The Red Lion and the Legend of James Bassingthwaite

Back in 2016 I participated in the archaeological recording of the Red Lion Hotel, Rangiora, with Oamaru based archaeologist Peter Mitchell (who took the above photo). Located at the corner of High and Ivory Street, now the location of Burger King, at the time of the earthquakes this red brick pub, built 1873, was the oldest surviving public house in Rangiora. Unfortunately, it was one of many buildings claimed by the earthquakes.

But the story of the man who built the Red Lion is a fascinating tale of fire, civil disobedience, neighbourly rivalry, death, and fraud.

James Bassingthwaite arrived in Lyttelton in 1867 aboard the Cameron, and first enters Rangiora history later that year when he is recorded in the newspapers as being the new proprietor of The Plough Hotel (Lyttelton Times 24/12/1867: 3). The 59-year-old Bassingthwaite began skirting the law almost immediately. In 1868 the Lyttelton Times reported that he was fined £5 for “supplying liquor during prohibited hours on Sunday” (Lyttelton Times 17/10/1868: 2). Bassingthwaite would make his displeasure of the newspaper printing the story very apparent in several terse letters to the editor.

Bassingthwaite left The Plough in 1869 to become the proprietor of the ‘Lion Hotel’, owned by a Christchurch solicitor named Mr. Duncan.

This ‘Lion Hotel’ was a timber framed weatherboard clad building, build in 1858, that stood in the same location as the red brick Red Lion that modern Rangiora residents knew. It had itself replaced an earlier corrugated iron ‘Lion Hotel’ built in 1857. Bassingthwaite renamed the premises to the ‘Red Lion Hotel’ and moved his family into the top floor of the building.

About 4:30 am, 18 June 1871, a fire broke out at the timber hotel. The building, along with its contents, was destroyed. An inquest failed to identify the cause of the fire, and it was ruled an accident by the jury (Press 30/6/1871: 2). Unable to afford the rebuild Mr. Duncan sold the property to Bassingthwaite immediately after the fire.

This blog would never dream of suggesting that Bassingthwaite had anything to do with the fire…

… although, it should be noted that;

• the cash box and the hotel books survived the blaze,
• that witnesses stated that all potential ignition sources had been extinguished before closing,
• that a southerly wind was blowing the night of the fire which meant that the pubs stables and other buildings survived without a scratch,
• And that the timber hotel was significantly under insured by Mr. Duncan. The insurance was only enough to cover the lost stock and furniture, and Bassingthwaite was able to purchase the property for cheap…

In 1871 the Red Lion’s grounds were very large, extending all the way to the railway and beyond Collins Street. Bassingthwaite immediately subdivided the property into housing lots to pay for the construction of the new Red Lion, which began in 1873.

And with this Bassingthwaite became a severe nuisance for the town.

You will note in the above plan that there is a creek running though the Red Lion’s garden. Today this creek has been filled in, but in the 19th century this was the main stormwater drain for Rangiora. It originally ran along the south side of High Street from Bells farm on West Belt to the railway where it emptied into the creek that still runs alongside the railway to this day. Parts of the creek are still visible in the front yards of some of the houses towards the west end of High Street.

In 1877 Bassingthwaite entered a series of arguments and lawsuits with the Road Board over this creek.

The problem was that the creek was too small to accommodate all the stormwater from the growing town and had developed a tendency to flood during heavy rains – flooding some houses with up to a foot of water (Globe 06/06/1877: 3). The Road Board had taken it upon themselves to straighten the creek, and in doing so had entered the Red Lion grounds without permission and had damaged fences and the garden. While the Road Board had the legal authority to do this, Bassingthwaite protested by filling in the creek – the town’s main stormwater drain – with rubbish and manure.

The road board entered the property again and cleared the drain. And again, Bassingthwaite filled it. The Road Board sued Bassingthwiate for obstructing the drain. Bassingthwaite countersued with another trespass notice. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court (Globe 17/04/1878: 3). Bassingthwaite won the case on a technicality and was awarded £50 (Evening Post 23/10/1878: 2).

With the portion of the drain through the Red Lion’s garden now filled, the storm drain became a significant hazard for Rangiora. It had a major flooding in June of 1879 during heavy rains. High Street was described as “a perfect sea”. Several shops were flooded, including the basement of the Junction Hotel.

In 1877 Bassingthwaite began a very public feud with Sarah Jane and ‘W.’ Gardiner, a couple that had purchased one of the subdivided Red Lion properties.

W. Gardiner sued Bassingthwaite for shooting his prized game cock worth £3. It appears that Bassingthwaite was known to be annoyed by the birds crowing.

Bassingthwaite counter sued that Gardiner had allowed his children to follow him down the road calling “who killed the cock” and “cock a doodle doo” (Press 10/03/1877: 3).

Both matters were dismissed, but over the next few days Gardiner continued to follow Bassingthwaite while calling out “cock-a-doodle-doo” and “chuck, chuck, chuck, eggs for breakfast”. The argument escalated and Gardiner threatened to “blow Bassingthwaite’s brains out”, a statement that earned Gardiner a fine of 10 shillings and costs, and a recognisance of £25 to keep the peace for 12 months (Press 14/3/1877: 4).

In retaliation Bassingthwaite ploughed up the road in front the Gardiner’s house (for which the courts ordered him to pay £2 damages) and sued them for allowing their chickens to trespass onto his yard.

And in 1878 Bassingthwaite sued William Noble, a blacksmith who had purchased one of the Red Lion sections for the expressed purpose of building his smithy, because soot from his chimney had spoiled his vegetables and his washing (05/06/1878: 1 (supplement)). He was awarded one shilling in damages.

Noble tried to fix the problem by building his chimney higher. Bassingthwaite wasn’t having it and sued him again for the chimney soot – this time for £50. He also illegally built a fence on Noble’s property and sued him to pay for it. Both cases were found in favour of Noble, and the courts ordered Bassingthwaite to pay Noble for damages and legal costs.

At the end of 1878 Bassingthwaite was in a very bad financial state. The mortgage he had taken out to purchase the Red Lion, his frivolous lawsuits, and other business dealings, meant that he was in dept about £3000 – a small fortune in the 1870s. Unable to meet the repayments he hatched a cunning plan to get out of paying.

In December 1878 Bassingthwaite took a business trip to Dunedin. Upon returning to Rangiora he had to inform his creditors that he had been robbed while travelling and £2040 had been stolen! This had forced him to declare bankruptcy – and, you see, his meagre remaining assets mean that he could only pay a few shillings in the pound. A true shame.

But his creditors wouldn’t have it. Suspecting foul play, they obtained a search warrant and employed private detectives to investigate.

A female detective searched Mrs Bassingthwaite. £400 in bank notes was discovered sewn into the quilting of her petticoat! A further £88 in bank notes, and 22 gold sovereigns – worth about £321 pounds – was hidden in bags around her waist. In total Mrs Bassingthwaite had £810 on her person (Star 15/01/1879: 2).

A box containing gold sovereigns was also found hidden in her room, worth about £400.

The investigation also found that Bassingthwaite had transferred a house into the name of his stable groom, George Butler. Presumably the intention was to recover the house from Butler after the bankruptcy. Butler had also attended the bankruptcy auction of Bassingthwaite estate and had purchased several items using cash that had apparently been supplied by Bassingthwaite (Ashburton Herald 20/01/1879: 2).

George Butler unfortunately hanged himself in the Red Lion stables after his involvement in the fraud was discovered. He was 50 years old.

James Bassingthwaite was arrested and put on trial. The prosecution demanded a sentence of one year’s hard labour in Lyttelton gaol, but Bassingthwaite would die before the trial could be completed on January 13th 1880, aged 72 years.

The Red Lion was sold to Henry Burns Moody and continued to be a focal point for the Rangiora community for decades to come.

Through its history the Red Lion acted as a courthouse, a morgue, a sports club, an auction house, a council chamber, hosted the hairless horse, and was the meeting place for the Odd Fellows and Druids. But these are stories for another time.