MR. BENJAMIN SHARDLOW.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 201, 26 August 1935, Page 8

MR. BENJAMIN SHARDLOW.

NINETY-EIGHT YEARS OF AGE. At the age of 98 years and after being a resident of New Zealand for 70 years, Mr. Benjamin Shardlow has died at his residence at Newmarket. He arrived in Auckland from England in January, IS6O, by the ship Matoaka. His first employment was with Sir. Hodgson, a boatbuilder, at Onehunga. He also assisted in the erection of the first Mamikau hotel. During the Maori War Mr. Shardlow was engaged in building transports for use by the military on the Waikato River. When the Thames goldiield was opened in ISG7 he was among the earliest on the field, landing at Shortland before the pioneers had anything more than tents to shelter them. Mr. Shardlow worked as a carpenter for Mr. Alex Unthank, the lessee of the Provincial Government's tramway up the Moanataiari creek and he was proud to recall the fact that it was he who built the truck in which the then Governor of the colony, Sir George Bower, was conveyed up the creek on his visit to some of the high-level mines in the Alburnia Hill. It was about the year 1579 when Mr. Shardlow left Thames for Auckland, and -for the remainder of his active life he was partly in the Railway Department and partly contracting on his own account as a builder. He retired 20 years ago and since that time lived quietly at Newmarket. Mr. Shardlow is survived by three sons, and there are eight grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.