Katrena Rosalind Bardsley

Birth & Youth

Katrena Rosalind Bardsley was born on the 19th of November in 1905 in Timaru, Canterbury, New Zealand, to her parents William Julian Bardsley and Lucy Jane Bardsley (née Jefcoate).¹ Katrena was the youngest of three children, she had an older brother, named Ernest Milton Bardsley,² and an older sister, named Winifred Jefcoate Bardsley.³

1915-1916

1915-1916 was a rough time for the Bardsleys. In 1915, when Katrena was only around 9 or 10, her uncle Dan (Katrena’s father’s brother) died at sea on the return journey from fighting in the war after being invalided home.⁴

Of course this was hard on the whole family, but it was especially difficult for Katrena’s paternal grandmother Matilda Bardsley (née Sheppard) who fell into a depression. Sadly, approximately 15 months after her Uncle Dan’s death, Katrena’s Grandmother Matilda committed suicide whilst in a depressed state of mind.⁵

1924

In 1924, when Katrena was approximately 19 years old, she was mentioned in the newspaper for serving as a bridesmaid for her friend Lucy Evelyn Clay, Katrena’s mother Lucy also attended the wedding:⁶

1925

In 1925, a certain ‘Miss Bardsley’ attended a pleasing performance of a play called ‘Jane’ at the Broad Bay Hall by the Broad Bay Tennis Club. A rather dashing young bachelor named Hugh Thomas Speight was playing the star role of Mr. Shackleton.⁷

Four months later in July, the very same Hugh Speight had a ‘coming of age’ cabaret party at the Tudor Hall, and it looks as though a Miss Bardsley was in attendance at that too! ⁸

1926

On the 3rd of June in 1926, Katrena’s brother Ernest married Annie Catherine James at the St. James Presbyterian Church in Wellington. Mr. Hugh Speight, of Dunedin was present to serve as Ernest’s best man.⁹

Engagement

1927

In March of 1927, Katrena’s engagement to Hugh Thomas Speight was announced! ¹⁰

1928

In February of 1928, Katrena and Hughie visited Queenstown with Hugh’s parents Jessie and Charles, and Hughie’s sister Winifred.¹¹

Sadly, the next week Hughie’s father Charles Speight passed away unexpectedly on the 19th of February, 1928. This plunged the family into mourning, and pushed Hughie into taking on a more senior role at Speight’s Brewery, which his father had run.¹¹ The combination of these things seems to have resulted in a very long engagement for Katrena and Hughie.

1930

Three years after their engagement, it seems that enough time had passed since Hughie’s father’s death for the wedding to go ahead. In February, 1930 Hugh’s mother hosted a celebration at her place in York Place for Hugh & Katrena’s upcoming marriage, though it seems that Hughie’s mother and sister were still in mourning based on their outfits.¹²

In March, 1930 Katrena was thrown a farewell event at St Leonards Presbyterian Sunday School hall, in view of her upcoming marriage (below, Left).¹³ A week later, Hughie’s sister-in-law Winifred Zeta Speight (née Hunt) hosted a kitchen tea party at her High Street house for Treena, to celebrate her upcoming wedding to Hugh (below, Right).¹⁴

The Yacht Club, which Hughie was a member of, also wished the couple smooth sailings for their marriage. ¹⁵

Marriage & Family Life

On the 11th of March in 1930 Katrena Rosalind Bardsley married Hugh Thomas Speight ¹⁶, they were married by the Reverend Ernest S. Tuckwell.^{17 18}

The ceremony was held at the Hanover St Baptist Church, and afterwards a wedding breakfast was served at the Tudor Hall. The wedding was written about in the Evening Star ¹⁹ and the Otago Daily Times.²⁰

1931

In July of 1931, Hughie and Treena attended a concert of the famous American/Ukrainian pianist Mischa Levitzki at the Concert Chamber of the Town Hall.²¹ Mischa Levitzki was one of the first major pianists to tour New Zealand ²², I’ve linked a YouTube video below of a recording of his playing.

In September, 1931, a large yacht came into port and Hughie and Katrena were there to welcome it. They were later in attendance at a high tea party on the yacht called the Northern Light, held by Madame & M. Balokovic. Party guests were taken on a tour and inspection of the boat after the festivities.

1932

January 1932 brought with it a family wedding! Hughie and Katrena were in attendance at the wedding of Hughie’s older brother, Allan Francis Speight, to Miss Dorothy Frances Napier.²³ The wedding was held at St. Augustine’s Church in Waimate, where Dorothy was from: her parents were Mr and Mrs W. D. Napier of “Te Kiteroa” Waimate.²⁴

Toward the end of March, 1932, Hughie and Katrena had Katrena’s parents, William and Lucy - who had just returned from an extended tour abroad, to stay at their Sheen Street home aka “The Summit”.²⁵ At this point, Katrena would have been nearing the end of the first trimester of her pregnancy with her first child - I wonder if this is when they shared the good news with Katrena’s parents 💛

Katrena’s Daughter

• On the 2nd of October, 1932, Katrena gave birth to her and Hughie’s only child, Deirdre Mignon Speight. Around 1955 Deirdre married Archibald Edward Wilson, and together they had three children: Sandra Joan Wilson, born in 1956; a son named Paul Douglas Wilson, born in 1958; and another daughter, named Kirsten Margaret Wilson, born in 1959.

American Adventure

In 1937, Katrena left to go on an adventure around America, spending some time with her older sister Winifred, who lived in Philadelphia. Katrena left New Zealand in November of 1937, landed in San Francisco, then travelled via Los Angeles and along the Mexican border to Philadelphia,²⁶ in time to celebrate Christmas with her sister.²⁷

In May of 1938, the Evening Star published an article including some of Katrena’s impressions of America:²⁸

During her travels, Katrena spent time in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, New York City, and Washington DC. While in Washington DC Katrena had the pleasure of meeting President Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor. Katrena found Eleanor to be a “very gracious woman, with lovely blue eyes, and photographic reproductions did not do her justice."²⁹

Hughie joined Katrena in May of 1983 for just shy of 6 weeks, he also saw San Francisco, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Yellow Stone, and Chicago. Whilst in Chicago, Hughie visited Pabst’s and Schlitz’s breweries in Milwaukee.³⁰ Then Katrena and Hughie returned together in July. ³¹

After the requisite number of welcome-home parties,³² Hughie and Katrena gave a couple of public talks about their travels in America.^{29 33 34}

Death

Katrena passed away on the 22nd of September in 1968 at 62 years old ³⁵ in Mater Hospital, Maori Hill, Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand, and she was cremated on the 24th of September and her ashes were scattered.³⁶

References