Norman Street (New Plymouth)

Norman Street in Vogeltown was surveyed in two stages, only a month apart, and for two different people. John Buckman had the first part (leading from Holsworthy Road) surveyed on his behalf in September 1909 and the following month the rest of the street was surveyed for Mrs Elizabeth Tribe.

The two surveys were noted as “Town of Vogeltown Extension No. 1” (19 sections) and “Extension No. 2” (21 sections). The subdivisions comprised sections on both sides of Norman Street and 13 fronting Carrington Street.

Possibly because his section was surveyed first, the honour of naming the street was given to Mr Buckman. He chose to name it after his son, Norman.  

Norman John Baden Buckman was born in 1900, the youngest of John and Henrietta’s six children. Little is known about his life and it appears he left New Zealand as a young man to live in England. His name is listed on English records in the 1930s and in 1947 he married (“very quietly”, according to the local newspaper) Frances Ellen Dyke Clarke.

Rather strangely, his sole listing on the New Zealand electoral rolls comes two years later in 1949. He was living in Wellington by himself and his occupation was listed as clerk. He returned to England in 1953 and died on 21 March 1955 in Nottingham.

We know much more about the life of his older sister Rosina. Born in 1881, her musical talent was spotted early and she was sent to England to study with the celebrated conductor Charles Swinnerton Heap. A serious illness saw her return to New Zealand in 1904, although she quickly reignited her career, making her operatic debut in 1905. Such was her growing reputation as a soprano of rare talent that by 1912 she was back in London. She performed at Convent Garden in roles such as Madame Butterfly and Isolde in Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde.

In 1919 Rosina married the tenor Emile Maurice d’Oisly and they toured together until the 1930s when she withdrew from performing to concentrate on teaching music. She died in London in 1948, aged 67.

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.