Ancestor's inquiry
This is my first inquiry and it is on my ancestors, I chose Charles Walter Rapson as my person to study, so here is a little on his migration. Charles Walter Rapson was two when he moved into a better life. He went from England into NZ in the 1920s, because of many factors. It was hard for Bessie as a single mum in her 20s, she may have needed money after 2 years of just her and her 5 children, so when she saw a flyer saying of new land with more money, a longer and a living life, she got on the first ship there.
When Charles Walter Rapson left he was 2 and it was more his mum’s decision, but I think she chose to leave because of the condition of England, West Derby, Lancashire. At the time it was very dirty and there weren’t many jobs for her that allowed her to take care of Charle and get enough money to keep them from poverty, With the war looming Bessie [Charles mum] may have wanted to get away, Just in case the war came their way. The war could have made a huge mess and cost them a fortune, as the city was turning into a wealthy suburb. Liverpool was getting bigger and overshadowing the west derby, so, they were probably already in money problems because of this increased need for money. This money boom would affect how much money they needed to buy food, how much water they could use, oil if they had a car, and how long Bessie's working hours would be. So the state of the west derby, Lancashire, was not in its prime because of how dirty it was, the lack of jobs, minimum wages, the working hours and war looming, so these may have affected their choice to leave.
Cecil Rapson died 6 months after Charles was born and Bessie was left with a baby boy and 5 other kids to look after, imagine how hard that would be. This dramatic experience may have affected Bessie’s chose to leave as she may have needed more money to keep her family going. She would also have to look after all of the kids. Bessie probably got offered a free fare to New Zealand as it would have been a big amount of money for the family to get across. Cecil would have brought a huge amount of income because of how the woman were treated back then, and it would have been a big blow as it would have been hard for Bessie, for the woman’s rights had not been happening back then. In the end, without Cecil, most of their income would have been gone, with little woman rights, they could not stay here and not be in poverty.
Father less in a rich city with hardly any money, an underpaying job and 5 children to take care of. They needed to go somewhere else with more money, better hours and less demand for money. They wanted to go somewhere where the air was fresh, the ground not so dirty, easier to look after the kids, better job options and basically the opposite of England. So they just needed to decide where they could find all of that and that is when they found New Zealand an utter paradise for them. I think Charles and his family made the right choice to move from England or else they could have gone into poverty, and even now poverty’s still really bad.
Something that could have appealed to Charles and his family was the type of living in New Zealand, at the time. With New Zealand being the newest discovered land would mean it had the best prices for land, and bigger roomier houses that the family could afford which is what they needed, because of all the people in the family. This could have helped them more because they probably used to live in a small apartment, now they have a decent-sized house to live in, without their house being cramped up against the neighbour's house. With the fresh air, heaps of space and a small population, it was pretty much all they wanted and more. I think moving to NZ was a huge improvement to England because if you compare this paragraph and the first paragraph you would also choice NZ over England.
Since woman’s rights were not around at that time, woman got paid less than men, so the Bessie and Charles family would have got less money for food, oil if they had a car and freshwater, but in New Zealand, people got paid more. Cecil would have brought a huge amount of income in, it would have been a big blow as it would have been hard for Bessie to get all the money for her family in England, but in New Zealand she would have got paid more than there were not as many people, so she would have also got a better position in her job. I think that if they had stayed in England any longer they would have had a completely different experience, and it would probably have been worse for them.
I think with these two combined reasons to come to NZ and what they needed for their lifestyle with so many kids, plus the need for more income moving to NZ was the right decision for them. They moved to a place with better jobs and money, where there wasn’t garbage everywhere and there was this thing called a backyard! Imagine how much better it would have been for them from moving from an apartment to what they would call a mansion.
Here is some information focused on Charles after their migration. Charles Walter Rapson was born on 19 March 1922 in West Derby, Lancashire. Raised by his father, Cecil, who was 25, and his mother, Bessie, who was 20. He had six children, Glenn Rapson, Jennifer Rapson, Neville Rapson, Gregg Rapson and Two other children whose names I could not find, with Kathleen Margaret Somes, his wife. He left school at 15 and became a mechanic, he was known by chas by everyone who knew him. He died in 1994 in New Zealand, Wanganui at the age of 72 after he had served in the war as a soldier.
Living in a dirty town where the money is in high demand, with a bad job and hard hours are many reasons to leave, but I have more! There were very little woman’s rights to help Charles mum get a better job, as well as hardly any room in a small house for the family and the threat of going into poverty, this is only the tip of the iceberg of the many reasons to leave and go to NZ. This is my story of my family's migration and my family’s history.