Early DaysGeorge Peers was born on 15 September 1894 at Takapau, Hawkes Bay. His parents were Joseph Peers and Mary Jane nee Kerr. He was the sixth and last child. His brothers and sisters were: James Wharmby, Mary Josephine, Richard Taylor, Henry Joseph, and Sarah Olivia. George's father, Joseph, worked as a shepherd on a farm at Takapau. ![]() ![]() Joseph and Mary Jane Peers Joseph was placing phosophorus down rabbit holes. The phosphorus in his pocket caught on fire. He was taken to the Waipukurau Hospital with burns. Tetanus set in and he died. George was nine months old. ![]() Feilding Star, 13 July 1895 After Joseph's death, Mary and the six children went to live with her late husband's parents, Sarah and James Peers, at Tikokino. Sarah had been ill for some time and was confined to a chair. She died in 1896 when George was two. ![]() James and Sarah Peers
The older children attended Tikokino School. Then, in 1898, Mary married Tikokino widower and farmer, Irishman John O'Sullivan. It seems a strange arrangement because John O'Sullivan continued to farm variously at Blackburn and Napier, and Mary took her children and farmed her own farm at Wakarara. ![]() Wakarara School 1908, George Peers is the tall student at back |
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WarWhen he was 21 George left for the First World War. A social function was held at the Wakarara School to farewell him and others from the area. He was given wrist watches by the locals. Read part of his army record HERE. Two of his brothers, Richard (Dick) and Henry were already overseas. ![]() George Peers Dick never returned from the war, and Henry returned suffering from gas inhalation. George was seriously wounded in the leg around the 11th of June 1915, and he had returned from the Dardanelles by 12 September. This war injury was to bother him for the rest of his life. ![]() George Peers Dick's will states: I bequeath unto my brother George Peers of Wakarara aforesaid Labourer the chestnut filly belonging to me and called "Fire Escape". ![]() Richard Taylor (Dick) Peers In the Second World War George was in the Home Guard with the rank of Captain. Read part of his record HERE. |
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Alice LightollerOn the 21st of November 1917 George married Alice Lightoller at Waipawa. They set up home on a farm at Otawhao, just south of Takapau. ![]() Alice Lightoller
Doreen Mary Peers was born on the 7th November 1918. George mother, Mary, died suddenly at Wakarara on the 30th April 1919. Richard George (Dick) Peers was born on the 2nd of July 1921. Another son, unnamed, was stillborn while they lived at Otawhao. ![]() Margaret, Dick, and Doreen Peers The family then moved to Grays Road in Hastings, although Doreen stayed in the Hutt and later went and worked as a private caregiver for an elderly man in Dannevirke. On the 21 of Novemeber 1939, Doreen married Frank Goodman at Hastings. The Peers family moved to Duart Road in Havelock North. ![]() Peers Family 1939 From Havelock North, Dick went to World War II. He never returned. Click HERE to read a copy of a letter written by Alice's brother, Herbert Lightoller, on the occasion of Dick's death. And click HERE to read a copy of a letter written to Herbert Lightoller by the Commanding Officer on the occasion of Dick's death. ![]() Roger and Dick Peers
Alice, George and Margaret then moved to Caroline Road in Hastings. Alice died there on the 16th of January 1949 of a heart attack, and is buried in the Hastings Cemetery. A short time after, Margaret married Bertrand Worsnop of Wakarara. |
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The Final YearsAfter Alice's death, George moved and lived with his daughter Doreen and her husband Frank Goodman in Upper Hutt. Shortly after, Frank Goodman and George Peers jointly purchased the Provincial Hotel in Wanganui. ![]() In 1950 George married again, to Alice Raina Stephens. They first moved to run a pub in Woodville. Then George sold his portion of the Provincial Hotel to Frank Goodman and purchased the Manchester Hotel in Feilding. George's new wife left him after a very short time. George remade his will, excluding his wife from the inheritance and leaving all to his two daughters, Doreen and Margaret. ![]() Alice Raina Stephens
Alice Raina Stephens had been married before; first to Herbert Oliver Pedersen in 1927. They had three children: Rona, Patricia and Garry. They divorced in 1939 in Hamilton on grounds of desertion by Alice. When Alice married for the second time, son Garry took the new step-father's surname of Thurston. The two girls kept the name of Pedersen. The new husband was possibly Richard Henry Thurston. He was a divorcee with four children, one of whom was killed in North Africa during World War II. (Or she could perhaps have married one of the sons?) Thurston and Alice had a child: Anne. ![]() |