Biography

Robert and Elizabeth Hellyer, née Pope, were both born during 1814 in St Helier, Jersey, in the Channel Islands, and married there in 1835. They had ten children. In 1875 the couple came via London to Dunedin, as assisted immigrants on the Waimea (18th June, 1875). Travelling with them were two married daughters with their husbands and children, the Gallichans and Shapcotts, and an unmarried son and daughter. The following is the ship’s passenger information:-

HELLYER, Robert, aged 48, carpenter, Jersey; Elizabeth, aged 47, wife; Robert, aged 25, labourer; Eleanor, aged 21, housemaid.

GALLICHAN, Joshua, aged 41, carpenter, Jersey; Elizabeth Ann, aged 37, wife; Edwin C., aged 9; Ada E., aged 7; Walter H., aged 5; Arthur William, aged 1.

SHAPCOTT, Thomas, aged 35, plasterer, Devon; Ann Eliza, aged 34, wife; Henry, aged 10;
Beatrice, aged 6; Maud M., aged 4; Eleanor C., aged 16 months.

Robert and Elizabeth Hellyer’s true age would have been 61, lowered probably to gain assisted immigrant status, and the son Robert’s true age was 31, not 25. It would be a hidden fact that Robert and Elizabeth were parents of Mrs Gallichan (37) and Mrs Shapcott (34).

Sadly, Robert Hellyer died on 16th June 1878 at the age of 63, within three years of arriving in Dunedin, and his wife died within eight years of their arrival. The Gallichan parents were also dead within eight years, they are buried here in the cemetery with some of their children (in Block 108, Plot 6), while Robert Hellyer and his wife are buried in another, unmarked, grave with a grandson, Arthur Hellyer Shapcott, one of a set of twins, who died aged just 6 months.