Eleanor McNee was born in 1883 and grew up in Dunedin. Her father, William Cowan McNee was brought up by his Grandfather and offered a choice of Oxford or Cambridge but instead chose to run away to sea. He sailed to Australia to try his luck in the goldfields and then came to NZ on the ‘Lady Egidia’, arriving in Dunedin 28 January 1861. By his late 20s he was back in Scotland, where he fell in love with and married Elizabeth McDonald Robertson, daughter of a Glasgow jeweller and goldsmith, and brought her out to NZ on the ‘Nelson’ where they arrived in Dunedin 11 November 1863. They settled in Dunedin and Willie became a valuator. Eleanor remembered as a child they had a short stay in Larnach Castle for about 6 months, in between owners there. Her descendants fondly consider that ‘our’ castle. The family home was ‘Hope Hill’ on the corner of Eglinton Road and Macnee Street, in the suburb of Mornington. It was a villa on a double section so that there was room for a large garden.
Two of Eleanor’s mother’s sisters had also come out to NZ – Marianne (married to John Bain and later a man named Cosgrove) and Eleanor Isabella (married to John Shennan).
A niece of Elizabeth remembers her ‘Aunty McNee’ as the “sweetest and lovliest old lady I have ever known. In the house she always wore the most delightful little lace caps, was petite and every inch a lady. Uncle was…more of a robust type of man, with a great sense of humour, most generous to all. All the girls had auburn hair, were most accomplished at the piano, were full of fun. There was always laughter in the house.”
Willie and Elizabeth had a large family and Eleanor was the youngest – her siblings Daniel (died days after birth), William, Alexander (died age 3yrs), Jane Ann (Janie, though nieces and nephews called her Aunty Nance), James, Margaret (Mardie), Elizabeth (Biffy), Marianne, Thomas, and Jessie.
Eleanor Isabella
MacNee as a teen
Eleanor Isabella
MacNee as a teen
George & Eleanor
Gowrie 1jan1920
George & Eleanor
Bathgate wedding
Eleanor Isabella Bathgate
Eleanor Isabella
Bathgate
Mardie and Eleanor were dressmakers. Eleanor and George Bathgate’s marriage certificate lists her occupation as a Clerk. It is believed she worked in her father’s office.
Eleanor married George Thomas Bathgate 23 December 1919 at Mornington Presbyterian Church, not far from ‘Hope Hill’. They had almost 45 happy years together, most of them spent farming at ‘Kinfauns’ on Beehive Road near Outram. When their son Pete married Ngaire Landreth in 1954, the homestead was renovated to allow Pete and Ngaire to live in the back half and George and Eleanor remained at the front. After Mardie died and ‘Hope Hill’ became vacant, George and Eleanor retired there, with household help from Miss Punter. Eleanor was out one afternoon and suffered an angina attack. She didn’t have her medication with her and arrived back home too late. She died 8 September 1964.
(Some information from an article ‘The Early Robertsons’ written by “Wee Addie”, granddaughter of Eleanor Shennan)
There has at times been discussion as to the correct spelling for the McNee name as some used Macnee or MacNee. It seems Elizabeth McNee may have regarded ‘MacNee’ as correct (there is a set of silver teaspoons engraved with that spelling) but as Willie signed documents with McNee, that became the legal spelling (probably to his wife’s frustration…)
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