10. Armand Felix Joseph NIHOTTE
(4)
(photo) was born on 11 Mar 1896 in Rochefort, Belgium. He was buried in
1977 in Makara, Wellington, NZ. He died on 24 Sep 1977 in Wellington, NZ. He
was a Diplomat.(11) 1919 - 1925 Belgian
3rd Secretary to Melbourne (then the capital city of Australia)
1925 - 1961 Belgian Consul, a Minister Plenepotentaire (sp?) to Wellington, New
Zealand.
The posting in Wellington broke the records for both the longest single posting
by a Belgian diplomat anywhere, plus the longest posting by any foreign diplomat
in New Zealand. He was married to Mabel Gertrude OXENHAM Madame in 1919 in Melbourne,
Australia.(12) Armand related the following
story in 1977 of how they met and married to their grandson, Roger Pearce. 26
years later, I (Roger) am recounting this story to the best of my recollection:
As a teenager in miliatary training, around the outbreak of WW1, Armand circumnavigated
the world in a Belgian training scooner. On the way round Terra del Fuego (the
southern tip of South America), Armand was posted up the mast during a storm
in order to spot any approaching danger. The mast swayed violently back and
forth, but thankfully he survived to tell us about it.
During a stop-over in Melbourne, Australia, the officer and crew on board the
ship were invited to a garden party/reception at the home of Justinian Oxenham,
who was Secretary of the Postmaster Generals Department, where he met and took
a liking to Justinian's daughter, Mabel.
After returning to Belgium, Armand was caught up in WW1. As a courrier in the
Ardennes region, it was his job to carry dispatches between the men in the trenches
and their miliatary command. For this responsibility, he was given the first
motorcycle with a side-car in the Belgian army. This transportation meant he
was able to sleep in a tent back at the command rather than at the front in the
muddy trenches.
Throughout the war, Armand and Mabel had pursued each other their via written
correspondence, and at the end of the war determined to get married. Thus it
was up to Armand to find an honorable way to get a job or government posting
to Australia whereby he might ask the gentleman, Justinian, for his daughter's
hand in marriage. Anything less would not be considered appropriate. His only
avenue appeared to be a diplomatic posting with his country's foreign service.
The problem was that as a Catholic French Speaking Walloon in a country whose
diplomatic community was at that time dominated by the Protestant Flemmish speakers,
his Jesuit education was not currently acceptable for entry to the Foreign Service.
To overcome this obstacle, Armand's father, Jules Nihotte, made a direct appeal
to King Albert I, whose horses he tended as a veteranry surgeon, for the King
to interceed on behalf of Armand. King Albert I was very popular following the
war because of his resistance to the German troops and leading his own troops.
This ploy worked and Armand was posted to Melbourne as the 3rd Balgian Secretary,
a position that payed very little (as most diplomats in those days apparently
had independant sources of income), but was nevertheless sufficient to win Mabel's
hand in marriage.
11. Mabel
Gertrude OXENHAM Madame(4)
(photo) was born on 14 Sep 1894 in Fernmont Albion Nundah District , Brisbane,
Queensland, AUSTRALIA. She was buried in 1978 in Makara, Wellington, NZ. She
died on 6 Apr 1978 in Wellington, NZ. Children were:
5 i.
Marie-Louise Charlotte NIHOTTE.
ii.
Jules Joseph Armand NIHOTTE(4) was
born on 27 Jul 1929 in Wellington, NZ.(13)
He was baptized in Aug 1929 in Sacre Coeur Convent, Island Bay, Wellington,
NZ. He received First Holy Communion on 11 Dec 1935 in Star of the Sea Chapel
Seatoun Wellington. He MB ChB Degree on 12 Dec 1955 in Otago University, Dunedin,
NZ. He MRCGP Degree on 25 Aug 1966 in England. He was a General Medical Practioner.
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