Row of cottages on Butter Street, Fleet, Dorset

This photograph, taken in the early twentieth century, shows the cottages in Butter Street in the village of Fleet, Dorset, where William Randell grew up. The photograph was sent to the Randell family by an English cousin. Faint writing on the back reads ‘Fleet The first cottage in the photo is where grandmother lived and where my mother and your father [William] were born. Aunt Sarah [Sarah Randell née Gillard] will no doubt recognize.’

William Randell, a mason and bricklayer, and Sarah Gillard, a housemaid, were married at Weymouth Independent Chapel on 5 July 1854. They were both members of the Brethren Assembly. The couple sailed as immigrants to Melbourne and very soon travelled on to New Zealand, arriving in Wellington on 12 February 1855. In 1865 William purchased land in St Mary Street in Thorndon, and in 1867 built a four-room cottage there. He added two more rooms to the cottage in 1874, and for a short time it housed all twelve members of the family.

William died of a goitre in 1880, aged 57, leaving his widow with five children under 16 to raise. Sarah continued to live in the cottage until 1912, when she moved to Karori to live with her family. Sarah kept this photograph with her until she died in 1921, aged 90, as it was one of her most precious objects. Sarah felt a continued sense of connection to Dorset throughout her life. She never lost her Dorset accent, and her grandchildren would giggle at her pronunciation of words such as Darset [Dorset] and ‘arse [horse].

References
Randell, Beverley. 1992. A Crowded Thorndon Cottage: The story of William and Sarah Randell and their ten children. Wellington: Gondwanaland Press.
Randell, Beverley, and Susan Price. 2021. Unpublished research notes provided to curator.