STRANGE COINCIDENCE

Evening Star, Issue 21637, 5 February 1934, Page 9

STRANGE COINCIDENCE

OCUBLE LOSS TO BRISCOE FIRM DEATH OF TWO DIRECTORS On the heels of news from Christchurch of the death of Mr William Arthur Briscoe, of London, chairman of directors of Briscoe and Co., comes the further information to the Dunedin branch of Briscoe and Co. that Mr Alex. Macneil, colonial chairman of directors of the firm, was killed in a Melbourne street accident on Saturday, as the result of a motor collision. Mr W. A. BRISCOE. Mr Briscoe died suddenly on Saturday. He arrived in New Zealand by the Remuera about a fortnight ago, on one of his periodical visits to the firm’s branches in Australia and New Zealand. Such tours had brought him to this country eighteen times. Illness laid him aside in Christchurch about a week ago. He was arranging to come to Dunedin on this tour. He managed to revisit this city about every third year, and usually stayed a while, so that he was well known not only by the business men of Dunedin, but by large numbers of personal friends. Mr Briscoe was born in Staffordshire in 1860 and educated at Harrow and at Brasenose College, Oxford, where he took his M.A. He then entered the London office of the firm, and at the age of forty became chairman of directors. He was a keen lawn tennis player and also an enthusiastic follower of rowing, cricket, and bowling. He wrote several plays and poems, one of his plays being produced at Cambridge. He was a justice of the peace, and took an active part in public affairs in Cambridgeshire, where he made his home at Longstowe Hall, making farming and live-stock breeding his hobby. Mr Briscoe is survived by his widow, whose maiden name was Miss Boughey, two sons, and two daughters. The elder son is Captain 11. G. Briscoe, Conservative M.P. for Cambridgeshire; the younger son, Mr Basil Briscoe, is trainer for Miss Dorothy Paget. One of the daughters is Mrs Baron, wife of Mr T. P. M. Baron, who accompanied Mr Briscoe on the present tour and intends to reside in Auckland for the present. The other daughter is Mrs M. A. Churton, who lives in Yorkshire. Earliest records of the firm of Briscoe and Co. go back to 1781, when William Briscoe, of Caynton, in the County of Salop, started business in Wolverhampton and in 1794, associated with his cousin William Evans, founded the firm of Briscoe and Evans. In 1800 William Briscoe’s only son, George, was his partner. William Briscoe died in 1837, leaving the conduct of the business to his son George. It was in 1853 that the firm established itself in Melbourne under the title of Briscoe and Co. Mr Hugh Macneil went out to Melbourne to assist in the management. The Dunedin house was opened in 1863 under the title of Arthur Briscoe and Co., Mr Macneil being the manager. MR ALEXANDER MACNEIL. The information was received here whilst the house flag was at half-mast in mourning for the death of Mr Brisco© that Mr Alexander Macneil had died in Melbourne as the result of a motor collision. Ho was born in Dunedin. son of Mr Hugh Macneil, about seventy-five yeai’s ago, was educated at

the Otago Boys’ High School and the Otago University, and then became associated with his father in the management of the busines, continuing in that position until 1884, when he went to Melbourne to succeed Mr F. S. Roberts. but maintained his personal connection with Dunedin by coming here annually until about ten years ago. In a recent letter to a Dunedin friend he recalled with pleasure some recollections of his life here, referring by name to Messrs E. R. Smith, James Smith, and William Mills as amongst his contemporaries at the Otago High School. His wife died two years ago. One of his sons, Mr J. P. Macneil. was in Dunedin on Saturday and then left for Christchurch. Mrs Finch, widow of Mr A. A. Finch, is r. sister to the deceased and resides in Dunedin. Less than a week ago, on January 30 Mr Walter Macneil, of Burrowa, N.S.W., died. He was the only surviving brother of Mr Alexander Macneil, and has nothing to do with the Briscoe firms.