably it was the last goodbye before she died. She was only 38 and died of “galloping consumption” as it used to be called.

I also remember seeing the undertaker & his man putting her into her coffin & also watching my father putting the mourning band on to his top hat in readiness for her funeral.”

I remember some years later finding a small church magazine, in which there appeared an account of my mother’s last illness and death. I remember the expression “it pleased the Lord to take her”. It just made my blood boil to think that it pleased the Lord to take away a young man’s wife and leave her 5 little children motherless. I know now why my Mother died of consumption – we lived in what was called a “basement house” where the breakfast room, kitchen and wash house, were all below ground level – dark gloomy, damp and altogether very unhealthy. These were the rooms where the wives and others lived and did their domestic work – I don’t wonder they died young.

Somewhere inside Henry, I believe he made a vow to himself, to never live in want again, and to fight off sickness and death as best he could.

Henry senior was a lawyer, and Henry junior followed in his footsteps, first working for his father’s firm as a legal clerk.

One of the firm’s clients was Charles Miller, proprietor of a school for boys. Henry would hand deliver documents to this business, sometimes walking three hours in the brisk London air to make delivery. Why on earth did he have such dedication?

This is Edith Rachel Miller, daughter of Charles and Rachel. And Edith is my great grandmother.

Edith was just fifteen when Henry first met her. He was 21. He waited until Edith turned 21 before proposing. In 1901, Henry married Edith at the Acton Baptist Church
Their first two children Harry and Lorna were born in 1902 and 1905. Around this time, Edith’s health began to suffer because of the Industrial Revolution‘s horrific side effects: pollution.

Between 1851 and 1910, around four million people died from tuberculosis in England and Wales.

Henry said,

I came to N.Z. in 1912 to save my young wife’s life. Two Harley Street specialists had
told me she would not live six months and that nothing could be done for her. I gave up
my business in London and she lived –

Ah, spoilers…

And so in 1911 began the trip of a lifetime, as Henry and Edith departed for a short reconnaissance trip to find a more suitable living environment. Children Harry and Lorna were left with their grandparents, to be collected once the brief reconnaissance was done.

While Henry grew up in humble circumstances, this photo album is testament to how good business must have been, because this trip was expansive, on the Ionic, which belonged to the White Star Line, famous for its line of ships ending in “ic” … including, the ill-fated Titanic.

The much better-fated Ionic stopped off at South Africa, Tasmania and Wellington, New Zealand, before finally arriving in Auckland.

In Auckland, my grandmother Edith Mary – known as Dee – was born. I’m very thankful for her parents’ detailed record keeping on the photos.

The photo album shows a very full trip around New Zealand, giving a wonderful glimpse of life at the time.

And so, the Dallimores decided. New Zealand would be their new home. They travelled back, with the new baby, on the SS Arawa.

Back in London, the family has one last farewell with the grandparents, making for a very poignant photo shoot in the back garden. Henry sold his share in the legal practice and travelled with his family halfway across the world, for love.

The trip back to New Zealand was on another White Line ship, the Corinthic – this time with Harry and Lorna, plus Edith’s sister Alice, and a maid, Muriel, to help look after the new baby.

In New Zealand, the Dallimores first settled in Nelson, aiming to run an orchard. But by the time World War I began, it was clear that the dream of life in the open air on an orchard was not going to pan out. So, Henry, Edith and family moved to the town of Cambridge, where Henry resumed his law practice, going into partnership with Samuel Lewis. Their firm still exists today, as Lewis Lawyers.

The family grew. Eventually there were 6 Dallimore children, 7 if you include infant Clarisse, who lived only a few days when she was born in 1921.

Edith Rachel passed away in 1936, 29 years longer than the Harley Street doctors had given her back in London.

In 1939, Henry remarried. As far as we know, he never returned to England, although he was known as a Londoner through and through, despite living about as far from London as you possibly could.

He retired in 1947, praised by colleagues in the law society for his “long and able association with the profession”. He stayed on in Cambridge until his death at the age of 79. His descendants now live across the world, but mostly in New Zealand. Some of us got together last year, along with relatives from further across the family tree.

So, how far would you go for love? Henry started with a more-than-3-hour walk across London, and eventually his love would take him halfway across the world. That decision is part of the reason I’m here, and for that love, I am truly grateful.

Thank you for coming with me on this journey to learn history, One Ancestor at a Time.
I’m changing up the format a little bit. With each story there are a number of rabbit holes to dive down to help us think about history. I’m going to be doing separate videos for each of those rabbit holes, so that each ancestor gets a video simply telling their story, separately from the analysis of historical themes.

If you liked the video, please make sure you subscribe to this channel to stay up to date with new episodes. And if you want more, please subscribe to email updates on OneAncestor.co – get each story in text format.