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Edward Brandon

From Rev. Brian Brandon

Ted was the oldest of the Brandon children, born on the 28th of June 1866, at Lower Clapton. He was one member of the family who seemed to be cut off, or who cut himself off from the rest of the family, and who the family knew the least about.

Apparently, he trained as a boy in England in a stained glass factory and was good at the work. Ted said that other members of the family wanted him to stay in England and to adopt him, but his mother wouldn't allow it. He would have been 15 years old when the family came out to NZ. He worked for many years in Murray's Foundry, Wanganui, engineers and boat builders .

He had a strong association with the Maori people on the Wanganui river. In 1902 he married Mutu Ngamoenga. There were no children of the marriage, and she died at some stage. Then in 1918 he remarried to Sarah Te Mana. They had one child, Daniel. After they were married, Rua, the father of Sarah made Ted leave. He spoke fluent Maori, and could interpret from Maori to English or vice versa without hesitation.

Ted had a very kind nature, but he didn't look after himself or his home very well. In the early 1950's when money from the English estate of Aunts Alice, Minnie and sister, Edith was left to various members of the family, Ted bought a house at Putiki. There Lila Brandon looked after him for a short while, but she found it a hopeless situation. In his old age, a Maori family promised him a home where they would look after him, but it was not long before he was placed in a home in Palmerston North. He died there on the 2nd of September, 1956, aged 90 from pneumonia.

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