Usually a town was constituted a city when it reached a certain population – 20 000 before 1989 and 50 000 thereafter. However, the British monarch could also proclaim a town a city if it was the seat of a bishop. Christchurch became a city in this way. Nelson followed, some say in 1858 while others argue in 1859.
The process of becoming a city began when Queen Victoria signed the Letters Patent in September 1858. The Charter was granted personally to the Right Rev. Edmund Hobhouse, who was appointed Bishop of Nelson. No such city honour was granted to Wellington although its first Bishop was ordained on the same day as Bishop Hobhouse. It is believed the explanation was that Bishop Hobhouse was a personal friend of Queen Victoria. This document established a Bishop's See, allowing the construction of Nelson's Cathedral and officially changed the small town of Nelson into a City. In February 1859 the Letters Patent arrived in Nelson. Nelson's first Bishop was officially installed in April 1859, and some sources say it was then the town became a City. At the time, it was reported, City status was greeted with neither fanfare nor celebration.
Jim McAloon, in ‘Nelson: A Regional History’, shares that in 1858, Nelson was still largely a wooden town, ‘with 434 buildings of wood and only 27 of brick or stone.' He wrote of the lack of architectural foresight saying that town planning at the time was non-existent with the ‘houses of the well-off and the cottages of artisans and labourers often sharing space with workshops, shops, breweries and tanneries.'
Lowther Broad, Esq. in ‘Jubilee History of Nelson: From 1842 to 1892’, wrote that Nelson ‘exhibited little of that bustle and activity that should characterise a City; but there was a great improvement in the street architecture - rickety, barn-like stores had given place to handsome shops, and the old packing-case style of houses had been superseded, in many instances, by dwellings having some pretensions to taste and comfort.'
Information thanks to the Prow. and the Nelson Centennial Committee brochure (J.Halket Millar author)
Trafalgar Street, Nelson, [ca 1860], Alexander Turnbull Library, PAColl-8964-01
At the given coordinates is a plaque that commemorates the centenary of the granting of the Letters Patent that created Nelson a City. It is not often noticed as people are usually focussed on the path ahead. The T rating reflects the steepness of the short walk to here. Please do not attempt to drive the last 140m to the cache.
To log this virtual: Take a photo of either yourself, your GPS or your username with the plaque, and attach it to your log.
Virtual Rewards 3.0 - 2022-2023
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between March 1, 2022 and March 1, 2023. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 3.0 on the Geocaching Blog.