Of Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England. She had formerly been employed as a companion to a descendant (a great-niece) of S. C. Brees, Miss A Brees, in Sussex.
The Alexander Turnbull Library purchased 18 watercolours by S. C. Brees from her in 1947 and a further group of watercolours by Brees in 1954. she also offered the Library a copy of S. C. Brees' Pictorial illustrations of New Zealand (London, 1847) along with 4 watercolours by Nora Gardner and others, on 30 March 1957.
Date: 1945 - 1955
By: Webb, Esther M, active 1938-1957; Gardner, Nora Marris, 1913-1984
Reference: A-176-009
Description: Shows a gabled house with its surrounding garden. The house has a striped verandah roof with climbing roses on its verandah posts. A path leads to the front door and there is a circular flower bed to the right, trees behind the house Inscriptions: Recto - bottom left - Nora Gardner [in pencil]. Title in pencil on verso Quantity: 1 watercolour(s). Physical Description: Watercolour, 165 x 228 mm
Date: 1945 - 1955
By: Gardner, Nora Marris, 1913-1984; Webb, Esther M, active 1938-1957
Reference: A-176-007
Description: A river flanked with toetoe, forest and high hills in the background Inscriptions: Recto - bottom right - Nora Gardner [in brown brushpoint] Quantity: 1 watercolour(s). Physical Description: Watercolour 152 x 228 mm
Date: 1938-1969
Reference: MS-Papers-0854/1
Description: Material from Turnbull Library and National Archives files; includes letters and notes by A G Bagnall, J S Hornabrook; notes by A A St C M Murray-Oliver; letters by Jessie H Webb, Esther M Webb, and A E Fieldhouse relating to Brees. Also notes on Henry Melville and his son Harden S Melville. Quantity: 1 folder(s) (43 leaves). Physical Description: Ms, typescript, and printed matter (some photocopies)
Date: 1842 - 1845
By: Brees, Samuel Charles, 1810?-1865; Webb, Esther M, active 1938-1957
Reference: B-031-016
Description: Two Pakeha beaching a rowboat on the shore in the foreground, watched by a Maori man, a small child and a dog. Two further Maori and a dog are walking away in the distance. The view is from the western shore of Wellington Harbour, possibly close to Kaiwharwhara, looking towards Petone in the distance. The western hills are shown covered in bush Other Titles - View of Petone Inscriptions: Recto - bottom left - title in brushpoint Quantity: 1 watercolour(s). Physical Description: Watercolour 228 x 470 mm
Date: 1842 - 1845
By: Brees, Samuel Charles, 1810?-1865; Webb, Esther M, active 1938-1957
Reference: C-126-002
Description: View looking north-east along Wellington's south coast from above Ohiro Bay, past Island Bay and towards the Harbour entrance. In the foreground, amongst bush and low scrub is a party of six European men, two leading on horseback, one with two dogs. Brees is probably depicting himself and his group of surveyors Original of no 45 (with the same title) in Brees' "Pictorial Illustrations of New Zealand". The engraved version has a single man with a dog in a different position in the foreground, and a flock of sheep. Inscriptions: Recto - bottom left - title faintly inscribed in capitals in brown watercolour: View of Port Nicholson [fr]om the range of hills west of the Ohiro Valley. The first two letters of 'from' have been trimmed off Quantity: 1 watercolour(s). Physical Description: Watercolour 241 x 508 mm
Date: 1844
By: Brees, Samuel Charles, 1810?-1865; Webb, Esther M, active 1938-1957
Reference: B-031-027
Description: A Pakeha male and two Maori walking on a rocky beach with cliffs and low scrub to their right, looking towards Palliser Bay and Wellington in the distance. Both Maori are in cloaks and are carrying taiaha. This work was given the title Turakirae Head by Library staff, possibly in the 1950s, 60s or early 1970s. Close inspection in January 1996 revealed a previously unnoticed title. Cape Palliser is a considerable distance from Turakirae Head, although along the same stretch of coastline. Modern photographs confirm that the site is Cape Palliser, and that the topography as recorded by Brees is accurate. The only modern change is a (probably man-made) pool half-way between the high tide mark and the cliffs. A copy of modern photographs of the same scene is with the watercolour. On verso: section of a manuscript map of Pauatahanui and Porirua Harbour, presumably by Brees. Pauatahanui is called Pawai Tang[inui? - paper trimmed]. Other Titles - Turakirae Head, Palliser Bay coast ca 1843 Inscriptions: Recto - lower centre over a sandy patch between the foreground rock outcrop and the closest Maori and rocks; in brushpoint and very faint and illegible in parts: Cape Palliser towards the Wairarapa. 1844. Quantity: 1 watercolour(s). Physical Description: Watercolour & gum arabic 173 x 372 mm
Date: 1842 - 1845
By: Brees, Samuel Charles, 1810?-1865; Webb, Esther M, active 1938-1957
Reference: B-031-021
Description: Shows a two-storied house in a well-established garden, surrounded with picket fence, with a hill behind to the right of the image. A cow and calf are beneath a large tree in the right foreground in Tinakori Road. A large canoe is being rolled on logs and hauled down Hawkstone Street towards the sea by a group of Maori. The harbour is visible in the distance Original of engraving no 39 in Brees' "Pictorial Illustrations of New Zealand" published London, 1847. Engraving has same title. View likely to be taken later in Brees' sojourn in Wellington, perhaps between 1843 and 1845, rather than at the beginning in 1842, judging by the well-established appearance of his garden. Brees was Principal Surveyor for the New Zealand Company for this period. In his text to "Pictorial Illustrations of New Zealand" Brees notes: "This view is taken on the rising ground at the junction of Hawkstone Street with the Tinakore and shows a part of the Karori Road [now upper Tinakori Road] ... The fence on the left incloses Mr St Hill's field and premises. The solitary Kaikatea tree alluded to in the desciption of subject 28 [Mr Brees' cottage, Karori Road] is represented near the foreground". Quantity: 1 watercolour(s). Physical Description: Watercolour 228 x 381 mm
Date: 1842 - 1845
By: Brees, Samuel Charles, 1810?-1865; Webb, Esther M, active 1938-1957
Reference: B-031-032
Description: In the foreground a man on horseback is herding cattle. Beyond him is a valley with farmland and Mount Victoria in the middle distance, Wellington Harbour just visible beyond that Quantity: 1 watercolour(s). Physical Description: Watercolour 216 x 366 mm
Date: 1842 - 1845
By: Brees, Samuel Charles, 1810?-1865; Webb, Esther M, active 1938-1957
Reference: B-031-024
Description: Two naked Maori children seated on the ground at the prow end of a canoe. The carved head and decorative parts of the canoe are shown and another canoe faces in the opposite direction behind the first one. Quantity: 1 watercolour(s). Physical Description: Watercolour 152 x 228 mm
By: Brees, Samuel Charles, 1810?-1865; Webb, Esther M, active 1938-1957
Reference: B-031-012
Description: A fairly flat landscape with hills in the distance, mostly cleared of trees and with a road winding away in the centre, alongside the river to the left. Three Maori are walking away from the viewer towards a low hill in the middle distance. The hill appears to have a pa on top. Possibly the Ruamahanga River and Otaria Pa, ca 1844. Quantity: 1 watercolour(s). Physical Description: Watercolour 178 x 254 mm
Date: 1847
By: Brees, Samuel Charles, 1810?-1865; Webb, Esther M, active 1938-1957
Reference: B-031-017
Description: View from the sea, looking towards Russell in the distance. Original for: Town of Kororarika (Kororareka) Bay of Islands, plate 8/25 in: Pictorial Illustrations of New Zealand. The engraving has a canoe in the foreground and two sailing ships in the water nearby. These are not present in the original. Probably painted on Brees' initial arrival in New Zealand in 1842. Other Titles - Russell Quantity: 1 watercolour(s). Physical Description: Watercolour 252 x 228 mm
Date: 1842 - 1845
By: Brees, Samuel Charles, 1810?-1865; Webb, Esther M, active 1938-1957
Reference: B-031-033
Description: Shows hotel by Hutt River, with the river bending to the right, and tall trees on the left bank behind the Aglionby Arms Brees in his text to "Pictorial Illustrations" notes: "the nucleus of a village has been formed by Mr Daniel Riddiford, on his section, no.17, in the Lower Hutt, which he has names Aglionby, and Mr Burcham has built an hotel there, for the accommodation of visitors to this fine district ... the white population residing [in the valley of the Hutt] amounted to 644 at the beginning of the year 1845". Original for lithograph in Brees, S C Pictorial illustrations of New Zealand, no 7. Inscriptions: On back: Dan Riddiford's stock yard on left Quantity: 1 watercolour(s). Physical Description: Watercolour with gum arabic 202 x 282 mm
By: Brees, Samuel Charles, 1810?-1865; Webb, Esther M, active 1938-1957
Reference: B-031-019
Description: A view from a high standpoint, looking down into Palliser Bay, with Okorewa Pa faintly indicated at the mouth of the Ruamahanga River, with the sandbar beyond it. A Maori family, dressed in traditional Maori clothing, and two redcoats in the foreground Original of no Plate 15, 44 in Brees' "Pictorial Illustrations of New Zealand" (London, 1847). The Pa is much more clearly drawn in the engraving than in this watercolour. The soldiers have been removed in the engraved version. Other Titles - sand bar Quantity: 1 watercolour(s). Physical Description: Watercolour 203 x 368 mm
Date: 1844
By: Brees, Samuel Charles, 1810?-1865; Webb, Esther M, active 1938-1957
Reference: B-031-025
Description: Buildings shown are the whaling station at Te Kopi, Palliser Bay. See similar view, with title, reproduced in McArthur's auction catalogue for sale 4 August 1987, lot 52. Shows a high rock, being climbed by three Pakeha men, on the right, a cluster of several low buildings near the shore and a path through low scrub in the foreground. A Maori woman [?] is walking away from the viewer and further along the path is a European man and another person. Date of 1844 is suggested because Brees' watercolour entitled Cape Palliser is dated 1844, and this view is likely to have been taken on the same exploratory trip. There are faint map outlines in pencil on the verso. Other Titles - Whaling station, Te Kopi, Palliser Bay, 1844? Inscriptions: Recto - bottom right - title in brushpoint Quantity: 1 watercolour(s). Physical Description: Watercolour & gum arabic 223 x 378 mm
Date: 1842
By: Brees, Samuel Charles, 1810?-1865; Webb, Esther M, active 1938-1957
Reference: B-031-022
Description: View up Hawkestone Street, looking towards Tinakori Road and Tinakori Hill, with the artist's two-storied house on the left in a fenced garden, a large kahikitea tree in the centre and Alfred de Bathe Brandon's house in the distance on Tinakori Road. A third house can be seen on the hill beyond Brees' house, that of John H. Wakefield. Three people are on horseback on the road in addition to two women standing and talking, a small child and two dogs Original of Plate no 28 (Mr Brees' cottage, Karori Road) in Brees' Pictorial Illustrations of New Zealand (London, 1847) Quantity: 1 watercolour(s). Physical Description: Watercolour 216 x 380 mm
Date: 1842 - 1845
By: Brees, Samuel Charles, 1810?-1865; Webb, Esther M, active 1938-1957
Reference: B-031-026
Description: Carved prow of a Maori canoe (waka) with a (disproportionately small) man standing in the prow. In the background is another canoe with three sails Prow, but not figure and background canoe, used as original for engraving illustrating page 1 (the half title page) of Pictorial Illustrations of New Zealand by S C Brees (London, J. Williams, 1847) Quantity: 1 watercolour(s). Physical Description: Watercolour 152 x 229 mm
Date: 1842 - 1846
By: Brees, Samuel Charles, 1810?-1865; Webb, Esther M, active 1938-1957
Reference: B-031-013
Description: A waka huia, or carved box for treasures. Includes paua shell inserts Quantity: 1 watercolour(s). Physical Description: Watercolour 127 x 356 mm
Date: 1842 - 1845
By: Brees, Samuel Charles, 1810?-1865; Webb, Esther M, active 1938-1957
Reference: B-031-031
Description: Shows sailing ship with rugged island in background with pillar-shaped rocks at both ends Quantity: 1 watercolour(s). Physical Description: Watercolour 180 x 284 mm
Date: 1842 - 1845
By: Brees, Samuel Charles, 1810?-1865; Webb, Esther M, active 1938-1957
Reference: B-031-030
Description: View looking south along Paekakakariki Beach. A sandy beach with a line of hills in the distance and the sea to the right. Four small rowboats or canoes are pulled up on the beach in the foreground and there are groups of men attending to the boats, walking along the beach and seated. Mana Island can be seen on the horizon in the distance on the right. Compare the shape of the line of hills in the background with those in B-031-004 "Group of Maori and Pakeha near beach ..." Other Titles - Mana Island and Pukerua Inscriptions: Recto - bottom left - MANA, POKARUA Quantity: 1 watercolour(s). Physical Description: watercolour 178 x 368 mm
Date: 1843
By: Brees, Samuel Charles, 1810?-1865; Webb, Esther M, active 1938-1957
Reference: B-031-009
Description: Shows The Thistle Inn and the Courthouse (which doubled as a church) on lower Mulgrave Street, close to the water's edge. There is a horseman, with lawyers and other people outside the courthouse. A European home with two chimneys is below the road on the left. Original of Plate 19 no 57 in Pictorial Illustrations of New Zealand by S C Brees, London, 1847 Quantity: 1 watercolour(s). Physical Description: Watercolour 215 x 305 mm