SHIRLEY, NEW ZEALAND

Suburb:	'Shirley'
City:	Christchurch
Island:	South Island
Surrounded by:
to the north	Marshland
to the east	Burwood, Avondale
to the south	Dallington, St Albans
to the west	Mairehau

'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", the Shirley Golf Course, and Shirley Boys' High School, which opened in September 1957. It is famous for state housing which compromises roughly 80-90% of the area.

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”.

OR

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.

From:The Press, 12 January 1924, p 11
Source: http://library.christchurch.org.nz/Heritage/PlaceNames/ChristchurchPlaceNames.pdf