(founder of Pain and Kershaw Ltd)
Edited by Ineke Kershaw
In the year 1900 I married again to my present wife and in 1906 we made a trip together to the Old Country, as I was anxious to see the places where my mother and father were born.
While in Devonshire I bought 6 heifers and a bull – purebred South Devon cattle (they all landed in New Zealand in good condition).
Wistful to trace my relations, I went from London to Canterbury. While in a shop buying some picture postcards, I asked the server whether she knew if there were any Pains living in the city; she directed me to a house where I got into conversation but discovered that that family were not related. They produced a directory that dated back 50 years and I found some of the names in Riven, 8 miles from Dover whence my father came.
Next day I went there and asked a small boy if he knew my name in the place, which he did. I told him I would reward him if he would show me where they lived. When I knocked at the door and explained to the inmate who I was, they were very suspicious and eyed me a good deal thinking I wanted something of them.
However they directed me to Jim Pain a little way down. A young woman opened the door and when I told her the name of the vessel in which my father and mother sailed as well as other particulars, she said, “walk in, my father will be in directly, and he may be able to help you”. When the old man came in I repeated my story, “that’s right, that’s right enough, if you were not my brothers son, you couldn’t have told me all you have”. He then showed me the house where my father was born.
The following day I spent endeavouring to trace my mother’s family but I couldn’t find anyone that even knew the name. I discovered an aunt’s tombstone dated 1814 but that was all.
(The end)
George’s father (also George) was 87 years old when he died in 1895 and is buried in Waihenga Cemetery Martinborough.
George Pain Jr remained a ‘silent’ partner in Pain and Kershaw until John Kershaw eventually bought him out. Part of the deal was that his name remained in the business.
Pain was a true benefactor to the town and felt, because he didn’t have children of his own, that the children of Martinborough were like his family. Some were even given ‘Pain’ as a middle name!
Land for the Plunket Rooms was donated, as was the site of the first Fire Station (opposite P & K in Naples St). The Martinborough Golf Course was originally established on the Pain farm and he built premises with accommodation for a Chemist that is still used today.
A great supporter of sports clubs, Pain was also one of the first 7 commissioners on the Town Board before it became a Council.
George Pain, worthy pioneer of Martinborough, died in 1937 at the age of 91 and is buried in the main Martinborough cemetery.
(Information supplied by Mate Higginson).
