Mary Beatrice Ridley

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The True Story of Mary Beatrice Wooster (nee Ridley)

Mary Ridley from Kent, England aged 18 in 1873 travelled to Napier, New Zealand by ship with her older married sister Charlotte Pollington, husband John and their five children to help with the family on the long voyage.
The ship “Invererne” sailed on 21st Nov 1873 from Gravesend and arrived at Napier on 8th March 1874. Passengers – 240 immigrants – 107 days travel; 16 children died from scarletina – in charge Captain Foreman. Mary’s relations: John Pollington 30yrs, Kent, Charlotte Pollington 28yrs, Kent. Children – John 8yrs, Maria 6yrs, Alice 4yrs, Albert 2yrs (died on board) and Martha 1yr. Mary herself, 19yrs, Kent, cook. Mary actually turned 19 later in May.
From Napier they all travelled to Waipawa where Mary worked as a cook for the Rev and Mrs Tanner for 18 months to work off her passage, during which time Mrs Tanner taught her many cooking skills. It was during this time that she met Thomas Brandon Wooster who often called in on the Tanners for refreshments during his work time. Thomas was a drover and also a dealer. Mary was very elegant and beautiful with long black hair and bright eyes, was very taken with this handsome gentleman and they were married at Napier on 13th November 1875. After the service they travelled back to Waipawa to Thomas’s home farm, known as “The Bush”.
Their marriage certificate was rather strange, only stating Bride – Mary Ridley aged 21yrs, Thomas Wooster 32yrs. No birth dates, no relations, places of birth or family names of parents! Suddenly, after her marriage, Mary added Beatrice as her middle name and severed all connections to her English parents and families for her lifetime. Her granddaughter Evelyn often asked her mother Alice about her mother Mary’s relations and Alice always replied “it seemed my mother had a secret past and refused to discuss it with anyone!”
When Thomas died on 26th March 1910 Mary went to housekeep at Clive for Michael Clabby who lived next door to her daughter Margaret Holleron. This man was a lonely bachelor who had nobody to leave his home to and after much persuasion from Mag, who thought Mary would be financially secure, Nary married Michael in 1921. In his youth he had been a champion boxer but lived only 1 year after the marriage. Mary often stayed with her daughters but when she became ill she sent her last two weeks with Alice at 901 Eaton Road and died there on 20th August 1935. Evelyn said that her father and Mary got on so well and they would laugh and joke together, he with a beer and her with a stout.

The Mary Ann Ridley Revelation
Finally after many years of research and letters to and from England, Mary’s great granddaughter, in August 2007, exactly 72 years to the month, by researching just Mary Ridley came up with her whole family. There were in total eight children of her parents William and Charlotte Ridley (nee Norris), Mary being the sixth child, born 27th May 1855 in Wrotham, Kent, England.
It turned out that Mary married Thomas Brandon Wooster when she was 20yrs 5mths, and because she was under 21 and needed her parents’ permission to marry she just put 21 as her age. In those days you could risk jail for wrong data on records and fearing her marriage wouldn’t be valid if found out, she didn’t mention her second name Ann but slipped in Beatrice on the records after that to prevent being traced. This worked well until 72 years later when all was revealed!
Mary’s granddaughter Evelyn, aged 94 and the only survivor of that generation, was amazed and excited by these revelations with all the records to back it up. She said it answered many of the questions she had wondered about over the years.

Mary’s Life in New Zealand
We can’t help but admire this young woman who left her home in Kent, made this long voyage to a new country, coping with her nephew Albert’s death at sea and working hard to pay off her passage. Her steadfast marriage to Thomas was a busy time, raising twelve children, losing Samuel so young and Thomas in action in France. They also made a home for young Tom Slatford, whose mother and four children were murdered by their step-father Roland Herbert Edwards, the first white man to be hanged in Napier jail. Thomas and Mary’s family motto was “Nil Arduum” – nothing is too hard. Both had a driving force and determination to overcome obstacles and their qualities were passed down to their children enabling them to cope with the hard times of the war and depression.
Mary must have lived in constant fear that if her true birth date was revealed, her marriage would be null and void!