I WAS fascinated and pleased to see the photograph of the New Zealand Inn printed in the Review (August 19). This pub was established and owned by my family from just after 1851 to 1903, I have no idea why great-great-great-grandfather John Bluett chose the name New Zealand for the house so that at least will remain a mystery.

As near as I can estimate, the date of the photo is probably circa 1900, in which case I think the lady in black may be great-great-aunt Sarah Ann Bluett (nee Harper) and the lady in the white blouse would probably be her daughter, Mabel Mary. I cannot identify the child with the wheelbarrow in the road.

My great-great-great grandfather, John Bluett was born in Newnham in 1795 and by 1841 he

was married to Maria (George) and living in Currier’s Lane and working as a labourer, but by 1851 he had raised himself up to the occupation of haulier and had nine children.

Between 1851 and 1857, John and Maria purchased a property and moved in, establishing it as a ‘beer-house’, the New Zealand Inn on Littledean Road.

This change in circumstances is significant: it indicates that John had the foresight to open a new business, had the wherewithal to purchase the freehold and stock it, and also indicates that he had sufficient ambition to want to go into business on his own account.

His tenure though was not without blemish: The Gloucester Journal of August 1857 carries an item ‘John Blewett of the New Zealand Inn, fined for after-hours opening’.

The New Zealand Inn does not appear in the 1861 census. It appears that the site was missed completely by the enumerator, because the nearest two farms are recorded, as they were in the 1851 census.

In 1862, the marriage of Edmund (born 1838), John and Maria’s fourth son took place to Sarah Ann Harper who was born on 18th August 1841 at Chaxhill, near Westbury on Severn. By 1871 Edmund is recorded as a stonemason and publican, born Newnham and resident at the New Zealand Inn.

Clearly, by this time Edmund and Sarah have inherited or purchased the New Zealand Inn from John, and are running it alongside his regular trade as a stonemason.

John is then mentioned again, and for the last time, in the Gloucester Journal of 4th December 1878 which notes his death aged 84 years, at the New Zealand Inn – it seems he left his retirement residence at Bluett’s Row, Gibraltar, Newnham to return to the pub.

In the 1881 census Sarah is listed as aged 40, head of family, ‘beer house keeper’ at the New Zealand Inn.

In the 1891 census both Edmund and Sarah are recorded, he as innkeeper and mason at the New Zealand Inn, and she as his wife. Similarly they are recorded in the 1901 census in the same capacities.

Edmund died late in 1901 at the age of 64 years at which time the pub passed to Sarah who continued to run the pub until 1903 when she sold it to George Bowdler who is recorded as the owner and publican in the 1911 census.

In 1916 the pub passed on again to John Henry Legg, then to Frederick Henry Reid. It was de-licensed and became a simple cottage and family home again in 1917.

During the 1960s it was the home of Mr R Probert, teacher of music at Double View School, who, coincidentally, taught me the rudiments of music.

Finally, the house was demolished in the early 1980s to make way for an additional house within the Camphill Village Trust complex at The Grange, Littledean Road.

– Andrew Bluett, Gloucester.