Preserving past links

Posted by on 9 March 2005 | 0 Comments


MANAWATU Mayor, Ian McKelvie, and Lancastrian genealogist, Bill Tissington, with memorabilia on the district’s past.
HISTORIC material on the English lawyer and financier, Sir Henry Kimber, who became a leading figure in the development of Feilding, has been gifted to the Manawatu District Council.

Retired school teacher, Bill Tissington, of Lancashire, who is researching the Kimber family, presented Manawatu District Mayor, Ian McKelvie, with a photograph of Sir Henry and extracts from the family tree and a diary of Sir Henry’s visit to Feilding and Halcombe in 1883.

Mr Tissington was in Feilding recently while visiting friends and colleagues in New Zealand.

A close friend of Tim Kimber, the great grandson of Sir Henry, Mr Tissington has been on the genealogy trail at the Kimber family home, Newton Hall, in Whittington, Lancashire, for several years.

“I go along and work in the family archive every Wednesday,” he said, “and it is my joy to do that.”

Mr Tissington also carried a letter from Mr Kimber who said his family’s interest in New Zealand continued and they were regular visitors to the country for business and holiday reasons.

“We value our links with New Zealand and hope to preserve them,” wrote Mr Kimber.

Sir Henry, noted for a number of enterprises in the development of the British Empire, was one-time chairman of the Colonists’ Land and Loan Corporation which developed the Manchester Block, including Feilding and Halcombe.

During his brief stopover in the Manawatu, Mr Tissington was taken by Mr McKelvie to Halcombe to view the settlers’ memorial. He even took a photograph of the Kimber Street sign in the township.

“The trip’s been really worthwhile and I think this area is fantastic. I came through here on a train 20 years ago but I can’t remember the detail. I think the countryside is beautiful and everyone knows that Feilding is a most beautiful town.

"Sir Henry would be delighted at how Feilding and the district have developed. It’s really extraordinary – the town’s wide streets and the great care that has obviously been taken in its appearance. I think it’s lovely. I really do.”

Mr McKelvie said it was “exciting” to be able to look back at the district’s history and “find out that people still care about us in New Zealand. If you’ve got no history, you’ve got no future”.

Source: Manawatu District Council.

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