Tuesday, 10 February 2026

Captain William Russell

 

Photo taken at Old Napier Cemetery 5 years ago

Last time we visited Napier in the north island of New Zealand we stopped by the old cemetery to meet my mum's Scottish grandparents who lived there during the 1800s. I'm one of those people who likes to take photos of old things especially cemeteries and this headstone that fallen over near the entrance caught my eye.


This one belongs to a Captain William Russell, born 12th November 1838 in Berkshire, England to parents Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Hamilton Russell and Elizabeth Howlett. He married Harriet Hodgskin on 7th July 1867 and they had 10 children; William, Harold, George, Cara, Charles, Lionel, Hugh, Walter, Violet and Marjorie. 

Apparently he was a well known politician in the area but passed away after an unsuccessful operation on 24th September 1913.

btw I'm interested to know if anyone out there knows of any Norwegian/Swedish or Danish bloggers, if so please leave a comment. 😃

Linking up with Tuesday TreasuresHappy Tuesdays and Wordless Wednesday.

15 comments:

DawnTreader said...

Well, you know me in Sweden... But I have to say I have not come across many other Scandinavian bloggers over all my years of blogging and don't think I have any among my present blogging contacts. Do you have family roots going back to this part of the world?

Amypie71 said...

Yes I have Norwegian and Swedish ancestry.

Jan K. alias Afanja said...

Nice photo of that fallen gravestone.

magiceye said...

Gravely interesting tale.

roentare said...

Your visit brings Captain Russell’s life and legacy vividly back to life through both family connection and careful observation

Tigger's Mum said...

They got all that info onto the gravestone?!

Fun60 said...

The fallen gravestone seems to still be legible. Air pollution has damaged many here so that it is impossible to read old gravestone inscriptions.

Amypie71 said...

I'm not sure, I found the information online

Tom said...

...Amy, I'm with you. I enjoy visiting cemeteries with my camera too!

Jenn Jilks said...

I like to study gravestones. They can tell us so much.

Marie Smith said...

I often visited cemeteries in my younger years. Not so much these days.

Sandee said...

I love visiting old cemeteries. What a wonderful thing you did bringing him alive for all of us.

Thank you for joining the Happy Tuesday Blog Hop.

Have a fabulous Happy Tuesday. ♥

Veronica Lee said...

Great photo and background details.
Amazing how much history is tied to one headstone.
Happy Wednesday, Amy!

NCSue said...

Oddly enough, I find old cemeteries to be among the most peaceful and comforting places on earth.
Thank you for sharing at https://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2026/02/from-archives.html

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

I too have Swedish ancestry and our grandson used to live in Finland. I have noticed in the past that I hadn't seen many photo bloggers from either those countries. I think I used to see a couple from Norway, and if I find their blogs again I'll send you the links. (I lost track of a lot of blog addresses when my old blog provider went out of business.) Also there was Lady Fi from Sweden who used to have the Skywatch meme. She is on Facebook.

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