LIFE OF 105 YEARS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 305, 26 December 1930, Page 12

LIFE OF 105 YEARS.

CANTERBURY MAN'S DEATH.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) WAIMATE, Thursday. The death has occurred at the age of 105 of Mr. Edward G. Thornton, who, up till recently, took an active part in the operation of a farm at Redcliff, near Waimate. Mr. Thornton was a native of Cornwall, England, where he began, work as a farm labourer. When about 45 years of age he brought his wife and family to New Zealand on the ship Eakaia. He worked for a year in the railway goodsshed at Kaiapoi, and then came to the Waimate district, where he helped to clear bush on what is now the main street of the town. After trying*his luck unsuccessfully in a gold rush, he returned to Waimate, purchased a farm and settled there with his sons. Sport and politics never troubled Mr. Thornton. He kept to the old methods of farming, and preferred the horse plough to the tractor, declaring that the tractor was responsible for late crops. There are seven children living, Messrs. Frederick, Edward, Alfred, Jack and Joshua, and two daughters, Rachael and Alice.