Biography

JOHN LELLIOTT c1844 – 26 March 1924

John Lelliott was born about 1844 and was the son of Mary and Richard Lelliott who are buried in Shermanbury, Sussex, England.

John and his wife and four children came to Dunedin on the Corona which departed London on 22 May 1874 and arrived at Port chalmers on 28 August 1874. A copy of a day to day account of the voyage can be viewed at the research department of the Settlers Museum, Dunedin.

John started work as a brass finisher for Methvens in Andersons Bay Road in Dunedin. Methvens made bathroom taps, pipes etc. George Methven who started the business was on the Corona on the same voyage as John, so it is likely they got to know each other on the voyage and that is how John ended up working for Methvens.

John and his wife Sarah Ann lived in St David Street, North Dunedin. Unfortunately Sarah Ann did not keep good health and died there six years after arriving, on 13 February 1881 and her burial is the first in the Lelliott family plot. John never remarried and died at 61 Royal Crescent Dunedin and is buried with Sarah Ann.

After Sarah Ann died two of her and John’s female children, Lavina and Corona (named after the ship) were sent to a convent in Napier, paid for by their late mother’s family in Wales.

Little is known about the photo which taken in Dunedin.The photo is said to have hung in the bowling green hotel for a long time in the 1900s to the 1920s. Perhaps he was a favourte customer.