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Over the past 150 years, Warkworth has been shaped by many memorable local characters. One of them was Mrs Elizabeth Jane Ragg (1840-1912), proprietor of the Temperance Hotel, which once stood on the corner of Neville and Baxter Streets. Part of that building still stands today. Many locals will remember it as Robert’s Corner, after Robert’s Electrical, which operated there from 1942 onwards.
Elizabeth’s story began far from Warkworth. Born in Birmingham, England, she was the eldest child of Samuel and Elizabeth Wright. Growing up during the Industrial Revolution, she experienced life in a crowded manufacturing city where pollution and poor public health were common.
Like many families of the era, Elizabeth and her husband, Joseph Higginson Ragg, suffered heartbreaking losses.
Their first two children died in infancy in 1862. Hoping for a better future, they emigrated to New Zealand aboard the Golden City, arriving in March 1864 with their young son Ralph. Tragically, Ralph died only a month later, leaving the couple to start life anew in a strange country.
After several years in Auckland, where Joseph trained as a sailor and later became a master mariner, the family moved to Warkworth. By 1874, they owned a farm on Sandspit Road and by 1882, they had purchased from Charles Thomson the prominent corner site at Neville and Baxter. There they established the Temperance Hotel and Bakery. Originally a single-storey building, it was enlarged in the 1890s with a second storey and veranda.
Elizabeth was an active member of the Mahurangi branch of the Band of Hope and a supporter of the Temperance Movement. She also signed the women’s suffrage petition, helping pave the way for New Zealand women to gain the vote in 1893.
The Temperance Hotel offered an alternative to the Southgate family’s Warkworth Hotel, where alcohol was served alongside accommodation. In keeping with her strong temperance beliefs, Elizabeth provided visitors with a comfortable place to stay without the presence of liquor. She became renowned throughout the district for her hospitality, particularly her “sumptuous suppers” and catering for local events. With the Masonic Hall located across the road, her cooking was a familiar part of many community gatherings and celebrations.
In 1898, tragedy struck once more when Joseph died after becoming ill aboard his cutter Spitfire on the Waitematā Harbour. Widowed, Elizabeth continued running the hotel and boarding house with the assistance of her daughters, Mary, Matilda and Sylvia.
She remained proprietor until her death in 1912 and was buried beside her husband in the Anglican Cemetery on Church Hill. Their graves lie near that of Anderson Brown, founder of Warkworth township. Probate records show she left an estate worth approximately £1300.
Following her death, daughter Laura and son-in-law Francis Shannon continued the business until Mrs Fleury became proprietor in 1914. Later that decade, the property was sold and the family moved to Matamata, ending the Ragg family’s long association with Warkworth.
Today, Elizabeth Ragg is remembered not only as a successful businesswoman, but as a woman whose perseverance, hospitality and community spirit left a lasting mark on early Warkworth.
