Edmunds researcher looks for Sure to Rise family ties

An author working on the first biography of cooking icon Thomas Edmonds is looking for relatives of the Sure to Rise baking powder inventor.

Author and historian Bee Dawson has been commissioned by an Edmonds family member to tell the story of the famed Christchurch entrepreneur.

‘‘It has never been done before,’’ she said.

‘‘This is a really pivotal person in New Zealand culture.’’

Dawson is scouring old newspapers, talking to relatives and unearthing historical records to tell Edmonds’ life story, which will follow his journey from poor beginnings in east London to later success in Christchurch as the inventor of Sure to Rise baking powder. He emigrated to New Zealand in steerage in 1879.

Dawson said Edmonds was selling more than 2 million tins of baking powder a year at the peak of his success in the late 1920s. She wants to hear from anyone with photographs and stories from the man’s life.

‘‘I want this book to bring the people to life. That is the important thing. It would be lovely to winkle more descendants out of the woodwork and talk to more members of the Edmonds family clan. What I really want is memories of Thomas Edmonds that have come down to the next generation.’’

Her research has already revealed new details about Edmonds’ early life in England. She has found historical records that indicate his father, an east London cheesemonger, may have gone bankrupt and spent two spells in debtors’ prison.

She has also found advertisements in old Kiwi newspapers that show the Edmonds business slowly growing. One ad calls for a ‘‘sound and quiet’’ horse to help at the first factory on Ferry Rd in 1900.

She has also collected anecdotes from his descendants, with one recounting how Edmonds would take sachets of his baking powder over the Port Hills to Lyttelton in a wheelbarrow.

‘‘That is such an extraordinary thing. It is like finding a jigsaw puzzle in the loft that has missing pieces.’’

She said Edmonds’ rise to success was emblematic of the many 19th century immigrants who built a new life in New Zealand.

‘‘It is an impressive story of what New Zealand could do for people prepared to work hard and be entrepreneurial. It is a great New Zealand story.’’

If you have stories or photographs to share from the Edmonds family history, Bee Dawson can be reached on dawsonsbjl@xtra.co.nz