hi mwg, hope we can help as you haveing been searching for a long time ...

see also mwg1's posting on this family at:
John George KNOTTS married Emma MATTINGLEY

I've decided to try a different angle to see if anything comes up. Sometimes if you can't go through the wall, you have to go around it.

Mark

"as you haveing??? been" gee, going crossed-eyed with all this research :)
I'm working on it for you Mark. Don't think it was Ellen (at this stage)

This may be the marriage and death for Elizabeth.

Bride: Elizabeth Isabella KNOTTS.
Groom: William Edward BEASLEY.
Married: 1914 in New Zealand.

And then we have this death.

Elizabeth Isabella BEASLEY died 1974 in New Zealand.
Birth date given as 22 January 1892.

Thank you Tonkin

I have made a couple of searches and come up with some additional data.
Elizabeth Knotts, single female, aged 20 arrived 30/12/1913 aboard "Mamari" in Auckland from London.

Date of marriage to William Edward BEASLEY 28/2/1914
Date of Death Elizabeth Isabell BEASLEY 15/11/1974

The Elizabeth Isabella Knotts (1892-1974) & William Edward Knotts (1886-1953) that tonkin suggests, were married 28 February 1914 and had a son William Edward Beasley on 18 December 1914 (died 29 Sep 1972 & buried in Taita) who was a Labourer in Wellington in 1932 and was sent to Borstal later that year. He was around Petone in 1935 and a waterside worker in Wellington, living in Lower Hutt, in the 1940s

this does not mean that his parents lived there too, but may be a starting place to look and maybe other readers will 'recognise' them ...

Evening Post 26 December 1913 - MAMARI'S PASSENGERS
The Mamari, due here on Sunday from London, is bringing the following
Wellington Passengers:

Misses:
? BROWN (2)
? FORSYTH
? FRIEND
? GASS
? HAWKINS
? HOPCROFT
? HORSLEY
? HUME
? KENNEDY
? JONES
? KINGSTON
? LAMB (2)
? KNOTTS
? LYON
? MILES
? MILLS
? MOORE
? MURPHY
? MYERS
? PEARSE
? ROACH
? SHEA
? SMITH
? SULLIVAN
? THOMPSON
? TOMKINS (2)
? WALSH
? WITHERS
? WOOD

Mesdames:
? BAILEY
? BOYD
? HOPCROFT
? IVES
? JONES
? KELLY
? KINGSTON
? LYON (2)
? MacDONALD
? MEADE
? SLATE
? MURPHY
? TOMKINS
? WEBSTER
? WILLS
? WOOD

Messrs:
? BAILEY
? BOYD
? BUTLER
? DORWARD
? HORSLET
? IVES
? LINTOTT
? LOVE (2)
? LYON
? MacDONALD
? McCARTEN
? MEARING
? MURPHY
? NELSON
? PITT
? ROBINSON
? ROXBURGH
? SMITH
? TOMKINS
? WEBSTER
? WELLS
? WESTLAKE
? WHEELER
? WILLIS
? WOOD (2)

Elizabeth's husband may have been the William Edward BEASLEY that died in New Zealand in 1953, aged 67 years. (Born circa 1886)
Could be worth a look.

Thank you all for your assistance, this all seems to add up. Now I will try and find some descendants of William and Elizabeth BEASLEY.

I'm also curious to know if Elizabeth knew William before she left England, or if she arrived in New Zealand, met William and married him all within two months.

I haven't found any immigration record to suggest that William BEASLEY arrived in New Zealand within a couple of years before Elizabeth.

hi Mark. Yes I thought of that yesterday.

The Mamari arrived in Auckland 29 Dec 1913 and as she was a Wellington Passenger I looked to see if I could find when it arrived in Wellington. It would have been a couple of days later. Let's say she arrived into Wellington 1 January 1914 and she was married on the 28 February! I was certain she must have known William prior to arriving.

I did not find William or Elizabeth buried in Wellington, Upper Hutt, Petone, Taita or surrounding areas, though unfortunately (& incredibly) not all cemeteries are online yet!!

Are you familiar with New Zealand Districts ??
If I throw towns at you do you know where they are?? :)
It's just easier to 'imagine' where they were and where they may have gone.
If he was a Farmer I would track them up around the Manawatu (and did briefly) or if a businessman I would possibly search Auckland etc (which I have and cannot find them in Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin cemeteries either)

Another possibility is that they went 'home' again. Because of privacy it is harder to find descendants after 100 years from now (Feb 1913) but with luck someone will read this and know them. This is why it is important to add as much info as possible (and why I'm waffling on :)
The list of passengers above is in the hope that she travelled with a friend and someone will know who. All this will be picked up on someones Google search and we may get lucky

In the meantime we will slog on. Rather intriguing...

cheers

Could try the newspapers for death and funeral notices.

It will take time, but the death notices may give information regarding their spouse and children, and the funeral notices should tell you where they are buried.

Ngairedith is very good with newspaper searches.

I'm glad that I'm not the only one that is thinking that it was a whirlwind romance.

I appreciate your help and great knowledge of the places to search in NZ.
I'm from Australia, so I'm not familiar with New Zealand districts, but I do have google.

I've sent off for print outs of Elizabeth and her son's deaths as well as Elizabeth's marriage. Hopefully that could narrow the search area down.

I've also sent a speculative email to the funeral director mentioned in the burial record for William Jnr. I am hoping that there may be an address for next of kin. We'll see if anything comes of it.

I now have copies of the certificates I ordered and these have confirmed the information in the comments above as well as adding some new information.

William Edward BEASLEY, age 27, Labourer, Bachelor, from Reading, Berks, England, married Elizabeth Isabella KNOTTS, age 21, Spinster, from Staines, Middlesex, England, at the Registrar's office in Wellington, 28th February, 1914.
William's parents were, William Edward BEASLEY, and Clara SPALDING.
Elizabeth's parents were, John KNOTTS, and Emma MATTINGLEY.
So I think we can safely say that they knew each other in England. I haven't found any immigration record for William yet.

Elizabeth born 22nd December 1892, died 15th November, 1974, at the "Hostel for the Blind" Sunrise Boulevard, Tawa, her usual place of residence was 43 Tennyson St, Petone. She was buried at Taita. (I haven't found any cemetery records) She had two living issue, a male age 54 (William Edward BEASLEY Jnr), and a female age 55.
If this is correct, then the daughter was born prior to the marriage.

Willian Edward BEASLEY (Jnr) born 19 December 1914, died 29 September, 1972, at home, 30 Capella Flats, Whites Line, Lower Hutt. He was buried at Taita. William married Bessie Frances EASTON in Wellington at age 24, and had 3 living issue, males aged 33, 31, & 30. He also married Vera Agnes HOPE at age 42, there was no issue.

My mother was Vera Agnes HOPE. I lived with her and Bill Beasley from the time they married. His living issue at death were female - Audrey, Shirley and Beverley. Sorry I do not know anything more about them although I did meet them when we were young. He also had a son, Billy who was born in 1945. Billy died in a car accident on his way home from the Hastings Blossom Festival in 1960. I think the girls all lived in the Hutt Valley area. School records might help. If someone is able to look at the Marriage microfiche records they might be traced so you would have a married name for any of them.

Back to my earlier comments about William Edward BEASLEY (Snr) and his emigration to New Zealand and how he came to marry Elizabeth.

I now have a copy of his death certificate which indicates that he was born in Reading, Berkshire, England, and had been 43 years in New Zealand. So this would mean that he travelled with his parents at about age 10, father also a William Edward BEASLEY and mother Clara BEASLEY nee SPALDING.

I now have another theory on how he and Elizabeth Isabella KNOTTS met. From William (Jnr) death certificate, William (Snr) was a Waterside Worker. Would it be possible to say that he was also a mariner and travelled to and from England and that is where they met and that Elizabeth ran away to marry?