Browsing by Author "Blondell, Delwyn"

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    'A bright eye to the main chance' : Brogdens' Navvies - British labourers building New Zealand's railways : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History, at Massey University, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2020) Blondell, Delwyn
    Historians have generally regarded the group known as Brogdens' Navvies as part of a special settlement scheme, induced to migrate to provide essential labour. In 1872 British labourers were recruited to construct New Zealand's railway network. The contracting firm John Brogden and Sons became reluctant immigration agents so they could fulfil their agreement with the New Zealand Government for the massive and costly public works undertaking. Rollo Arnold, when studying English immigrants of the 1870s, argued that the navvies were largely from rural backgrounds thus desirable potential settlers. However, history has largely ignored their contribution to settlement as it was engulfed by the government assisted immigrants. Additionally, as their immigration was privately funded, there has been an information deficit about these men and their backgrounds. The investigation collected data on the lives of just over 1,000 men, and the families that accompanied them. The approach combines conventional historical archival research with genealogical methodology, making use of commercial websites like Ancestry and Findmypast. Quantitative research was supplemented by qualitative case studies to determine if Brogden's navvies showed any enduring distinctive identity. This thesis compares Brogdens' Navvies to typical British navvies. It investigates the progress of members of the Brogdens' Navvies group to determine if the cultural narrative that expected immigrants would easily make economic and social advancements was correct in this case. Both British and New Zealand navvy groups included both labourers and tradesmen. Those recruited were some of the poorest in their communities and there was more diversity in their backgrounds than is seen in official records. Navvy culture had much in common with labouring culture generally and railway camps were not exclusively male. Much of the evidence in primary sources focuses on periods when navvies displayed socially undesirable behaviours, usually coinciding with periodic access to money and alcohol. Key findings were their significant contribution to railways, not only in construction but in maintenance, and that a substantial proportion was absorbed quickly and successfully into New Zealand society. Additionally, this study uncovered a greater range of life-paths than was expected from the existing historiography.
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    New Zealand's 'Incorrigibles' : tackling the vices of the socially problematic, 1870-1930 : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2024-10-04) Blondell, Delwyn
    Some of those on the edge of New Zealand society have been labelled 'incorrigible'. Examining their experiences offers a way of understanding the lives of poorer people during the period of major social change between the 1870s and the 1930s. This period saw the State expand its scope in response to social clamours, moral panics, and newfound responsibilities. As a result, it was thrust into the position of not only governing, but also of exploring social problems; that is, regulating them or providing some form of institutional response. This required a balance between accommodating some elements of the problem and controlling the unacceptable extremes. For the most part, attempts to deal with the incorrigible were attempts to deal with the ‘undeserving poor’, and looking at those labelled incorrigible shows considerable overlaps with generalisations made about that group. Despite being identified as the cause of social problems, the undeserving have largely been excluded from established narratives, or recognised by historians mainly for the ways in which they allegedly undermined social morality. This thesis shifts the focus by centring five groups associated with unrespectable behaviours. Prostitution in New Zealand saw older common prostitutes convicted as incorrigible rogues. Among railway labourers, an unexpected number of informal and bigamous marriages leads to questions about a working-class subculture with values different from those of the majority. The actions and motives of women who provided a home for unwanted children were distrusted when the baby-farming label was used to generate moral panic. Difficult reformatory girls housed at Te Oranga Home, the national girl’s reformatory, were supposed to be turned into useful domestic servants, but those who resisted reform were termed incorrigible. 'Mental defectives' were the subject of a Committee of Enquiry report in 1925 as interest in eugenics led to a particular focus on hereditary in degeneracy. The families used as case studies demonstrate how readily these ideas were accepted and imposed on the New Zealand context. The approach taken primarily focuses on the people themselves, with evidence about their lives gathered using genealogical tools and practices. State efforts to control social behaviours were often mitigated by the desire for the transformation of those behaviours into more acceptable forms, with recognition of a lack of capacity to address the contributing factors. New Zealand society and the State tolerated informal marriages due to unwillingness to accept divorce, it allowed troublesome older women to be labelled common prostitutes, it tolerated baby-farmers as they provided necessary foster-care, and it provided institutions to care for young women rather than provide support for families. As society developed ways of dealing with social problems, it seems to have been accepted that eradication was not possible, nor was it necessarily desirable. There was often a practical underlying reason, a real issue that the behaviour addressed, and social labels served a useful purpose, enabling a degree of community policing and control of the objectionable. Investigating groups of 'incorrigibles' deepens our knowledge of how society attempted to control those it feared. In addition, this thesis also shows how people dealt with being labelled. The perceived problem was often symptomatic of other less obvious tensions and expectations. In fact, the 'misfit' was part of the community, and their behaviours show the strength of middle-class norms, despite the obstacles the underserving encountered.