Queer Places:
Turnbull House, 25-27 Bowen St, Wellington, 6011
Bolton Street Cemetery, Bolton St, Wellington, 6011
Alexander
Horsburgh Turnbull (14 September 1868 – 28 June 1918)[1]
was a New Zealand merchant, dandy[2]
and book collector. On his death, his collection became the nucleus of the
Alexander Turnbull Collection, initially housed in his residence, Turnbull
House, but as of 1987 housed with the collections of the National Library of
New Zealand, a body formed in 1965 by the amalgamation of three libraries,
including the one bearing Turnbull's name. In 1913, shortly before his death,
Turnbull had presented his Māori and Pacific artefacts to the Dominion Museum
(now the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa).[3]
Chris Brickell’s 2008 book Mates and Lovers: A History of Gay New
Zealand points to Turnbull’s horror “when two fortune tellers prophesised
his imminent betrothal, and noted his relief when ‘they added by consolation’
that he would ‘very shortly be a widower after that’”. Turnbull was close
friends with Grafton
“Bot” Bothamley, a future Clerk of Parliament (chief executive) and
Bert Stirling, founder of the
Paremata Boating Club in 1926.
Born in Wellington to Scottish merchant Walter Turnbull (1823–1897) and his
wife Alexandrina Horsburgh (1827–1896), Turnbull grew up in Wellington but the
family moved to London in 1881, where he attended Dulwich College. His brother
Robert attended Wellington College, Berkshire. Two brothers Walter (born 1862)
and William (born 1863) drowned in the River Tweed, Scotland on 1 September
1871.[4]
By the time he returned permanently to New Zealand in 1892, he was already
collecting books. His particular interests were New Zealand, Pacific
exploration, Scottish history, English literature, the art critic John Ruskin,
and the poet John Milton. Turnbull had a standing order with the London
bookseller Bernard Quaritch, which was regularly updated to include more
subjects.
Turnbull also made a collection of New Zealand art, which he began by
purchasing a group of watercolours of New Zealand flowers by Georgina Burne
Hetley.[5]
He was buried alongside his parents, at Bolton Street Memorial Park, the
oldest cemetery in Wellington but his remains and those of his family were
later disinterred and moved into a common vault for the construction of the
Wellington Urban Motorway. However, the headstone to the grave was shifted to
a new location at the edge of the cemetery and it remains there as a memorial.[6]
After his death, Turnbull's collection contained approximately 55,000
books, as well as manuscripts, photographs, paintings and sketches (the
artefacts having already been given to the Dominion Museum). The collection is
no longer housed in his purpose-built house (which is now in the care of
Department of Conservation and is known as Turnbull House), but in the same
building as the other collections held by the National Library. Turnbull's
Milton collection continues to be added to, by purchase and donation; a number
of significant additions were made in the 1970s.[7]
My published books:
BACK TO HOME PAGE
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Turnbull_(bibliophile)
-
https://www.noted.co.nz/currently/currently-history/alexander-turnbull-millionaire-book-collector