Shirley, New Zealand

Infobox Settlement
name = Shirley
area_total_km2 = 3.1454
population_as_of = 2006
population_total = 7176
population_density_km2 = auto

Shirley is a suburb of Christchurch, New Zealand, on the north side of the city. Comprised mostly of 1950-70s housing, it also has a large shopping mall called The Palms Shopping Centre, the Shirley Golf Course, Bunnings Homebase, and Shirley Boys' High School, which opened in September 1957.

Name origin

“Mr L. F. Buxton tells me that Shirley was named after his late father Joseph Shirley Buxton, and was applied to a large area of land owned by him. The area in question has recently been subdivided, but the name is now applied to a much larger district. Such an explanation is most valuable, as the personal side of the matter would soon be forgotten. Shirley in this case may be a family name, or a reminiscence of a once-famous novel, or a place-name in England—it is hard to say which”.

Another possibility is that the town was named after Mrs. Susannah Buxton, née Shirley. On her deathbed she asked her son to gift land to the Methodists to build a church. Her wish was carried out and the Shirley Methodist Church was named after her. The suburb eventually became known as Shirley after the church. [cite news |title= European place names |url= http://library.christchurch.org.nz/Heritage/PlaceNames/ChristchurchPlaceNames.pdf |format= PDF |work=The Press |pages= |page=11 |date= 1924-01-12 |accessdate=2008-01-27 ]

References