21-07-2025
Exhibition digs up lost stories from the city's oldest cemeteries
Photo: Christchurch City Council
A new exhibition aims to shed light on the stories from Christchurch's oldest cemeteries.
Grave Insights: Plotting Lives in Christchurch Cemeteries is part of the regular series, Tuakiri Investigates. It will run from Thursday, July 24, to September 14 at Tūranga.
The project has been developed to complement the Christchurch Family History Expo, which is being held from August 2-3.
Said city council acting head of libraries and information Rosie Levi: 'This exhibition will appeal to anyone who might have spent time meandering in some of the city's older cemeteries and wondered at the people buried there – who they were and the lives they might have led.'
Using the cemetery plans and other resources, the Tuakiri team uncovered some of those lost stories.
John Guntrip was buried alongside his second wife, Sarah, in plot 89C at the Barbadoes St Cemetery. Photo: Supplied
They include a grandmother and grandson buried side by side, a soldier buried at sea, and one of Christ Church Cathedral's first bell-ringers among them.
John Guntrip was buried in plot 89C at the Barbadoes St Cemetery, alongside his second wife Sarah.
John was head sexton at the cemetery for many years after he beat out 38 other candidates to claim the position in 1875.
Originally John was a gardener from Middlesex.
He arrived in the city on the Huntress in 1863 and started showing his horticultural skills, creating fruit, vegetable and flower displays for Christchurch Horticultural Society shows.
He also became one of the first bellringers at the newly built Christ Church Cathedral in 1881. John died in 1916.
The Rutherford Street (Woolston) Cemetery opened in 1852. Photo: Supplied
Another story to arise was about Mary Ann Harvey.
Mary was buried in the Rutherford St (Woolston) Cemetery following her death on February 29, 1917.
Her granddaughter Lillian May Arnold, died on December 22, 1916, and was buried at the foot of the plot.
Mary also rests alongside a memorial to her son, Josiah, who died at sea from influenza somewhere between Sierra Leone, West Africa, and Plymouth, England, on his way to World War 2.
The Rutherford St Cemetery opened in 1851 and closed in 1885. It is the oldest cemetery in the city, followed by Woolston Cemetery, which dates back to 1866.
