The dead tell tales
Thomas Finch 1823 – 1892
At the beginning of July 1865, a year after the 2nd Waikato Regiment set up base at Alexandra (now Pirongia), an anniversary ball was held in the Alexandra East Redoubt, with 160 people attending and dancing with ‘‘extraordinary spirit’’ until 3am.
Such social gatherings were seen to ‘‘enhance that feeling of unity which alone constitutes strength’’ (NZ Herald July 7, 1865).
It was in this atmosphere that Thomas Finch opened the first hotel in the new settlement on July 4, contributing to the ‘‘unusually lively appearance of the settlement’’.
Finch’s Alexandra Hotel was a ‘‘very neat though not very extensive establishment’’, predicted to do well as a consequence of Sergeant Finch being ‘‘an energetic working man’’.
Finch was a career solider, landing with the 58th Regiment in Sydney in
1844. After serving at the penal settlement on Norfolk Island he came with his regiment to the Bay of Islands in
1845 and took part in the engagements at Ohaeawai, Okaihau and Ruapekapeka.
He took his discharge in Auckland in
1853 and settled at Howick, mostly doing farm contracting work.
In 1854 Finch married Jane Smythe, and with her had eight daughters and three sons; one daughter died as an infant. The first five children were born at Howick; the rest at Alexandra.
During the Waikato War Finch served with the Land Transport Corps and the
2nd Waikato Regiment and was granted
60 aces of rural land and one acre of town land at Alexandra.
Finch’s hotel did do well, not surprisingly in a military settlement with no canteen, where the military leadership had restricted the sale of alcohol. In 1866 Finch greatly enlarged the building.
For a while he had competition from two other hotels, but one didn’t last long and the other, the Doncaster Arms, was taken over by Finch in 1870.
Finch changed its name to the Alexandra Hotel. He sold the original hotel and it seems he used the money to develop his farm at Paterangi.
Finch’s hotel was used for many important events, such as the inaugural meeting of a new lodge, the Loyal Alexandra Lodge on June 25 1866, followed by a celebratory ball, with Finch being congratulated on the splendid supper he provided.
Perhaps of greater significance is that Finch held the first event of what is still a Pirongia tradition: the Boxing Day races.
On Christmas Day, 1865, Finch provided a free Christmas dinner that he hoped would raise public morale.
On the following day he held a sports day; however the first of the Boxing Day races was not for horse racing, but for English fair events such as climbing a greasy pole, ‘‘putting the stone’’, a sack race, hop step and jump, standing high leap, running high leap, ‘‘catching the pig with the greasy tail’’ and running races. The first horse race was held the following Boxing Day by the licensee of the Doncaster Arms, who held a similar sports day at the same time as Finch’s. Locals were well entertained that day, but the New Zealand Herald reporter (January 5, 1867) bemoaned the fact that not one of the competitors succeeded in climbing to the top of Finch’s flagstaff to retrieve the leg of mutton hung at the top.
As well as providing alcohol, meals and accommodation, the hotel was the venue for public meetings, special dinners, the Coroner’s Court and parties. Distinguished visitors included a visit by the Prime Minister in 1870 and the Governor and his entourage on his tour of the district in March 1879.
Apart from a couple of years in the mid-1870s, Thomas Finch ran the Alexandra Hotel as its licensee (it was bought by LD Nathan & Co. in 1876) until his death in 1892. Jane Finch continued to run the hotel with the help of daughter Grace, but she retired in 1906 when Grace was married.
Jane died in 1927, aged 90, and was buried with Thomas in Alexandra Cemetery.