Once there were four friends, at school in Wellington, at leisure in London and at work in Wellington. They were Alex and Rob Turnbull and Leo and Percy Buller. This article examines Arthur Percival Buller (1866–1910) and his life as an amateur entomologist, lawyer and socialite in late nineteenth century Wellington.
For many years Kristy McDonald KC’s Edwardian kauri locker in the old Wellington Law Library housed a battered barrister’s wig tin, black with gold trim and lettering, “A.P. Buller Esq.re.” When the library was gutted in 20XX she couldn’t find an owner so brought it home and it sat in our attic for years. There I stumbled across it again and I wondered about that name and found it was Percy Buller’s: he practised law only briefly, but he was a founder of Buddle Findlay.
The wig tin
Percy Buller’s forebears are famous – Walter Lawry Buller[1] (Buller’s Birds) was his father and Charlotte Mair[2] his mother. Some of his close friends are famous too – Alexander Turnbull[3] notably, but others also of the Wellington well to do. They formed a small clique of wealthy and professional young men who enjoyed their youth, their leisure and the finer things of life. Butterflies.
Is Percy famous? no, though he was said to be one of the most amiable and genial of men, gentle, with not a single enemy, a man of great enthusiasms. An anglophile, a fly fisherman, a singing banjo player, an automobile lover when cars were a rare luxury, an entomologist, a painter of beautiful miniature watercolours of butterflies and moths—and a great friend of Alexander Turnbull.
Egalitarian? good heavens, no: deeply conservative. Independent. A man of leisure. A gentleman. A gentle man.
A dapper man? yes indeed: eloquent, elegant, of refined tastes and expensive ways, a carefully chic dresser (boater, high collars and the widest tie of all the Wellington lawyers). A dandy? oh yes, he matches the definition nicely. Camp? more than likely, judging from his use of language in the few letters that have survived. Gay? that is an issue about which I can say almost nothing useful.
And a dilettante? perhaps. He was, however, recognised as an entomologist. His papers in the Transactions are slight things (though often quoted), but his exquisite butterfly and moth paintings deserve an appreciative audience.
Fussy? fastidious? perfectionist? obsessional? I don’t think he could have painted with such precision if he weren’t.
Not famous, then, but emphatically notable.
Percy Buller with his springer spaniel Nap.
Roots
Arthur Percival Buller was born in Whanganui in 1866 the grandson of Wesleyan missionary James Buller[4] and second son of Walter Lawry Buller and Charlotte (“Lottie” Mair) Buller; her father was Gilbert Mair, trader, her brother Gilbert Mair, soldier. Percy’s older brother was Walter Leopold (Leo) and his younger sister Laura (Kahurangi, whom Alexander Turnbull would call “the divine one”).
Walter Buller was not tall – in 1895 his brother-in-law William Mair would refer to him as “the little man”[5] – but he was nakedly ambitious: elected FLS at nineteen years of age, writing his first scientific paper in 1865, hungry for recognition and honours.
In 1871 Buller was ready to publish his great work on the birds of New Zealand and to do so he would have to go to London.
They left the children with Aunt Tillie[6] in Kamo and it cannot have been an easy time for any of them. Tillie found the boys a handful so they were sent to stay with their (Buller) grandparents. All three suffered ill-health while their parents were away.
Walter and Lottie returned to New Zealand in September 1874 but took their time picking up the children: Walter wrote to Tillie on 8 May 1875,
There seems some fatality about our little Laura, and Lottie sometimes despairs of seeing her again.
We shall be glad to have the dear little creature with us again, although I suppose we shall not recognize in her the baby we left behind. We cannot feel sufficiently thankful to you and the Doctor for all your kind care of her. I hope some day we may be able to make you some return for all your sisterly kindness and attention.
Our present plan is for me to run up to Auckland (where I have some other business on hand) as soon as I return from Canterbury.
I am going down there on Tuesday to bring up our poor little Percy, who has been lying on a sick bed for 11 months; and as Leo’s face is still much distorted by paralysis, I am taking him with me for further medical advice.[7]
Leo’s facial paralysis and Percy’s prolonged confinement to bed suggest they had paralytic poliomyelitis while they were in Christchurch with James and Jane Buller. There were sporadic cases in New Zealand in the 1870s.
But in 1883 Rev. James Buller wrote in support of a celebrated quack, the Australian faith healer Milner Stephen, whose effectiveness was being challenged in the more sceptical newspapers,
Sir, – As many seem to doubt whether Mr Milner Stephen has effected any cures at all, I deem it right, in the interests of truth, to testify to one case, which is that of a grandson of mine at Wellington. As the sequel of a severe attack of rheumatic fever, which he had some years ago, one leg was nearly two inches shorter than the other. He applied to Mr Stephen, who succeeded in elongating the short leg, and when I last heard from him he said – “I took the cork out of my boot and now walk in an ordinary pair.” – I am, &c., JAMES BULLER, Papanui road.[8]
Polio infamously causes leg shortening, [9] but although rheumatic fever causes heart disease (a feature of Percy’s later life) it can also cause shortening of a leg if the epiphysial plate is affected. It can also, rarely, cause facial paralysis similar to Bell’s Palsy.
Percy’s cure was not permanent, for his obituary in Free Lance would say, later, “He was fond of healthy outdoor sports, but a crippled leg unfitted him to actively participate in them.”[10]
Rev. James Buller served at Thames 1870–1873 and Durham Street Methodist church in Christchurch 1873–1875, when he was involved with the Durham Street Wesleyan School. Leo (born 1863) and Percy (born 1866) presumably attended primary school in Thames and Christchurch during the years they were with their grandparents, 1871–1875, though no records of their schooling exist.
I can find no record, either, of Percy’s secondary schooling (1878–1883?), but his entry at Cambridge University in 1886 records, “Christchurch School, New Zealand” so he may have been there.[11] Leo was at Wanganui Collegiate.
Walter Buller was now practising as a barrister, specialising in Native Land Court business and becoming wealthy. They lived in a rented house in Wellington but in 1882 architect Christian Toxwood designed a magnificent residence for them at 114 Wellington Terrace. They moved in in 1883.
Walter Buller had seen fifty-five of his papers published in the first seventeen volumes (1868–1884) of the Transactions and Proceedings of the NZ Institute. Now, in February 1881, in his position as Vice-President of the Institute, he communicated a paper by his fifteen year old son Percy, published in Volume 13, “Notes on some Species of Diurnal Moths.”[12]
Just when the two boys finished secondary school and what they did next is also unclear. Leo’s entry at Cambridge University in 1887 would record, “School, St Paul’s College, Wellington, New Zealand”. There was a St Paul’s School in Thorndon near where the Bullers lived in Wellington, but not a St Paul’s College. Leo had returned to Wellington from Wanganui Collegiate and for a time attended Wellington College. There is no sign of Leo or Percy in the University of New Zealand records, but they may nonetheless have attended law lectures. Percy remembered Victoria College in his will, suggesting a connection.
Walter Buller was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1879. In January 1880 Dr Buller and Messrs Lewis and Gully founded the law firm now known as Bell Gully.[13]
England
Dr Walter Buller was now a wealthy man and in 1886 he returned to London as an assistant Commissioner for the Colonial and Indian Exhibition. It was a contentious appointment, with accusations of political favour.
The Bullers mixed in high circles,
The following are the New Zealanders who were honoured with invitations to the Princess Louise’s reception at Kensington last week, and who may be said to be going everywhere just now: – … Dr and Mr Buller and Miss Buller….[14]
Walter was a member of the Royal Societies’ Club and the boys gave that as their London address. He was knighted for his work at the Exhibition.
Percy had joined Jesus College at Cambridge in October[15] 1886 as a pensioner, ie a student paying fees to his college for teaching and for board and lodging. He would be admitted at the Inner Temple in London on 21 November 1887.
Leo registered at Heidelberg University’s Philosophy department.[16] His name appears in the student address book (at 15 Rohrbacher Strasse) for the Winter 1886/87 semester (beginning 1 October) and the Summer 87 semester.[17] At the same time he was admitted at the Inner Temple on 8 November 1886.
Percy was called to the English bar in 1890 and Leo in 1891 (when Alex Turnbull wrote to his brother Rob, “Leo Buller has at last been made a member of the Junior Bar having passed his Exam a little while ago.”)[18] Neither practised in Britain.
In 1888, the new enlarged edition of Sir Walter’s Birds of New Zealand[19] was published with its celebrated chromolithographs by JG Keulemans. The background vegetation in some of Keulemans’s images was based in part on drawings provided by Buller’s son Percy.[20]
Alexander Horsburgh Turnbull (1868–1918) had briefly attended St Paul’s school in Sydney St, Thorndon, but had most of his schooling at Dulwich College in south London 1881–1884. After school he worked in London for a time. When the family firm in London was sold in 1888 he became a young and wealthy man-about-town, travelling, reading and collecting. He visited New Zealand in 1885 and 1886, returning permanently to Wellington in 1892: a dandy and an aesthete who enjoyed golf and yachting.[21]
The Buller and Turnbull families had been friends in Wellington and the four boys were connected in London. Alex wrote from London to his brother Robert in Wellington,
I am pretty gay this week. On Tuesday I went to your Empire after dining with Percy at Kettner’s and am sorry to say did not get home that night, at least not to Mount Henley (I told them I wasn’t coming home).[22]
Kettner’s Townhouse in Soho would become Oscar Wilde’s favourite restaurant. Nearby, the Empire Theatre, Leicester Square was, on Tuesday 20 January 1891, showing at 9pm, DOLLY, a Grand Fairy Pantomime Ballet, in five Tableaux, by Madame Katti Lanner. Music specially composed by Mons. L. Wenzel, in which appeared the following artistes:– Signorina Emma Palladino, Mdlle. Ænea (the Flying Dancer), Signorina Bettina De Sortis, Signor Albertieri and Signorina Malvina Cavaltazzi. CECILE, at 10.45, Signorina Sazo, Christmas programme. Mdlle. Vanoni, the Eltons, Juana, Lucy Clarke, Ada Lundberg, Harry Freeman, Wilmot and Lester, Fred Harvey, Evalo and Roisso, Sam Torr, and Blennow’s Troupe of Dogs.[23]
Katti Lanner was a Viennese ballet dancer, choreographer, and ballet mistress, celebrated in Germany and England, where she staged many productions at the Empire Theatre.
On Thursday, “Tonight I am going with Percy to see your Lady Dunlo at Drury Lane they say she looks very nice.” Belle Bilton (Lady Dunlo) was a music hall entertainer who secretly married into future nobility to become the Countess of Clancarty. Very nice indeed.
Belle Bilton’s carte-de-visite
Wellington
Turnbull had hepatitis when Leo and Percy called to say goodbye before sailing for New Zealand. He wrote to Rob,
Everyone is well at home except your humble servant who has contracted a pestilent chill in his liver and is now confined to the house with Jaundice. I am as yellow as a guinea and look so funny when I am undressed the whole body being a brilliant saffron colour…. Leo & Percy were stopping here from Saturday till Monday. I was seedy with this Jaundice coming on & Leo had a bad cold so it was rather a slow time for Percy. They talk of going out to N.Z. sometime at the end of this month & they want you to meet them on the wharf with Kebbell’s head on a charger!!! [24]
The New Zealand Herald anticipated their homecoming,
We notice in the file of The Times to hand by last mail, that Mr. Walter Leopold Buller, having passed his final examination in law, has been called to the Bar at the Inner Temple. Sir Walter Buller’s other son was “called” a few months ago, and we understand that the two brothers are now on their way out to New Zealand with the intention of establishing themselves in practice. They will probably select Wellington as their sphere of action, their father’s strong connection being of obvious advantage to them. Mr. Leo Buller has a knowledge of the Maori language, and will probably make native business his specialty. We wish them both every success.[25]
Walter Buller purchased land in the Horowhenua and established a country estate at Lake Papaitonga, southeast of Levin. Percy and Leo left England in 1891.[26]Alex wrote to Rob,
19 March 1891: The Bullers left last Friday for N.Z. in the Orient Line Steamer “Oruba” so you will soon see them in Wellington. They were very sick at going and we bade each other a most affectionate farewell; there were seven other men seeing them off….
2 April 1891: I have just had a letter from Percy posted from Port Said, they seem to be enjoying themselves immensely. Percy also wrote to me from Naples.
15 May 1891: Tell Percy Buller that I cannot write to him by this mail as I shall not have time, but I have posted him two papers which he must take as an expression of goodwill and an evidence that I have not forgotten him. Don’t forget to tell him this or he will think that he is neglected.
10 June 1891: Have the pure and gentle Bullers arrived yet, if they have heap maledictions on their heads, on Percy’s especially, for not having written to me for many moons…. I am marking a paragraph in this week’s Man of the World which I want you to show to Leo & Percy; it is about the Gardenia Club. Benzom & Marmy Wood are going to resuscitate this haunt of vice; it has been closed for some time, whilst the Corinthian flourishes like a green bay tree.
25 June 1891: So the gay and festive Bullers have at length arrived. I received a long letter from your Percy along with your epistle, in which he gives me much news and much humour. I learned from Kebbell about their telegraphing for money; but there is nothing in that. We all run short of money occasionally (I am very short at present) and those are the lucky ones who have fathers to whom they may telegraph for supplies…. Mind you inform me how the cigars and cigarettes turn out and what you think of my choice. Give a cigar to Percy and when he lights it tell him to think of me, to think, but not to speak.
The Bullers were soon in the social whirl of Wellington.
His Excellency the Governor held a levee at Government House on Tuesday afternoon…. The following gentlemen were also presented: – Messrs… P. Buller, Walter Buller….[27]
At a concert in the Tinakori-road churchroom in aid of the St Paul’s Kindergarten School,
A very good programme was arranged, and taken part in by several of our prominent amateur vocalists. The singing was good, and several encores were demanded …. Mr. P. Buller sang a solo, with banjo accompaniment, and had to respond to an encore….[28]
Alex Turnbull wrote to Rob,
22 July 1891: I have received a fine long letter from Percy by this mail giving me his opinion on things in general and his own personal affairs in particular. He seems to glide along peaceably enough in Wellington but how about the warlike Leo?
6 August 1891: I received a letter from the cheerful Percy; he writes in grand spirits; he says that he is working 6 hours daily for his Examination in New Zealand Law, this of course I do not believe!…. Rather rough that on your youthful Bullers that the old him although friendly absolutely refuses to find their Club subscriptions for them. What on earth are they to do o’ evenings if they do not join in the mirth provoking pool or try the light fantastic game of billiards with their pals of the Club?
17 September 1891: I am glad to hear that Percy has taken to gardening,… Percy wrote me a long account of his father’s defeat in Auckland….
1 October 1901: The Kodak photographs were great value, especially your Percy performing a solo on the Watering Can; send more like them.
15 October 1891: Whilst I think of it I may mention that I am sending you a piece of music entitled “La Paloma”. ’Tis a Spanish composition, I dare say you heard it before you left for it is somewhat stale. I ought to have sent it to Percy for it is to him that it should specially appeal. We heard it on our way back from Algiers at Paris, in the Casino where we were imprisoned for about 3 “mortial” hours waiting to see the Can-Can danced. Well, a “cantatrice” warbled forth La Paloma. I had never heard it before and my young heart thrilled with ecstasy at the sound (Percy’s bold eyes let me explain were busy ogling some painted Jezebel in the box) and the tune rang in my head for many a day and until quite recently. I have never been able to find the music (like the Lost Chord) till Isabella played it one evening at Sherwood lodge. Let Percy see it and recount the above to him in order to freshen up his memory (musty with long poring over N.Z. Statutes & Repeals) on the subject…. I always thought that the Bullers would not remain long in N.Z. I hope however that Percy will stay & not fly away immediately we arrive; it would be cruel if he does so.
Their visit to Algiers in 1890 has been suggested as soft evidence of libidinous activity – presumably based on its later (1895) association with Oscar Wilde, André Gide and Lord Alfred Douglas – but you can go to Lourdes and not be a sick Christian just as you can go to Tangier or Algiers innocently unaware of the possibility of a naked lunch.
12 November 1891: I received by this mail a poem of a letter from Percy….
9 December 1891: Percy sent me a very amusing letter by last mail giving a vivid account of the boxing bout at Te Aro: he should start a Pelican or a National Sporting Club in Wellington where the young bloods might congregate nightly to witness the noble art of self defence.
In November 1891 Lottie, Lady Charlotte Buller, died of heart disease. She was 53. Alex Turnbull wrote to Rob,
It was a great shock to us all to hear of Lady Buller’s sudden death, what a dreadful thing for the Family, especially for Laura. Percy wrote me a note about it: poor fellow he seems quite prostrated with grief. I had done a comic envelope for him, but shall not send it now. I am enclosing this letter to you, in it instead.[29]
In July 1892,
Messrs. W. L. and A. P. Buller, sons of Sir Walter Buller, were admitted as barristers and solicitors of the Supreme Court by his Honour the Chief Justice this morning, on the motion of Mr. Gully. Both these gentlemen are barristers-at-law of the Inner Temple, London, and we understand it is their intention to commence practice at Levin, in this provincial district.[30]
In May 1893,
A very comfortable dwelling house has been erected on Sir Walter Buller’s property at Muhunoa in which the two Masters Buller reside.[31]
Wise’s Directory for 1894 has E.P. (sic) Buller Solicitor, Ohau and W.L. Buller Solicitor, Ohau. In 1897 the Cyclopedia would record of Percy, that “Mr. Buller has since been engaged in farming in the Manawatu district for four years” – referring to their Muhunoa block and suggesting the brothers were not fully occupied by their legal practice. Indeed, Wise’s Directories for 1896, 1898 and 1900 have AP and Wltr. L Buller “Sheep Farmers, Ohau”.
In the same month,
The Birthday Ball given at Government House last evening by His Excellency the Governor and Lady Glasgow was the largest ever given at Government House, nearly 600 persons being present.[32]
Among the cream of Wellington society at the ball were Percy and Leo Buller, Robert and Alex Turnbull (who had returned from London in 1892) and Leonard Tripp.
Alex Turnbull had told Rob he had done a comic envelope for Percy in 1891. In July 1893 Percy Buller decorated a Papaitonga envelope with a cartoon of “Alec the Good” – Turnbull handing out largesse to the poor – and addressed it to “Elibank,” Bowen Street, Wellington with the message,
Dear Alec. I have let you down more quietly than brother Robert, but next envelope I shall have to punish you to put matters right with Robert – WRITE – P.[33]
The lithograph of Romanian Alexander the Good was published by historian Dimitrie Papazoglu in 1891 and I wonder if it was the model for Percy’s “Alec the Good”: a pen drawing on an envelope posted at Ohau on 12 July 1893, with his caricature of Alexander Turnbull standing in a doorway inscribed “W & G T’s (W and G Turnbull’s) Whiskey Gardens”. Turnbull is in a monk’s habit (with frilly cuff), distributing tomato sauce, Dragon Brains, tea and whisky from a basket to begging figures at his feet. On the left is an advertisement for W & G T’s “Royal tomato sauce”; on the right an advertisement for the firm’s blended teas. ATL E-088-q-024.
Alex Turnbull wrote to Leo,
I heard from Percy by last mail, seems to be as “gai” as ever & falling frequently as usual.[34]
In November 1895 Percy Buller and John Anderson formed Buller & Anderson, the embryo of what is now the law firm Buddle Findlay. They began at 10 Featherston St and they advertised in the restricted way lawyers were, in those reserved and polite days, permitted.
Percy was elected a member of the Port Nicholson Yacht Club (AH Turnbull, Vice-Commodore) in 1897.[35] There were parties, balls, dinners at the Wellington Club. In 1898 Alex Turnbull wrote to Rob (now in London) from “Elibank”,
I had Hugh and Percy up to lunch the day before yesterday and the latter fired off all the usual stale old wheezes. The divine one is staying next door to us and occasionally drops in to smoke a cigarette in the evening; her hair is a beautiful golden hue now and she has made a most artistic job of it!
Percy is laid up with rheumatism again – not a bad attack I think but bad enough to set him swearing and blaspheming. He is learning the bike (a special machine) and I went down to the drill shed on Saturday to watch him – he is very cautious about it as you may imagine. [36]
Leo Buller and Rob Turnbull returned from London in the Oruba, arriving in June.[37]
In August all four Bullers attended a concert at Government House[38] and October 1898 saw a fancy dress ball there, when “Mr. A. Buller made a capital Friar Tuck, and looked fully as contented with his surroundings as his prototype”.[39] Sir Walter went as Governor of the Imperial Institute (of course). Alex Turnbull wrote to his sister Isabella on 26 October 1898,
Everybody is excited about the Fancy Dress Ball at Government House tomorrow night, what with that and the chance of war with France Wellington is quite in a ferment. Sissy is going to the Ball as some picture she found in a book. Walter Bethune is to appear in my kilt. Laura Buller as Marguerite of Valois. Mr. Coates as Henri of Navarre and so on.[40]
Mr Percy Buller: “Friar Tuck.” Kinsey Photo. New Zealand Graphic 3 December 1898 page 716.
Percy was not neglecting his entomology, and Sir Walter read his son’s second scientific paper at the Philosophical Society on 22 November, a report of the appearance of an unusual butterfly captured at Ohau: the paper later appeared in the Transactions.[41]
In August 1901 his Excellency, the Governor and the Countess of Ranfurly hosted a concert to seamen at Government House,
There were songs, and recitations, and instrumental music, and some delightful old “chanties” by the sailors themselves. The sailors and their wives presented Lady Ranfurly with a basket. of beautiful flowers nicely arranged, and cheered her heartily as she smilingly accepted it. Later on they persuaded her to sing a Scotch song, and when they cheered and asked for an encore she gave them a pretty ditty, “The yellow rose of Texas”. Mr Buller, with his banjo songs, pleased the sailors immensely, and Mrs Malcolm Ross delighted them with several recitations, grave and gay.[42]
Forrestina Elizabeth (known as Forrest) Grant, Otago teacher, had married Malcolm Ross, Otago journalist and distinguished sportsman, in 1890. He collected insects for Percy and she and Percy often performed together at charity events. She was appointed the first woman editor of the Evening Post. Her column of “Political news and notes” was lively and widely read.[43]
In April 1903 photographers Muir and Stewart took a group shot of members of the Wellington legal profession. Percy Buller is the short man in the boater and wide striped tie standing at right.
Percy Buller in boater and striped tie at right in the second row among members of the Wellington legal profession. Muir and Stewart 1903. Free Lance 4 April 1903. National Library PA7=49-33.
In 1903 The Evening Post’s “Ladies’ Column: Girls’ Gossip” reported,
Sailors make the most delightful of audiences – critical, appreciative, enthusiastic, and attentive – as those who have performed at the concerts down at the Sailors’ Rest can testify. Last week an excellent entertainment was organised by Miss Julia Skerrett, a concert for which any reasonable person might willingly pay half-a-crown and judge it well expended. Miss Julia Skerrett herself sang delightfully, and the Miss Putnams also contributed charming music. But it was Major Moore and Mr. Percy Buller of whom the sailors could not have enough. They sang song after song, Mr. Buller accompanying himself on his banjo, and had the nautical audience had its way, the performers and sailors would not have gone home till morning. The Rest is a capital institution. I believe if the sailors themselves were to organise a concert, with dances and their own queer chanties, they could draw a large audience and materially increase the funds.[44]
Butterflies
Percy Buller made watercolours of a range of New Zealand butterflies and moths. Alexander Turnbull bound them with the 1893 envelope carrying Percy’s caricature of “Alec the Good” but there is no indication the paintings were made in 1893.
Turnbull was probably referring to Percy’s miniature watercolours when he wrote to his brother Rob in 1891,
I am sending you a Strand Magazine containing some Post Office curiosities & when you have read it, pass it on to Percy, at the same time drawing his attention to what the writer of the article says about writing on postage stamps.[45]
It is not clear just when Percy painted these images but his statement that he “gave it (his) best” while he was at Cambridge may be informative.[46]
Arthur Percival Buller was elected F.E.S. – a Fellow of the Entomological Society, London – on 5 November 1902. New Fellows had to be nominated by at least three current members and elected by two thirds of the members. The Royal Entomological Society (as it is now) no longer has a record of who nominated Buller for Fellowship.
Chronic renal failure
Along with Leonard Tripp, Alex and Rob Turnbull, Charles Skerrett and other Wellington men, Percy was on the committee for the Racing Club Ball in July 1905. It was held on 13 July in the new Town Hall and was declared “Brilliant”.[47]
Whilst all the officers and stewards of the Club contributed their quota of time and energy to the preparations for the ball, it was acknowledged on all hands that to Mr. P. Buller was due the greater share of the credit for the highly successful result of the function.[48]
Shortly after this though, Percy Buller contracted a serious illness and there was fear for his recovery. The diagnosis is not recorded but this was probably acute glomerulonephritis, then known as Bright’s Disease and less than five years later it would kill him. Percy returned to England to live with his sister. He wrote to the Free Lance, which published this,
Mr. Buller says he has been seeing summer life in the English counties from a motor ear – “a forty horsepower creation that sent the indicator up to the rate of sixty-seven miles an hour.” Mr. Buller rather quaintly observes that the English country is a dream of beauty, but the Lance expects he had to observe this beauty while the car was taking petrol aboard, or had broken down, or something. He has been visiting old-world villages and old Norman churches, and generally having the fine sort of time that one cannot get anywhere else but in Britain. Says he is going south with the swallows middle of this month, and to the Continent, picking up the boat at Marseilles, and arriving in Wellington in December. Talking about dreams of beauty, does he compare the English lanes to the Basin Reserve or the Botanical Gardens?[49]
He did return briefly to Wellington but his illness relapsed and Laura came out to take him back to England. In 1909 Percy was best man at the marriage of Leonard Tripp (founder of law firm Chapman Tripp) and Geraldine Henry at Christ Church in Westminster.[50]
So all golden lads must come to dust. Arthur Percival Buller died on 28 February 1910 at Menton in France, that healing destination for the chronically ill (including Katherine Mansfield ten years later). He was buried on 5 March in the churchyard at Fleet in Hampshire. He was 44.
He had deposited two cases of specimens with the Dominion Museum and he left a portfolio of butterfly paintings to Alex Turnbull. A second set of butterfly paintings was purchased by the Alexander Turnbull Library in 1970.
In 1916 his uncle Gilbert Mair would write to Alex Turnbull,
I have such a longing to hear how you are that I must perforce send you some words of greeting. I look upon yourself as one of the golden links which bound me to dear old Percy, and it often makes me regret I cannot see you oftener.[51]
How close were Alex Turnbull and Percy Buller? They had ample time to become close, living in the same cities for nearly 25 years.
Although the 5–6 year old Alex Turnbull may have attended St Paul’s School in Sydney St Thorndon in 1873–4, the Turnbulls left Wellington just as 7 year old Percy Buller came back from Christchurch. Certainly Leo Buller, 3 years older than Percy, claimed to have attended “St Paul’s College, Wellington” when he matriculated at Cambridge, but he was enrolled at Wanganui Collegiate 1874–5 and then attended Wellington College till 1878. Percy and Alexander may have known each other briefly as near neighbours – certainly their parents were friends – but if so it cannot have been for long.
Possibly they met again when Alex. Turnbull visited New Zealand in 1885, but their friendship surely blossomed after 1886 when Buller started at Cambridge or when he came to London to be admitted at the Inner Temple in 1887. Turnbull had left school in 1884 and was working in the London offices of his father’s firm until the business was sold in 1888 and at 20 he became a wealthy young man of leisure.
What we know of their relationship is contained in letters by Alexander Turnbull, mostly to his brother Rob when Alex was living in London and Rob in Wellington and vice versa.
In Wellington 1892–1908 both Alex and Percy were members of the Wellington and the Wellesley Clubs and the Port Nicholson Yacht Club; both attended social events at Government House and they had mutual friends – and though there seems little of Percy’s extroversion in Turnbull, both seemed to thrive on humour and wit.
After Percy Buller left for England for the last time in 1907 he said that Turnbull wrote “by every mail”– ie, every month or so. Those letters are lost.
Ian St George is the author of Buller’s butterflies of New Zealand.
Arthur Percival Buller: Vanessa cardui (Vanessa kershawi, the Australian painted lady butterfly, male and underside). ATL E-088-q-021.
Arthur Percival Buller: Vanessa gonerilla (New Zealand red admiral butterfly, kahukura. Female above, male underside below). ATL E-088-q-022.
Arthur Percival Buller: Aenetus virescens (puriri moth, female). ATL E-074-q-15.
[1] Galbreath, Ross. Walter Buller: the reluctant conservationist. GP Books, Wellington, 1989.
[2] Andersen JC, GC Petersen. The Mair family. AH & AW Reed, Wellington, 1956.
[3] McCormick EH. Alexander Turnbull. His life. His circle. His collections. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, 1974.
[4] Buller, James. Forty Years in New Zealand, Including a Personal Narrative, an Account of Maoridom, and of the Christianization and Colonization of the Country. Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1878.
[5] Letter. William Mair to Gilbert Mair, June 26, 1895: in Galbreath, p205.
[6] Matilda Mair (Aunt Tillie) was married to Dr Richard Sissons, a much loved and respected general practitioner and lay reader in the church at Kamo. They had no children of their own.
[7] Letter. Walter Buller to Matilda Sisson, May 8, 1875. ATL MS-Papers-8151.
[8] “Mr Milner Stephen.” Lyttelton Times March 10, 1883, p5.
[9] Ratliff AHC. The short leg in poliomyelitis. J Bone Joint Surg Br. 41-B(1) (1959): 56-69.
[10] “All sorts of people.” Free Lance March 5, 1910, p4.
[11] Arthur Percival Buller in ACAD: A Cambridge Alumni Database https://venn.lib.cam.ac.uk.
[12] Buller AP. Notes on some Species of Diurnal Moths. Trans Proc. Roy. Soc. N.Z. 13 (1880): 237–239.
[13] “Legal Notice.” Evening Post, January 19, 1880, p3.
[14] “Our London letter.” Evening Star (Dunedin) July 26, 1886, p2.
[15] The Michaelmas term, the first term of the academic year running from October to December.
[16] Matrikel der Universität Heidelberg 1386-1936: UAH M12: 1872/73-1894/95 – Heidelberg, 1872/73-1894/95: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.47221#0822.
[17] Adreßbuch der Ruprecht-Karls-Universität in Heidelberg im Winter-Halbjahr 1885/1886 bis Sommer-Halbjahr 1890.
[18] Letter. Turnbull AH to RT Turnbull January 22, 1891. Alexander Turnbull Letterbook I, p9. ATL qMS-2051.
[19] “Royal Society Conversazione.” Evening Mail (London), June 10, 1887, p8.
[20] Galbreath, p160.
[21] Largely derived from J. E. Traue. “Turnbull, Alexander Horsburgh,” Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, first published in 1993. Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/2t53/turnbull-alexander-horsburgh (accessed August 21, 2023).
[22] Letter. Turnbull AH to RT Turnbull, January 22, 1891. Alexander Turnbull Letter Book I, p7. ATL qMS-2051.
[23] “Empire Theatre – Tonight.” St James’s Gazette January 21, 1891, p1.
[24] Letter. Turnbull AH to RT Turnbuill February 5, 1891. Alexander Turnbull Letterbook I, p13. ATL qMS-2051. This probably refers to FA Kebbell, prominent in Wellington tennis.
[25] Untitled. New Zealand Herald April 8, 1891, p4.
[26] “Shipping.” New Zealand Times April 29, 1891, p2.
[27] “The Levee.” New Zealand Mail May 29, 1891, p36.
[28] Untitled. Evening Post July 15, 1891, p2.
[29] Letter. Turnbull AH to RT Turnbull December 9, 1891. Alexander Turnbull Letterbook I, p130. ATL qMS-2051.
[30] Untitled. Evening Post July 22, 1892, p3.
[31] Untitled. Manawatu Herald May 2, 1893, p2.
[32] “The Governor’s Levee.” Evening Post May 25, 1893, p4.
[33] Buller AP. Alec the Good, 1893. ATL E-088-q-024.
[34] Letter. Turnbull AH to Leo Buller December 30, 1893. Alexander Turnbull Letterbook I. ATL qMS-2051. Perhaps Percy was unsteady with his crippled leg.
[35] “Port Nicholson Yacht Club.” Evening Post August 31, 1897, p2.
[36] Letter. Turnbull AH to RT Turnbull, February 17, 1898. Alexander Turnbull Letterbook III, p596. ATL qMS-2051. The “divine one” was Laura Buller.
[37] “Shipping and Mails.” Press June 4, 1898, p8.
[38] “Concert at Government House.” Evening Post August 8, 1898, p5.
[39] “The fancy dress ball at Government House.” Evening Post October 29, 1898, p2.
[40] Turnbull AH to Isabella Turnbull, October 26, 1898. Alexander Turnbull Letterbook IV, p93. ATL qMS-2051.
[41] Buller AP. On the appearance of Anosia bolina in the Wellington district. Trans Proc. Roy. Soc. N.Z. 31 (1898): 38–39.
[42] “A unique concert.” Press August 31, 1901, p8.
[43] Extracted from Janet McCallum 1993, 2006. Ross, Forrestina Elizabeth and Ross, Malcolm, Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/2r28/ross-forrestina-elizabeth (accessed August 25, 2023)
[44] “Ladies’ Column – Girls’ Gossip.” Evening Post June 13, 1903, p2 (Supplement).
[45] Letter. Turnbull AH to RT Turnbull May 28, 1891. Alexander Turnbull Letterbook I, p50. ATL qMS-2051. Refers to Strand magazine, 1 (1891): p520.
[46] There is, however, no mention of him in Psyche, the Cambridge Entomological journal, between 1886 and 1890.
[47] “The Wellington Racing Club’s Ball.” New Zealand Herald July 14, 1905, p6.
[48] “Racing Club Ball.” Evening Post July 14, 1905, p2.
[49] “Contentment.” Free Lance October 13, 1906, p10.
[50] “New Zealand weddings. Tripp–Henry.” Evening Post October 26, 1909, p9.
[51] He had an eloquently intimate way with words. Gilbert Mair to Alexander Turnbull May 1916. McCormick, p267.
