TONG, Agnes Mary Ngan née BECKETT
Born c1890; died 29 November 1918; buried 1 December 1918; age 28
Agnes Mary BECKETT’s marriage to a Chinese man was a rarity in 1915 – especially as she already had two young children.
The New Zealand-born Aggie, as she was known, married Ngan TONG in Wanganui (also known as Ngan Ah Tong). Later they moved to Wellington where she died in the flu epidemic in 1918, 2 years after the birth of her third child and 10 weeks after the birth of her fourth. Her death and burial details were recorded under different names – officials were inconsistent in distinguishing surnames from first names, as happened to many migrants from China and elsewhere.
Aggie was born about 1890 in Maerewhenua, near Oamaru (i). She was the second daughter of Edward and Sarah Graham BECKETT (née COOPER), who had married in Duntroon in 1886. Edward’s father, also Edward, was a miner at Maerewhenua (ii). When Aggie was born her father was 27; her mother was 17. They produced six daughters and four sons between 1888 and 1912.
By 1895 Edward and Sarah had relocated to the Pahiatua area, where Edward found work labouring and working on the roads to support his growing family. Electoral rolls show Edward living near Pahiatua in Kaitawa after 1905 until he moved to Tyndall Street, Pahiatua by 1938. He died in 1941.
Sarah’s last registration to vote was in 1911. Her marriage to Edward did not seem to survive long after the birth of their last child in 1912 (registered in Pahiatua). Aggie appeared on the electoral roll in Hope Street, Masterton in 1911 but it is unclear whether her mother was with her, as Sarah did not enrol to vote in the years of her separation.
Aggie had returned to Masterton after a time in Wellington, working as a housemaid for the Hotel Cecil on the corner of Molesworth Street and Lambton Quay. Her job ended in difficult circumstances in May 1910 when Aggie appeared in court and admitted stealing a counterpane and two towels which she had posted to her mother in the country (iii).
Aggie then seemed to have moved to live and work in Wanganui where she gave birth in 1913 to a son, Eric Stanley. The following year Aggie gave birth to a daughter, Rubina Beryl in Wellington. Neither had a father recorded on their birth registration.
Born c1890; died 29 November 1918; buried 1 December 1918; age 28
Agnes Mary BECKETT’s marriage to a Chinese man was a rarity in 1915 – especially as she already had two young children.
The New Zealand-born Aggie, as she was known, married Ngan TONG in Wanganui (also known as Ngan Ah Tong). Later they moved to Wellington where she died in the flu epidemic in 1918, 2 years after the birth of her third child and 10 weeks after the birth of her fourth. Her death and burial details were recorded under different names – officials were inconsistent in distinguishing surnames from first names, as happened to many migrants from China and elsewhere.
Aggie was born about 1890 in Maerewhenua, near Oamaru (i). She was the second daughter of Edward and Sarah Graham BECKETT (née COOPER), who had married in Duntroon in 1886. Edward’s father, also Edward, was a miner at Maerewhenua (ii). When Aggie was born her father was 27; her mother was 17. They produced six daughters and four sons between 1888 and 1912.
By 1895 Edward and Sarah had relocated to the Pahiatua area, where Edward found work labouring and working on the roads to support his growing family. Electoral rolls show Edward living near Pahiatua in Kaitawa after 1905 until he moved to Tyndall Street, Pahiatua by 1938. He died in 1941.
Sarah’s last registration to vote was in 1911. Her marriage to Edward did not seem to survive long after the birth of their last child in 1912 (registered in Pahiatua). Aggie appeared on the electoral roll in Hope Street, Masterton in 1911 but it is unclear whether her mother was with her, as Sarah did not enrol to vote in the years of her separation.
Aggie had returned to Masterton after a time in Wellington, working as a housemaid for the Hotel Cecil on the corner of Molesworth Street and Lambton Quay. Her job ended in difficult circumstances in May 1910 when Aggie appeared in court and admitted stealing a counterpane and two towels which she had posted to her mother in the country (iii).
Aggie then seemed to have moved to live and work in Wanganui where she gave birth in 1913 to a son, Eric Stanley. The following year Aggie gave birth to a daughter, Rubina Beryl in Wellington. Neither had a father recorded on their birth registration.
Hotel Cecil in Wellington, from https://digitalnz.org/records/22820040
with thanks to the National Library New Zealand
with thanks to the National Library New Zealand
Perhaps Aggie got to know Ngan (Ah) Tong in Wanganui. He was identified in the Aliens Register of 1917 as coming to New Zealand in 1907 and would have had to pay £100 poll tax to enter the country to work (iv). Naturalisation ceased for Chinese in New Zealand in 1908, while a new immigration reading test in English that year produced a considerable reduction in migration from China (v).
Ngan (Ah) Tong, 44, lived in Wanganui when the Aliens Register was prepared and was one of 90 men and three women from China then based in the wider Wanganui area. Most were engaged in market gardening in the rich, black, river soil for which the area is renowned. Some also had shops in town or supplied the 14 Chinese fruiterers or greengrocers and eight Chinese storekeepers who retailed produce locally as well as tobacco, confectionery, and sometimes grocery items (vi).
Many of Wanganui’s Chinese community in 1917 came from two clans who had migrated from Poon Yue County in Canton. The Ngan clan were from Yeun Har village while the Joe clan were from Ah Woo village (vii).
Ngan (Ah) Tong, 44, lived in Wanganui when the Aliens Register was prepared and was one of 90 men and three women from China then based in the wider Wanganui area. Most were engaged in market gardening in the rich, black, river soil for which the area is renowned. Some also had shops in town or supplied the 14 Chinese fruiterers or greengrocers and eight Chinese storekeepers who retailed produce locally as well as tobacco, confectionery, and sometimes grocery items (vi).
Many of Wanganui’s Chinese community in 1917 came from two clans who had migrated from Poon Yue County in Canton. The Ngan clan were from Yeun Har village while the Joe clan were from Ah Woo village (vii).
Villages in Poon Yue county in Canton
with thanks to Ruth Lam et al, vol 2, page 877
with thanks to Ruth Lam et al, vol 2, page 877
Aggie married Ngan (Ah) Tong on 10 February 1915 in the Wanganui registry office. Ngan, a Canton-born fruiterer, recorded his age as 40 while Aggie was 24 (viii). She was working as a waitress, suggesting that she received some help at home with the care of her young children, perhaps from her mother.
Aggie declared her father Edward’s occupation as ‘farmer’ however he consistently gave his electoral roll occupations as ‘labourer’ and ‘roadman’ (ix). For his part, Ngan declared his own father’s occupation as ‘fruiterer’ perhaps implying that he had also worked in New Zealand. The marriage witnesses also came from the Wanganui Chinese fruiterer community: Chung Kow Dan and his wife Ruby Chung Kow Dan (x).
New Zealand had very few unmarried Chinese women at this time. In earlier years European women got in trouble with the law for consorting with Chinese men (xi), but some marriages did occur. The total number of such marriages was small from the 1870s to the 1910s. Although many mixed marriages proved stable and long lasting, others did not, especially where the women came from socially/economically deprived backgrounds (xii).
Aggie declared her father Edward’s occupation as ‘farmer’ however he consistently gave his electoral roll occupations as ‘labourer’ and ‘roadman’ (ix). For his part, Ngan declared his own father’s occupation as ‘fruiterer’ perhaps implying that he had also worked in New Zealand. The marriage witnesses also came from the Wanganui Chinese fruiterer community: Chung Kow Dan and his wife Ruby Chung Kow Dan (x).
New Zealand had very few unmarried Chinese women at this time. In earlier years European women got in trouble with the law for consorting with Chinese men (xi), but some marriages did occur. The total number of such marriages was small from the 1870s to the 1910s. Although many mixed marriages proved stable and long lasting, others did not, especially where the women came from socially/economically deprived backgrounds (xii).
Wellington region Chinese population showing the huge disparity between males and females, especially around 1916
with thanks to Ruth Lam et al vol 1, page 192
with thanks to Ruth Lam et al vol 1, page 192
Aggie and Ngan Tong’s son Edgar James Francis was born in early 1916 when the family was probably living in Upper Hutt where the birth was registered. They had a second son, Ivan Joseph Tong on 4 September 1918, by which time they were living at 69 Owen Street, Newtown, above a greengrocer’s shop on the corner of Constable Street (xiii). In 1911 and 1912 this business had been in the hands of Ah Chee Bros. In 1917 it was in the hands of Ngan Gee Bros (xiv), (listed as Ngan Kee, assistant fruiterer in the Aliens Register – aged 25 and in NZ since 1911) suggesting that perhaps after the Aliens Register was compiled, the family had relocated to new business opportunities in Newtown.
Perhaps too, there was a succession of movements in 1917/18 for Aggie’s family between Wanganui and Wellington.
Chinese greengrocers were first recorded opening businesses in 1892 in Newtown, in Riddiford Street and in Adelaide Road, and these grew to around 75 establishments over the years in this suburb. However, with stiff competition among business owners, not all succeeded for long. The Chinese population of Wellington was thought to be around 300 in 1916, a population that proved less likely to return to China than its Timaru or Auckland counterparts (xv).
In 1918, when Aggie got sick with influenza, she was taken across town to the Normal School temporary hospital in Thorndon. It had 91 beds to nurse the extremely sick. She died there aged 28 on 29 November 1918. No death notices were inserted in local newspapers at the time and she was buried on 1 December 1918 in the Public 2 section of Karori Cemetery in plot 288J.
While the cemetery record was under the name of Tong Aggy Ngan and showed that the bill for her grave was unpaid, the funeral director recorded her name as Aggy Ngan Tong (xvi) and showed that her burial cost of £12/5/0 was fully paid in cash, suggesting her husband Ngan Tong had promptly met the bill. He may not, however, have been aware that burial plots then needed to be purchased separately. Many years later Aggie’s remains were disinterred from her plot in the cemetery’s Public 2 section and reburied between the headstones, but her original plot was not resold.
Perhaps too, there was a succession of movements in 1917/18 for Aggie’s family between Wanganui and Wellington.
Chinese greengrocers were first recorded opening businesses in 1892 in Newtown, in Riddiford Street and in Adelaide Road, and these grew to around 75 establishments over the years in this suburb. However, with stiff competition among business owners, not all succeeded for long. The Chinese population of Wellington was thought to be around 300 in 1916, a population that proved less likely to return to China than its Timaru or Auckland counterparts (xv).
In 1918, when Aggie got sick with influenza, she was taken across town to the Normal School temporary hospital in Thorndon. It had 91 beds to nurse the extremely sick. She died there aged 28 on 29 November 1918. No death notices were inserted in local newspapers at the time and she was buried on 1 December 1918 in the Public 2 section of Karori Cemetery in plot 288J.
While the cemetery record was under the name of Tong Aggy Ngan and showed that the bill for her grave was unpaid, the funeral director recorded her name as Aggy Ngan Tong (xvi) and showed that her burial cost of £12/5/0 was fully paid in cash, suggesting her husband Ngan Tong had promptly met the bill. He may not, however, have been aware that burial plots then needed to be purchased separately. Many years later Aggie’s remains were disinterred from her plot in the cemetery’s Public 2 section and reburied between the headstones, but her original plot was not resold.
Extract from E Morris junior funeral register for second half of 1918, (MSY-3711)
held by the Alexander Turnbull Library
held by the Alexander Turnbull Library
After her death it is unclear who raised her young children though it is possible that both Eric and Edgar supported their father in his business in Owen Street, perhaps while Rubina kept house from a young age. Aggie’s baby son was just 10 weeks old; a family member may have stepped in to help with the children or the baby may have been fostered out.
The name of ‘Ngan Tong and Sons’ featured in a court report in November 1923 when a number of fruiterers questioned the application of trading hours while selling traditional Guy Fawke’s fireworks. They lost their case (xvii), but clearly Ngan Tong was still in business at 69 Owen Street. This is reinforced by a 1923 entry for ‘M Tong and Son’ in a list of Chinese fruit shops in volume 2 of Ruth Lam et al ‘The fruits of our labours’ (xviii).
Ngan Tong did not return to China to live like many of his compatriots in earlier years, nor did he remarry. He stayed in Wellington, as did his son, Edgar for many years. Edgar appeared on the electoral roll as a ‘striker’ in Taranaki Street in 1946, as a ‘gardener’ in Palmerston North in 1954, and as a ‘process worker’ at 37 Holloway Road in 1969 in Wellington Central before retiring to Levin. He died in Palmerston North hospital in 1984 and was cremated at Whenua Tapu Cemetery.
The future of Aggie’s older (Beckett) children is unknown.
Aggie’s mother Sarah Beckett continued to face financial struggles. A report in the Evening Post of 8 August 1921 records that a court ordered her estranged husband Edward to pay 20 shillings a week towards the maintenance of his wife. He disregarded this order and built up arrears of £12 by 12 June 1922, when he was ordered to pay forthwith or face a month in gaol. In October 1924, while living in Wanganui, Sarah became unwell with a manic depressive episode and was committed to mental health care. She remained in Porirua Mental Hospital until she died, aged 62, in 1932 (xix) and was buried in Karori Cemetery in Ch Eng 2 section, plot 275K. Her plot was purchased by Aggie’s brother Herbert then working at Wellington’s Trocadero Hotel.
Edward outlived his wife and daughter, Aggie and was buried in 1941 aged 84 in Kaitawa Cemetery, Pahiatua.
Aggie’s widowed husband Ngan Ah Tong died in 1945, aged 82 (xx). He was cremated at Karori Cemetery (xxi).
At the time of his death he was being cared for at Silverstream Hospital, having gone there from 244 Karori Road, the home of the New Central Fruit Company. It was run by Yen Qwe or Yen Quee, who met his funeral costs in full, paying cash. A longstanding friend from the Chinese community also seems to have provided him with a home as he aged. Ngan Ah Tong’s last recorded occupation was ‘gardener’.
The name of ‘Ngan Tong and Sons’ featured in a court report in November 1923 when a number of fruiterers questioned the application of trading hours while selling traditional Guy Fawke’s fireworks. They lost their case (xvii), but clearly Ngan Tong was still in business at 69 Owen Street. This is reinforced by a 1923 entry for ‘M Tong and Son’ in a list of Chinese fruit shops in volume 2 of Ruth Lam et al ‘The fruits of our labours’ (xviii).
Ngan Tong did not return to China to live like many of his compatriots in earlier years, nor did he remarry. He stayed in Wellington, as did his son, Edgar for many years. Edgar appeared on the electoral roll as a ‘striker’ in Taranaki Street in 1946, as a ‘gardener’ in Palmerston North in 1954, and as a ‘process worker’ at 37 Holloway Road in 1969 in Wellington Central before retiring to Levin. He died in Palmerston North hospital in 1984 and was cremated at Whenua Tapu Cemetery.
The future of Aggie’s older (Beckett) children is unknown.
Aggie’s mother Sarah Beckett continued to face financial struggles. A report in the Evening Post of 8 August 1921 records that a court ordered her estranged husband Edward to pay 20 shillings a week towards the maintenance of his wife. He disregarded this order and built up arrears of £12 by 12 June 1922, when he was ordered to pay forthwith or face a month in gaol. In October 1924, while living in Wanganui, Sarah became unwell with a manic depressive episode and was committed to mental health care. She remained in Porirua Mental Hospital until she died, aged 62, in 1932 (xix) and was buried in Karori Cemetery in Ch Eng 2 section, plot 275K. Her plot was purchased by Aggie’s brother Herbert then working at Wellington’s Trocadero Hotel.
Edward outlived his wife and daughter, Aggie and was buried in 1941 aged 84 in Kaitawa Cemetery, Pahiatua.
Aggie’s widowed husband Ngan Ah Tong died in 1945, aged 82 (xx). He was cremated at Karori Cemetery (xxi).
At the time of his death he was being cared for at Silverstream Hospital, having gone there from 244 Karori Road, the home of the New Central Fruit Company. It was run by Yen Qwe or Yen Quee, who met his funeral costs in full, paying cash. A longstanding friend from the Chinese community also seems to have provided him with a home as he aged. Ngan Ah Tong’s last recorded occupation was ‘gardener’.
Extract from E Morris junior funeral arrangement sheets for 1945
held by Alexander Turnbull Library, Micro-MS-0969-11
held by Alexander Turnbull Library, Micro-MS-0969-11
Extract from E Morris junior funeral register for 1945, (MSY-3730)
held by the Alexander Turnbull Library
held by the Alexander Turnbull Library
Two surprises are revealed on the funeral director’s records for Ngan Ah Tong; the first was that he had been in New Zealand for 50 years. If this time was more than a good guess on the informant’s part (probably Yen Quee’s), it meant he had arrived in New Zealand in 1895, not 1907 as recorded on the Aliens Register. (However, there could also have been more than one Ngan Ah Tong.)
The second surprise was that he had been married in China twice before he married Aggie in New Zealand as a ‘bachelor’. Ngan Ah Tong first married at 25, or in 1888. He married again at 30 in 1893, presumably on the death of his first wife who had borne him a son. His son would have been aged 52 at the time of his father’s death and probably never saw his father again. It is unclear whether his New Zealand sons knew of their older brother in China. Neither was recorded on their father’s funeral arrangement record, presumably with the information provided by Yen Quee.
The second surprise was that he had been married in China twice before he married Aggie in New Zealand as a ‘bachelor’. Ngan Ah Tong first married at 25, or in 1888. He married again at 30 in 1893, presumably on the death of his first wife who had borne him a son. His son would have been aged 52 at the time of his father’s death and probably never saw his father again. It is unclear whether his New Zealand sons knew of their older brother in China. Neither was recorded on their father’s funeral arrangement record, presumably with the information provided by Yen Quee.
Aggie’s grave in Public 2 plot 288J Karori Cemetery,
to the left of the concrete surround of the adjoining grave
to the left of the concrete surround of the adjoining grave
Researched and written by Jenny Robertson
(i) Details from marriage record of Agnes and Ngan Tong 10 February 1915. Her death record details on the E Morris junior funeral arrangement sheet held on microfilm in the Alexander Turnbull Library (Micro-MS-0969-03) record her birthplace as Pahiatua, but this information is likely to be less accurate than that provided by Aggie herself on marriage.
(ii) Edward Beckett senior died in Seacliff Asylum in 1909.
(iii) Evening Post 15 May 1910, page 8. Agnes was convicted and ordered to come up for sentence if called upon.
(iv) The poll tax was first set at £10 by the Chinese Immigrants Act 1881 by which numbers were also limited to one person per ten tonnes of ship’s cargo and increased in 1896 to £100 and one passenger for each 200 tons. No other ethnic group was subject to such restrictions or tax and in 2002 Rt Hon Helen Clark, the New Zealand Prime Minister, apologised formally for the discrimination.
(v) James Ng ‘Windows on a Chinese past’ vol 2, Otago Heritage Books, 1995, page 263.
(vi) Ruth Lam, Beverly Lowe, Helen Wong, Michael Wong and Carolyn King ‘The fruits of our labours’, vol I, published by the Chinese Heritage Poll Tax Trust, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington 2018, page 386.
(vii) Ibid, page 388. Lily Lee and Ruth Lam ‘Sons of the Soil: Chinese market gardeners in New Zealand’ published by the Dominion Federation of New Zealand Chinese Commercial Growers Inc, Pukekohe, 2012 page 41 makes it clear that in the early 1900s market garden workers were paid around £30 pa with free board and meals. Garden leaseholders could make a profit of up to £130 to £140 pa which compared well with fruit shops, where the annual profit was more like £60 to £70.
(viii) When Ngan Ah Tong died in 1945, his age was recorded as 82 indicating he had been born in 1863 rather than in 1873 as he indicated at marriage. Thus he was probably some 25 years older than Aggie. Ngan Tong recorded on his marriage record that his father was also a fruiterer named Ngan Sue while his mother was Young Sue, maiden name Chang. At death in 1945 his parents were named as Ngan Ta Choi (father) and Joe Sue (mother) while his second wife in China was named as Chen Sue. There were of course many other Ngans in other parts of New Zealand.
(ix) ‘Farmer’ was, however, the occupation of Aggie’s younger brother James Thomas Beckett whose army file shows this occupation, reinforced by electoral roll entries with his brother George William Beckett.
(x) Neither party is listed as a Wanganui fruiterer in business over the years of this story in Ruth Lam et al, vol 2, op cit, implying perhaps that market gardening provided the way of life for the couple who witnessed the marriage of Ngan and Aggie.
(xi) James Ng ‘Chinese settlement in New Zealand, past and present, Amity Centre Publishing Project, Oct 2001, page 7 of 52 on http://www.stevenyoung.co.nz/component/option,com_mailto/link,3c0e957c9ecb32674f7d7158863b9b78ecd72c39/tmpl,component/chinesevoice/misc/The-Chinese-in-New-Zealand/History-of-Chinese-in-NewZealand/chinesevoice/family/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=142&Itemid=50
This claim is sourced to footnote 26. P. Law, Too Much ’Yellow’ in the Melting Pot? Perceptions of the New Zealand Chinese, 1930-1960. M.A. thesis, University of Otago, Dunedin, 1994, pp.17-18.
(xii) Op Cit, James Ng, ‘Windows on a Chinese Past’, vol 2, Chapter 5 Mixed marriages, pp 240 to 291.
(xiii) Taken from Morris Funeral Arrangement sheet on microfilm, op cit.
(xiv) Op Cit, Ruth Lam et al, page 820.
(xv) Ibid, Ruth Lam et al, vol 1, page 192.
(xvi) BDM records her death registration name as Aggie Ngan Tong.
(xvii) Evening Post 28 November 1923, page 4. The decision reported in the Evening Post of 14 December 1923, page 7 did not refer again to Ngan Tong and Sons but went against the defendants who had stayed open to sell fireworks after 6pm. ‘H’ Tong and Co were fined £2 and costs. I have not researched whether any appeal was considered later.
(xviii) Ruth Lam et al, op cit, vol 2, page 821. This business is listed only in 1923 and the table includes no details of village or county of origin, or owner’s name/s. Only the trade name of the shop, its address at 69 Owen Street and year in business are listed.
(xix) Archives New Zealand, Coroner’s report, ACGS COR 1932/823 records that Sarah had resided in Wanganui before her committal and helped with laundry work in the hospital. She became very depressed in June 1932, refused food, could not sleep, was resistive to attention and tube feeding, and with a weakened heart, died with melancholia and exhaustion on 10 July 1932. The day before she died she was visited by Aggie’s older sister Margaret Elizabeth HETHERINGTON née Beckett then living at 279 Taranaki Street, Wellington (now part of Wellington High School).
(xx) When pensions for the aged were first introduced in New Zealand in 1898, not even naturalised Chinese were eligible. It took until 1936 for the Chinese to be granted retirement pensions.
(xxi) Right to the end of his life people struggled to identify his surname and first name. E Morris junior put a funeral notice in the Evening Post of 17 November 1945 calling him ‘Ngan Ah Tong’ but the cemetery record in Karori has Ngan as his surname and Ah Tong as his first name.