The Ultimate Gift

The Project: the relocation of Elers family portraits from UK to New Zealand.

Background:

• Sixteen portraits of our Elers ancestors were for years in the possession of the Rev Peter Charles Edward Elers and his wife Gillian in Thaxted, Essex, UK.

• Rev Elers was the Vicar of Thaxted, his life is covered in “Interlude 5”.     

• It is neither known how these portraits came to be in their possession, nor who they belonged to prior to them taking possession.

• Until the departure of Rev Elers and his family from Thaxted, the portraits were housed in the church vicarage in that town.

• When Rev Elers died in 1986, his wife relocated to Cambridge UK and the portraits accompanied her.

The introduction of their son, Francis, to this project:

• On the death of Gillian in 2012, Francis arranged for the portraits and other items belonging to his Mum, to go into storage in Cambridge, UK.

• The portraits remained at that site in a hired storage container, incurring a cost of £60.00 per month.

• After paying these costs for about 10 years, Francis decided it was time to empty the container and so rid himself of this monthly charge.

• Francis was aware of the existence of the large Elers family in NZ (my partner Diane and I had stayed with him and his family at their home in New York in 2013).

• Francis offered to gift the portraits to us in NZ on the basis that we pay all transportation costs ex door Cambridge to door Hastings NZ.

I posed the following question to Francis “What was it that made you decide that NZ was where the portraits should be housed?”

His reply: “For years we had no idea what to do with them. They made no sense whatsoever hanging on the walls of a row-house in New York City or an apartment in Berlin (where Francis’ brother Ben lives). You, having an interest in Elers genealogy, were a God-send. The decision was what Americans call a ‘no-brainer’; it was the obvious solution. I did look into some of the logistics and costs before this actually happened, but dropped it as being too difficult to organise from America, and too expensive. Basically I lacked your persistence. Eventually what made it happen was that you figured out all the logistics and all I had to do was be at the storage facility in Cambridge at an agreed date to hand them over. I had assumed that you would not want the frames (extra shipping weight and volume) and had imagined I’d spend a morning cutting canvas out of wood with a carpet knife and flat-packing the paintings between large sheets of cardboard, or something. In the event, you took the frames as well, so I didn’t even have to do that. I just spent the time trying to stay out of the way of the incredibly surly youth who showed up (a day late) to van them off to London. Easy!”

Also “I think it had more to do with knowing that New Zealand seems to be the global centre of all things Elers/ Carew etc as this seems to be where most of us live by quite a long way”.

The decision to accept the offer:

• After the unveiling of the headstone for Aunty Tangi McEwan in Upper Hutt on Saturday 24 September 2022, Tony called a family meeting to be held on the Sunday to discuss the offer put forward by Francis.

• Three questions were on the agenda for discussion:

1.  Do we want the portraits? 

2.  How do we raise the funds to transport them to NZ?  

3.  What do we do with them when they arrive?

• The answer to question 1 was a unanimous “yes”. 

• The second question was the one that was possibly going to see the shelving of the idea. But cousin Carol Gillies and her husband Malcolm very generously offered to donate a maximum of NZD20,000.00 to cover the transportation cost.

• Tony knew this figure was ample to cover the cost due to his involvement in international shipping during his working life.

• So the problem of covering the shipping cost was resolved and the vote was again unanimous to bring the portraits to NZ.

• Question 3 was held in abeyance by the meeting attendees as there was no obvious place to store and display them. One suggestion was to hold them at the home of Tony and his partner Di. Tony rejected this idea, on the basis that they needed to be stored in a safe place (eg a museum/ gallery). His view was that private ownership could see them being lost or sold in future years. It was agreed that we should investigate our options and report back with any feasible suggestions.

The transportation to NZ:

• Custom Logistic Services, Auckland, was tasked with arranging the uplift of the portraits from the storage container at Fulchers of Cambridge, the packaging of the items for safe passage, airfreight to Auckland, Customs Clearance at Auckland, and transportation to Hastings. In other words it was to be our cost on a door to door basis including GST and import duties (if applicable).

• Airfreight, despite it being the dearer option, was the preferred transportation method due to unreliable shipping opportunities worldwide caused by Covid-19.

• The gifts arrived at Auckland airport on 4 March 2023.

• The total door to door cost was NZD8018.76 (which Malcolm and Carol Gillies paid). Our grateful thanks to them for their generosity.

• Francis’s letter addressed to NZ Customs (below), declared he had gifted them to us, that they were more than one hundred years old, and that they had no commercial value. Bona-fide antiques over one hundred years old, can be imported into NZ free of duty and GST, provided they are not for re-sale. Customs quizzed me several times regarding any intention we may have of selling them to make a profit. Also they suggested that the ornate frames, despite being in a very sad state of repair, must have some value which would therefore attract import charges. Thankfully they relented and allowed the items to come through Customs free of charge.

Restoration of the portraits was necessary:

• On unpacking the crate, it was immediately obvious that most of the frames and the portraits themselves  were in need of restoration. 

• Six of the portraits were taken to Van Uffelin Gallery, Palmerston North for them to separate the canvasses from the frames and to offer a quote to restore the frames.

• Six of the canvasses were taken to MB Fine Art Conservation in Auckland for a quote to restore them.                          

• A  quote of $5,520.00  to restore the canvasses was accepted and was kindly paid for by Tony Elers. 

• A quote of $13,150.00 to restore the frames was rejected. It was decided that the $13,538 already spent on transportation and canvasses restoration was enough .

• A decision was made to purchase modern frames that had an “old world” appearance

• Cost of these frames was accepted  at $3,600.00, paid by Tony.

• The original frames were donated to family members who had either been financially involved, or who had taken a vital interest in the project, for them to utilise in any manner they wished.

How were we going to identify the names of the people in the portraits?:

• This was of concern to us. If we couldn’t identify each of our ancestors, then was it really worth going through the exercise of taking possession of them?

• Francis could only produce a document written by his parents that simply identified where each of the portraits were hung in the Thaxted vicarage. The document is transcribed below as its age and condition has made it difficult to read.

List of portraits of the Elers family now in the possession of the Reverend Peter Elers of the vicarage, Kelvedon, Essex

In the dining room:

1. Peter Elers, J.P., of Chelsea, died 1753. Buried in the south cloisters of Westminster Abbey

2. Elizabeth Charron (nee Lane), 1694-1752, mother of Mary, wife of George Elers. Said to be by Reynolds.

3. George Elers of Chelsea, 1720-1784, only son of Peter Elers, married Mary Charron. By Hudson.

4. Carew Elers of London, 1755-1821. Solicitor. Copy of portrait by Lonsdale, 1818.

5. Charlotte Shrubb 1761-1830, daughter of George Elers of Chelsea, wife of John Peyto Shrubb of Merristwood, Guildford. By Yellowby.

6. Bampfylde Moore Carew, born 1693, son of the Revd Theodore Carew. Known as “The King of the Gypsies”. With dog.

In the study:

7. Peter Elers, Clerk in Holy Orders, died 1820, second son of George Elers of Chelsea, brother of Carew Elers. Some time domestic chaplin to the Duke of Clarence, Rector and Patron of Rishangles, Suffolk. Unmarried.

8. Thomas Lamplugh, Archbishop of York, died 1691, whose great-niece Miss Wall married Mrs Elers’ great-grandfather Mr Waring.

9. Frederick Wadham Elers, J.P., of Tunbridge Wells, 1833-1917 

On the main staircase:

10. William Farrow of Monkseleigh Manor and Cockfield, Suffolk, 1723-1773. Father of Susanna, wife of Carew Elers. As a young boy. After Mytens.

11. William Elers J.P., D.L., of Oldbury Place, Rochester and Tunbridge Wells, 1797-1888. By Hurleston, 1863. 

On the back landing:

12. William Shrubb Elers, 1830-1900, and Eva Jane (nee Codrington) his wife, with William Codrington Elers, 1857-1941, their son, as a boy, and dog “Fox”. By Hurleston. 

 In the Green Room:

13. Susanna Elers, died 1876, daughter of John Peyto Shrubb, wife of William Elers, J.P., with William Shrubb Elers, 1830-1900, her eldest son, as a boy.

In the Grey Room:

14. William Shrubb Elers, of Tunbridge Wells and Ealing, 1830-1900. By Harriet Sutcliffe.

15. Ethel Violet Buckworth-Herne-Soame (nee Elers), born 1896, daughter of William Codrington Elers. As a girl. By Harriet Sutcliffe.

 In the Box Room:

16. William Codrington Elers, 1857-1941, By Thomas Wigney Percival.

• Having established that there were sixteen portraits and who the sixteen people were, the next perceived problem was whether each portrait had the individuals identified. Thankfully Francis’s parents had notes affixed to the back of each portrait identifying them.

• However, of the sixteen portraits hanging in the vicarage, only nine arrived in New Zealand. Francis suggested that Reverend Peter Elers may possibly have lent the others to friends and were never returned. It is still our burning ambition to find the others.

Restorations complete – what now?

• Discussion between Tony and Steve Elers culminated in the idea of building a small gallery at Te Ore Ore Marae to house not only our portraits, but also for all items of interest belonging to those connected with the Te Ore Ore community, for example photos, portraits, written material, videos, taonga etc.

• The concept was referred to Rev Roger Maaka for comment. He considered it a good idea because of the large number of photos currently at the marae, so a separate building for displaying the community’s treasures had merit. 

• The concept was then referred to Mike Kawana of the Te Ore Ore Marae. Again, he indicated the idea had merit. He commented that the wharenui walls were starting to get very cluttered with photos and portraits of all shapes and sizes.

• As a second option, the church at Te Ore Ore could prove to be an ideal site for a gallery. The church has been lying unused for many years, so a gifting of the facility to the community seemed to be an attractive proposition to put forward. Steve presented our proposal to the church for comment. They didn’t reject the idea outright; rather they left us with the impression that they would refer the subject to their legal team. 

• At the time of writing this, neither of the two options have met with any success. 

• In the meantime the portraits are sitting in storage at Tony’s home in Hastings, awaiting a solution.

To complete this story, above are the two portraits of Peter Elers and Reverend Peter Elers highlighting the condition they were in when they arrived in NZ. The difference is pronounced when compared with the restored copies.