The Story of Percival Amos Milverton

Percival Amos Milverton was my 2X Great grandfather who lived in New Zealand. He was the superintendent of the Palmerston North fire brigade located in the town of Palmerston North. Palmerston North is located in the district of Manawatu within the North Island several hours north of Wellington. He did lead an interesting life within the fire brigade. He is buried in Terrace End Cemetery in Palmerston North where several other members of his family are located.


Percival was born to parents William Milverton and Caroline Brake on the 31^st of October, 1876 in Islington, Middlesex, England. Outside of official records there is not much known about Percival’s early life in England. He appeared in the 1881 census at the age of four years with three other siblings also listed. It was not until around five years later, Percival and family were recorded immigrating to New Zealand from London in 1886 on the SS Doric. The voyage was recorded by the newspaper the Otago Witness in June 1886 after the ship arrived in Wellington. One sibling did not make the journey with the family and stayed behind for unknown reasons. Frederick Milverton would later immigrate to America. Percival appears at the Te Aro school in Wellington in 1886 with several other family members.

Percival’s family appears in Palmerston North in the 1887 electoral roll. William is a cabinet maker and had a business in the town. There were other family members who lived in town, which could be one reason why they moved to New Zealand. Joseph an uncle to William was prominent within Palmerston North owning land and running a business called ‘Milverton and Son’. William passed away in 1898 and had been declared bankrupt in 1896 according to the New Zealand police Gazette.

Percival was married in December 1900 to Emma Downey in Palmerston North. Together they had four children, Irene (Rennie), Percival Robert (Bob), Nola and Hazel. One child died early in life in unusual circumstances in 1905 around four years of age. Irene was with her grandparents, William and Caroline in Palmerston North when the train they were on shunted and she somehow fell between the carriages. Percival was away at the time in Christchurch on exercises with the fire brigade. The event did produce a coroner’s report about the incident and is graphic in detail. Emma died in 1930 and Percival remarried in 1936 to Sarah Patterson who had a child from a previous marriage. Not much is known about their married life.


Around 1900, Percival joined the Palmerston North fire brigade located in Cuba Street as a volunteer, which would become a huge part of his working life. Being in the fire brigade could be part of the reason why he didn’t enlist other than being listen on the reserve roll in 1917. Several other factors might have contributed as he had a family and his age at the time was around 38. In 1923, Percival became the fire brigades deputy superintendent after the Palmerston North Fire Board’s annual general meeting. When Superintendent Barnard welt on leave through illness in 1935, Percival replaced him as acting Superintendent between April and May. According to the records Superintendent Barnard would be on full pay until September of that year. The former Superintendent passed away, which meant Percival became Superintendent on a trial period of 12 months. Percival remained superintendent until he retired on the 1^st of July in 1945 with no blemishes to his career. Percival received six months leave on full pay and then a retiring allowance would be paid.


After retirement, Percival did live in Maungataroto on a farm, but according to a family story he went on holiday and became sick and had an operation on his gall bladder.Percival passed away on the 4^th of December 1948 after a gall bladder operation in the Waikato Public hospital while he was living in Hamilton. During his time as Superintendent of the fire brigade, Percival kept newspaper clippings of events within the area, which included fires. Fire brigade articles were not the only articles kept, but also that of family members for Births, Deaths and Marriages. One clipping included an article about his brother’s death in 1926 in the United States. I had thought they were not in contact, but Frederick had visited New Zealand in 1904 for the marriage of his sister Amelia to John Watt. The scrap books are kept in the Palmerston North Archives, which was very lucky for me.


There is little information about his actual service that I have found so far and it would increase over time and research. There was an inquest, which Percival was involved in Palmerston North. The event was a fire on the Palmerston North show grounds between 1944 and 1946, but appeared there was a fault with the fire alarm. Percival did have a statement within the records. Percival did appear in a few photos both in and out of uniform. There will always be more to the story and over time as you find more it always grows.

Sources:

Percival Amos Milverton, New Zealand death certificate, 1948/21006.

‘Wedding, Milverton – Dennis’, Manawatu Evening Standard, Saturday August 22, 1936.

‘Inquiry: Fire, Showgrounds camp, Palmerston North’, 1944 – 1946, AD-W6W1965 26, 54/80

‘The Fire Brigade – New Superintendent, Deputy Milverton Appointed’, Manawatu Evening Standard, Friday June 28, 1935.

‘Funeral Notices’, Manawatu Evening Standard, Monday December 6, 1948.

Palmerston North Archives, Ian Matheson City Archives

http://citylibrary.pncc.govt.nz/learn-create/heritage-research/local-history-archives/

Palmerston North Fire Board - Minutes of Meetings, from 9 August 1920 to 25 March 1937 (R23406063), New Zealand National Archives

Palmerston North Fire Board - Details of Brigade Members, from January 1893 to March 1945 (R23406074), New Zealand National Archives