Mr and Mrs Charles Bean Rainton (née Mary Ann Patton)

Mary Ann Patton was born into a large English family on 30 October 1830.  She grew up in Whitby, a little seaside town in Yorkshire. Charles Bean Rainton was born just 30 kilometres down the coast, in Scarborough, in 1833. The couple married at Whitby on 16 February 1855 and together they emigrated to Dunedin on the Melbourne, arriving in 1861. A ship’s chest and tea caddy they brought with them are in the Museum’s collection.

The Raintons settled in a house on Filleul Street and Charles found work as a builder and contractor. He specialised in the construction of bakers’ ovens and ranges and became well-known as an expert in the industry.  Charles and Mary Ann were Methodists and attended services in an old wooden church on Dowling Street. Once the Trinity Methodist Church replaced the Dowling Street church in 1870, Charles became a trustee and was also Vice-President of the Trinity choir. He devoted his spare time to his beautiful garden and conservatory and was a regular exhibitor at the Horticultural Society, frequently winning prizes for his gardening. He was also an active member of the Yorkshire Society and became one of its first presidents. Mary was also active in the community.  In March 1905 when Dunedin hosted a fire brigade demonstration, the Mayor presented Mary with an enlarged photograph of all the visiting firemen in recognition of the kindness she had shown them during their stay.

The Raintons had no children but Mary was close to two of her siblings, James and Esther, who kept her company after Charles’s death on 15 February 1909, aged 76.  Mary died on 3 November 1917, aged 87.