

Louis Gordon Kettle was the grandaughter of Gustavus Ferdinand Von Tempsky (1828-1868), Major in the Forest Rangers. Story by Debbie McCauley.
Louis was born in Napier on 17 April 1881 (date from death registration). Her parents were Nathanial and Lena Kettle (nee Von Tempsky) who married in Waipukurau on 22 June 1880. Lena was the daughter of Gustavus Ferdinand Von Tempsky (1828-1868), Major in the Forest Rangers. Von Tempsky was involved in the Tauranga Campaign and was killed in Taranaki in 1868.
The following photographs of Louis and her mother Lena were taken in Katikati by Emily Surtees in 1900:
Louis Gordon Kettle (1900)
Louis Gordon Kettle and her mother Lena (1900)
Four years after these photographs were taken, Louis married Captain Charles Arthur Beauchamp Pickard Hawkins in Napier (reg.1904/7051). Their marriage was reported in the New Zealand Herald on 16 February 1904:
At Napier Cathedral on Thursday Miss j Louis Gordon Kettle, eldest daughter of Mr. N. Kettle, and a granddaughter of the late Major Von Tempsky, was married to Mr. A. C. Pickard-Hawkins. of Southampton, England, late of the 11th Hussars., and only son of the late Rev. C. E. Hawkins, of Grafton, England. The young couple leave in March for England, where they take up their residence (p. 6).
Charles served in the South African War and during World War I (Service Numbers: 735 & 11/256). Louis and Charles had three children together:
Louis and Charles divorced in c.1922.
In 1923 (reg. 1923/10412) she married Colonel Samuel Alexander Moffat (1878-1948). Samuel was born in Comely Park Place, Gallowgate, Glasgow, Scotland, In 1888 he emigrated to the USA with his parents and siblings, becoming a US citizen in 1910 and lived in New York City. Samuel had sailed to New Zealand from Vancouver in Canada.
Samuel and Louis, along with her children, sailed for America on the RMS Niagara, arriving in Seattle on 1 December 1923. They lived in New Jersey.
Her mother Lena died in Napier on 29 March 1938 (reg. 1938/20365).
Samuel died in New Jersey, USA, on 16 October 1948. After his death, Louis returned to New Zealand.
Louis died in Havlock North on 10 August 1980 (reg. 1980/37694) and was buried in the Havlock North Cemetery.
References:
Births, Deaths & Marriages Online (New Zealand).
Cenotaph Record (Charles Arthur Beauchamp Pickard Hawkins).
Poppy Lady: Madam Guerin - Chapter 7c: The Empire: Dominion of Australia: Poppy.
New Zealand Herald (16 February 1904, p. 6).
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Year: | 1900 |
First Names: | Louis Gordon |
Last Name: | Kettle |
Date of Birth: | 17 April 1881 |
Place of Birth: | Napier |
Country of birth: | New Zealand |
Date of death: | 10 August 1980 |
Place of death: | Havlock North, New Zealand |
Place of burial: | Havlock North Cemetery |
Spouses name: | Charles Arthur Beauchamp Pickard Hawkins and Samuel Alexander Moffat |
Date of marriage: | 1904 and 1923 |
Fathers name: | Nathaniel Kettle |
Fathers date of birth: | 30 January 1854 |
Fathers place of birth: | Dunedin, New Zealand |
Fathers date of death: | 27 September 1940 |
Fathers place of death: | Napier, New Zealand |
Mothers name: | Lena Von Tempsky |
Mothers date of birth: | 1 October 1859 |
Mothers place of birth: | Sandhurst, Bendigo, Victoria, Australia |
Mothers date of death: | 29 March 1938 |
Mothers place of death: | Napier, New Zealand |