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BJ C

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Aug 13, 2024, 4:26:37 AM8/13/24
to Ayrshire History

Ok, I have a few corrections to make from an earlier post (circa 2016), plus I have some more information.

My mother is Florence Mini Greig, who was born in Queensland, in 1933. Mum is now deceased.

 Florences’s father was George Bicknell John Greig, born in Washington island in 1902. Her mother was Wehi Te Paea Corbett, born in Rotorua in 1903.

George’s father, was George Mahutaratonga Bicknell Greig, born on Fanning in 1863. His grandmother, the second wife of this George, was Florence Edith Armstrong, born in 1881.

 His father was Captain William James Greig, born in 1835 and his wife was Tuakore Te Anauatu born in 1842.

In 1907 the Greig family lost control of Fanning & Washington Island by way of a forced court sale. Bicknell had retired from the family business, left that interest to his son, but he wasn’t interested, so he sold it to a lawyer from Fiji called Humphrey Berkeley, who promptly ran the business into the ground so he could obtain full control of both islands. At this sale he used a proxy to buy the island called Emmanuel Rougier, a defrocked French priest. For the meagre sum of 10,000 pounds, the islands were lost.

However, the Frenchman outwitted the skunk Berkeley and took control of both islands for himself. Later he would take control of other pacific islands, making him extremely rich in the process. He eventually sold the 2 islands in 1913 for 200,000 pounds. That’s about 30 million pounds in today’s money when adjusted for inflation. Some of the things he did during this time were very, very dubious, he even tried selling the island to Imperial Japan. Yes, they were very interested.

If you do some further research, you will also find there was a dispute between the British Government and the Greig family about the Red Line cable service. All of this is kept in archives in the University of Auckland and it can only be accessed upon request.

Anyway, some of family stayed on the island, some left for San Fran Cisco, Hawaii and others to New Zealand - like my great grandfather George. He served for NZ in WWI and was wounded.

As for my grandfather George, both he and his wife Wehi were quite famous as performers as part of the Hilo Duo. They travelled the region and came to Australia in 1930. My mother was born in Queensland in 1933. She had 3 brothers: George, Louis and David (all deceased).

Now, to my mother’s sister? Leitu Travivi Veronica Greig, born in Aukland in 1923. Her parents were married in 1922. My mother never met her sister, sometimes they talked on the phone, but not very often. Leitu also served in the war effort and married a US serviceman, Keith Upton. They moved to the US. Who was Lei's mother? According to the US records it was Win Corbett. According to the NZ records it was Wehi Corbett. Either way, Leitu absolutely hated her father, George. I’ve read letters to that effect, but she loved her grandfather George dearly.

I have a lot of questions, but I have no idea who to ask.

 

Sara N

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Aug 14, 2024, 3:22:54 AM8/14/24
to Ayrshire History
Hi there,

Thank you for posting all of this information - very interesting. I have seen some of the details about the various sales of the islands in newspapers articles, but always thought there must be an inside story!
I hope to get to Auckland at some point to have a look in the archives, and will post anything of interest I find.
Just wondering how you came to think Capt William Greig was born in 1835? Some sources say it was 1821, an obituary I found online, for example. This states that he was born in Ayrshire in Scotland, however I have seen other quotes from newspaper articles from his descendants saying he was born in Aberdeen. So if you know anything to confirm this I’d love to hear!
I am happy to work with any family wanting to do research - I only found out about my Greig heritage in the last few years, so I am very keen to learn as much as I can. 

Best wishes to all
Sara

BJ C

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Oct 16, 2024, 6:18:18 AM10/16/24
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