Goulstone was baptised on 28 November 1835 at St John the Baptist Church, Bedminster, England. He was the ninth child of 12 children. All were baptised in the
Church of England faith. His father was school master and proprietor of the Ashton Gate Academy. In 1841, at the age of five, he was living with his parents and seven of his brothers and sisters in North Street,
Bedminster, Bristol. Goulstone arrived in
Melbourne, Australia, on 29 March 1858, having sailed alone from
Liverpool on the
Tornado. From
Melbourne, Goulstone moved on to
Queensland, and lived for about three years in a small place called
Darling Downs, where he ran his own business. However, he had to leave the locality on account of his health. On 11 May 1860 Goulstone arrived in
Sydney, having sailed from
Brisbane on the ship the
Telegraph of Sydney. Just over a week later on 19 May he married
Mary Sayer Cox, a 25 year old single woman from Yatton, Somerset. Their first child,
Newton Henry, was born on 1 July 1861, at Belgrave Terrace, Sydney. On 5 August 1861 Goulstone started work at the Sydney head office of the
Bank of New South Wales. Sometime between August 1861 and January 1862 the family moved to
Auckland, New Zealand and on 4 January 1862, Goulstone was appointed as the Acting Accountant, Bank of New South Wales, Auckland, at a salary of £300 per annum. On 1 April 1863, Goulstone sent a note to
Donald McLean, confirming an appointment with him for the following day. Unfortunately no account of the meeting has been uncovered, so it is presently a mystery as to why Goulstone went to see Sir Donald. The letter (at right), is currently the only surviving written document of him. From Napier, Goulstone and his family moved to the
South Island, and in 1865, Mary gave birth to their first daughter,
Amy Florence, in
Lyttelton. This time in Lyttelton could have been a brief holiday or interlude between postings with the bank. It is maybe possible that his wife, Mary, stayed by herself in Lyttelton, with friends or relatives, while he continued with his bank work in Auckland. After much moving around, Goulstone, his wife and their three young children settled in
Nelson and on 8 September 1865 Goulstone was made Acting Bank Manager of the Nelson branch of the
Bank of New South Wales, at a salary of £500 per annum. He made 15 in the first innings and 1 in the second and took one catch. The bank beat the college by two wickets. On 18 April 1869, the first Royal visitor to New Zealand,
Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Duke of Edinburgh, arrived in Nelson as captain of . The Duke was the second son of
Queen Victoria and
Prince Albert. There was a very large welcome put on for the Duke, with many dignitaries and speakers. Goulstone himself was among the invited guests to personally meet with the Duke. Two of Goulstone's donations to causes of the day were recorded by the local paper. Firstly, in June 1866, Goulstone donated the sum of two pounds and two shillings to the New Zealand Patriotic Fund. Later that same year in August, there was a very large fire in Nelson that destroyed 18 homes, Goulstone donated two pounds to the fire relief fund. On 14 June 1873, Goulstone was elected by the ratepayers to the Nelson Education Board. The meeting and election took place at the Nelson Court-house. In this capacity as a board member, Goulstone took the chair at the annual Town Schools prize giving in December 1873, this included the giving of a short speech and the overseeing of the presentation of the prizes. While in Nelson, Goulstone became a Magistrate, and in such capacity took part in the Annual Licensing meeting held on 20 June 1871. Goulstone and four other magistrates met to hear any new liquor applications and also to oversee the correct behaviour of the 40 Public Houses that were already in operation in the Nelson area. At this meeting one new application was granted to the Mitre Hotel. Also in his capacity as a Magistrate, Goulstone had had to sit on the jury of the Supreme Court of Nelson on numerous occasions. Three such occasions where Goulstone was a juror were recorded in the local paper as follows: • Civil Sitting, Monday 13 July 1868, Trimble vs
New Zealand Insurance. • Civil Sitting, 9 and 10 August 1871, Pike vs Travers. This was an action to recover the sum of one thousand five hundred pounds, the amount of a promissory note, with interest since September 1864. • Criminal Sittings, Monday 20 November 1871. This included the trying of six criminal cases, none of a very serious nature. In 1866 Goulstone briefly gave evidence in the
Maungatapu murders trial, in his capacity as the acting manager of the Bank of New South Wales. This was in relation to whether he saw one of the accused come into his bank and exchange some money. Goulstone was a founding investor and share holder in the Perseverance Mining Company. The company was formed on 15 January 1870 to mine for gold in the Bedstead Gully and Golden Gully area, in Golden Bay. To this end the company leased 16 acres of crown land in this area for a period of 15 years. The company went out of business in the late 1870s, with another company taking over the mine site in 1879. Goulstone was also a director of the company from its founding up until 21 November 1870 when he stepped down. However, as of 8 March 1871 he was still a shareholder, attending a special general meeting of the company as such.
Children in Nelson Another son was born to them, on 7 November 1867, Harold James Goulstone. On 24 September 1870, Mary gave birth to triplets - two boys (
Cyril Thorpe and
Alexander) and a girl (
Ella Margaret Irene). Sadly, less than three months later, Cyril died of 'debility'. And just a couple of weeks before his second birthday, Alexander died of 'congestion of the lungs' (probably tuberculosis).
Agnes Lillias was born on 12 May 1873, and their fourth and last daughter,
Rosa Theodora, on 25 September 1875. Goulstone resigned from the bank on 31 October 1875 Goulstone also undertook auditing work. For example, he was the auditor of Sharland and Co. (Limited) from the early 1890s up until December 1907 when he had to resign due to ill health. Later in 1877, Goulstone returned, by himself, to Sydney, arriving there on 26 November on the
Rotorua. He started work back at the head office of the Bank of New South Wales on 3 December. He was put in temporary charge of the Balmain branch on 25 April 1878, returned to head office on 7 June, and resigned on 30 September 1878. Sometime between 1878 and 1881, Goulstone bought a farm in
Whakatāne. But by 1885 he was back in Auckland, and the farm was sold in 1913. Goulstone Road in Whakatāne is named after this short farming stint. ==Funerals and marriages==