Name - PATRICK BONFIELD T9/ 1 page 893 & T9/ 2 page 62

Admitted - 26th December 1848

District -

Ship - Recruited in New Zealand 1848

Pension - Chelsea Pension 1/- per day commenced 1st October 1850

Rank - Private

Unit - 58th Regiment of Foot Regimental No. 466

Born - Clare Abbey, County Clare, Ireland circa 1802

Abode - Shortland Street, Auckland, Coromandel, Thames and Onehunga

Parents -

Status - Married, 1 child

Wife - MARY ............ circa 1818 - 1850

Description - 5' 5¾", black hair, blue eyes, fair complexion, 49, good character, no trade entered. Served 23 years 6 months, discharged with shortness of breath and blind in the left eye. Disabled 6 months and underage one month. Married with one child and went to Coromandel 1866, Thames 1868, and was in hospital for the last quarter of 1876 where he died 8th October, according to the Treasury Pension Register.

"Discharged in New Zealand" by Hugh and Lyn Hughes says he was born at Clare Abbey, a labourer, enlisted 4th September 1825, arrived in Sydney on the 'Ann' 13th June 1845, going on to New Zealand on the 'British Sovereign' which arrived at the Bay of Islands 9th October 1845. Discharged 11th July 1849 at Auckland with a pension. The Patrick Bonfield who married Mary Shanaghan 6th August 1863 at St Mary's Roman Catholic Cathedral, Auckland is believed to be the son of the Fencible above. The Early Settlers' Roll of 1940 lists Patrick Bonfield as arriving in New Zealand on the ship "Westminster" at Kororareka 17th March 1840.

Issue of PATRICK BONFIELD & MARY .........:-

PATRICK born 1840's? = MARY SHANAGHAN 6th August 1863

MARY BONFIELD, presumed to be the wife of the Fencible, maiden surname unknown, and mother of the Patrick who married Mary Shanaghan, died 6th September 1850 aged 32 years and was buried in the Symonds Street Roman Catholic Cemetery. She was listed in the Registrar-General's Death Index as BUNFIELD.

PATRICK BONFIELD, widower, full age, Native of Ireland = MARGARET WALKER, widow, full age, 25th November 1851 at St Patrick's Roman Catholic Cathedral, Auckland.

Also written as Bunfield in St Patrick'sIndex of Marriages

1874-1875 Electoral Roll lists PATRICK BONFIELD the elder, household and dwelling, Clarence Street, Parawai and PATRICK BONFIELD, the younger, ditto.

Admitted to the Auckland Provincial Hospital 4th October 1876, PATRICK BONFIELD, male, Pensioner, Roman Catholic, died there 8th October of Bright's Disease, aged 75 years. RG 1876/1176

PATRICK BONFIELD died 1874 according to the 1958 Transcription of the Symonds Street Cemetery - Possibly incorrectly transcribed.

MARGARET BONFIELD died 1876/54 Auckland.

PATRICK BONFIELD, bachelor, full age, son of Patrick Bonfield = MARY SHANAGHAN, spinster, at St Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland 6th August 1863. RG 1863/.........

Their issue:-

MARY born 26. 09. 1864 buried 4th October 1864 aged 6 days

JOHN PATRICK born 12. 10. 1865 buried 2nd May 1867 aged 1 year 9 months

WALTER JOSEPH born . 06. 1868 buried 25th July 1869 aged 11 months

Mary Shanaghan may have been the daughter of Drum Major John Shanaghan and his wife, Eliza Crane, but this has not been proven. Compiler's original interest in congenital diseases in various families is stirred by this family and she wonders whether Bright's Disease or other kidney problems have passed down through this family. Indeed, perhaps that was the reason some of the three children died so young. It seems possible that there are no present day members of this Bonfield family.

1882 Electoral Roll lists PATRICK BONFIELD, farmer, Waitemata, Auckland, 40 acres, £40.

The memorial to MARY BONFIELD (presumed to be née Shanaghan) who died RG 1888/51 and her three infant children in the Roman Catholic Cemetery, Symonds was extant in 1958 when the original transcription of this cemetery was recorded. She was buried from St Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland. but sadly, this was one of the headstones removed to make room for the motorway.

MARY BONFIELD died 1879/856.

WALTER BONFIELD died 1885/1398.

PATRICK BONFIELD died 1908/1527 Auckland.