DE VERE, Louis Schaeffer
Born 13 December 1917; died 14 November 1918; buried 16 November 1918; age 11 months
DE VERE, Sheila Joan
Born 6 May 1916; died 28 November 1918; buried 30 November 1918; age 2½
The DE VERE family were living at 196 Rintoul Street in Newtown when the citizens of Wellington gathered in public places to celebrate Armistice Day, 11 November. The influenza epidemic was already raging and it took the first of their children just three days later, on 14 November. Their younger son, Louis Schaeffer, was still an infant, aged only 11 months when he died. 14 days later his older sister, Sheila Joan, succumbed as well, aged only just over two years. The two older children, Cuyler Alfred, aged 5, and Noreen Louise, aged four, both survived and lived into adulthood.
Their parents were Alfred Healy De Vere and Florence Louisa SCHAEFFER, who had married in Hastings on Alfred’s 30th birthday, 25 April 1911. The Evening Post published a notice on 10 June 1911:
DE VERE— SCHAEFFER - On the 25th April, at the Roman Catholic Church, Hastings, by the Rev. Father Kerley, Alfred Healy de Vere of Wellington, to Florence Louise, eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. Schaeffer, Hastings.
Alfred worked for the Post Office as a letter carrier (presumably a postman), and he eventually became a letter sorter. In 1911 Alfred was registered in the Wellington South Electoral Roll as living at 15 Stoke Street, Newtown, with his widowed mother Norah. Alfred’s father, another Alfred, had been a mariner, and died at sea in 1895.
He and Florence set up home independently after their marriage, but lived not far from his mother, at 196 Rintoul Street, Newtown. Athletic Park, the home of Wellington rugby since 1896, was between the two properties. 196 Rintoul Street is one of five small cottages running south from the corner of Rintoul and Waripori Streets. They still stand today, and look as if they were each built to much the same design, though the frontages of some have been altered slightly.
The Evening Post published a death notice for Louis on 16 November 1918:
DE VERE —On the 14th November, 1918, at No. 196, Rintoul-street, Louis Schaeffer, beloved youngest son of Alfred Healey and Florence de Vere; aged 11 months. R.I.P. Deeply mourned. Private interment.
The Evening Post published a death notice for Sheila on 29 November 1918:
DE VERE—On the 28th November, 1918, at 196, Rintoul-street, Sheila Joan, dearly loved youngest daughter of Alfred Healy and Florence de Vere, aged 2 years and 7 months. Deeply regretted. R.I.P. Private interment.
The plot had been purchased in April 1914 when his cousin Robert “Robbie” de Vere MORLEY had died aged 8 years and 8 months. Robert was the son of Alfred’s older sister Julia and her husband Joseph Morley. Julia seems to have been known as Loo Loo all her life - this name was inscribed on the family plot when she died in 1961.
Both Sheila and Louis’s deaths are inscribed on the right hand side of the headstone on the plot. The details of their grandfather’s death at sea are commemorated under them, and their grandmother Norah’s details were added in 1925.
Louis and Sheila’s father Alfred died in 1948, and he too was interred in the plot and his details are on a plaque in front of the headstone. Their mother, Florence, is not commemorated – she and Alfred seem to have separated/divorced sometime during the 1920’s, and by 1928 she was living in Auckland. She remarried in 1932 to someone called Daniel Stewart.
Researched by Penny Holden and written by Barbara Mulligan
Grave Information:
Section: ROM CATH
Plot: 79 Q
Born 13 December 1917; died 14 November 1918; buried 16 November 1918; age 11 months
DE VERE, Sheila Joan
Born 6 May 1916; died 28 November 1918; buried 30 November 1918; age 2½
The DE VERE family were living at 196 Rintoul Street in Newtown when the citizens of Wellington gathered in public places to celebrate Armistice Day, 11 November. The influenza epidemic was already raging and it took the first of their children just three days later, on 14 November. Their younger son, Louis Schaeffer, was still an infant, aged only 11 months when he died. 14 days later his older sister, Sheila Joan, succumbed as well, aged only just over two years. The two older children, Cuyler Alfred, aged 5, and Noreen Louise, aged four, both survived and lived into adulthood.
Their parents were Alfred Healy De Vere and Florence Louisa SCHAEFFER, who had married in Hastings on Alfred’s 30th birthday, 25 April 1911. The Evening Post published a notice on 10 June 1911:
DE VERE— SCHAEFFER - On the 25th April, at the Roman Catholic Church, Hastings, by the Rev. Father Kerley, Alfred Healy de Vere of Wellington, to Florence Louise, eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. Schaeffer, Hastings.
Alfred worked for the Post Office as a letter carrier (presumably a postman), and he eventually became a letter sorter. In 1911 Alfred was registered in the Wellington South Electoral Roll as living at 15 Stoke Street, Newtown, with his widowed mother Norah. Alfred’s father, another Alfred, had been a mariner, and died at sea in 1895.
He and Florence set up home independently after their marriage, but lived not far from his mother, at 196 Rintoul Street, Newtown. Athletic Park, the home of Wellington rugby since 1896, was between the two properties. 196 Rintoul Street is one of five small cottages running south from the corner of Rintoul and Waripori Streets. They still stand today, and look as if they were each built to much the same design, though the frontages of some have been altered slightly.
The Evening Post published a death notice for Louis on 16 November 1918:
DE VERE —On the 14th November, 1918, at No. 196, Rintoul-street, Louis Schaeffer, beloved youngest son of Alfred Healey and Florence de Vere; aged 11 months. R.I.P. Deeply mourned. Private interment.
The Evening Post published a death notice for Sheila on 29 November 1918:
DE VERE—On the 28th November, 1918, at 196, Rintoul-street, Sheila Joan, dearly loved youngest daughter of Alfred Healy and Florence de Vere, aged 2 years and 7 months. Deeply regretted. R.I.P. Private interment.
The plot had been purchased in April 1914 when his cousin Robert “Robbie” de Vere MORLEY had died aged 8 years and 8 months. Robert was the son of Alfred’s older sister Julia and her husband Joseph Morley. Julia seems to have been known as Loo Loo all her life - this name was inscribed on the family plot when she died in 1961.
Both Sheila and Louis’s deaths are inscribed on the right hand side of the headstone on the plot. The details of their grandfather’s death at sea are commemorated under them, and their grandmother Norah’s details were added in 1925.
Louis and Sheila’s father Alfred died in 1948, and he too was interred in the plot and his details are on a plaque in front of the headstone. Their mother, Florence, is not commemorated – she and Alfred seem to have separated/divorced sometime during the 1920’s, and by 1928 she was living in Auckland. She remarried in 1932 to someone called Daniel Stewart.
Researched by Penny Holden and written by Barbara Mulligan
Grave Information:
Section: ROM CATH
Plot: 79 Q