EARLY SETTLER’S BIRTHDAY

Greymouth Evening Star, 20 February 1940, Page 9

EARLY SETTLER’S BIRTHDAY

NINETY-TWO YEARS WITHOUT

ILLNESS.

(per press association.]

CHRISTCHURCH, February 19.

The Rev. F. G. Brittan, of St. Albans, celebrated his ninety-second birthday to-day. Mr Brittan, who is. a foundation member of the Canterbury Pilgrims’ and Early Settlers’ Association, and has'al ways taken a keen interest in its activities, was born at Sherborne, Dorsetshire, England, in 1848. He is one of the three surviving settlers wlio arrived by the. First Four Ships, reaching New Zealand on the Sir George Seymour at the age of three. i

. In an interview with a reporter from “The press” this evening . Mr Brittan said that his life had. been one that he had enjoyed. Save for the years 1867 to 1870, when he went to Queen’s College, Oxford University, to take his degree, he had never left Canterbury, and the healthiness of this climate was evidenced by the fact that he had

never had a day’s illness. He retired in 1920, at that time being an assistant master at Christ’s College, and since then had lived quietly. He still enjoyed good health, however, and was an enthusiastic gardener.