THE LATE MR W. GUISE BRITTAN

Lyttelton Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 4815, 25 July 1876, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE LATE MR W. GUISE BRITTAN

Another of the honoured founders of the Province, one of its pioneer leaders, has passed away. Last year it was our sorrowful task to announce the death of Mr Watts Russell. Since then it has been our pleasure to chronicle the celebration of the twentyfifth anniversary of the birth of the Province, and to speak of tho useful well-spent lives that had materially contributed to the prosperity of tho past quarter of a century. At the present time wo regret to have to record that another of those lives has run its course. It will be a great grief to his many friends and early comrades to know that Mr Guise Brittan died on Tuesday, July 18, after a protracted and painful illness. Mr Brittan was a fellow passenger of Mr Watts Russell, in the Sir George Seymour—one of the famous “ first four ships ” —which arrived in Lyttelton on Dec. 17, 1850. He was already a man of mark among his fellow pioneers—a position he owed to his experience of life, his talents, his maturer age, and official position. Many who looked up to him, and have never ceased to do so since, will remember the impressive address he delivered to the travellers, his companions in the voyage, after the vessel had come to an anchor in the port of Lyttelton. Those _of his hearers who ore his survivors will think of that moment as one of peculiar brightness in their lives, and, when they recall the words in which he spoke of the duties of colonists, and of the virtues which together entitled their enterprise to be numbered amongst the things that are heroic, the general feeling will be that those will be fortunate whose subsequent lives have been as blameless as that of him who uttered them. As Chairman of tho Oounoil of Land Purchasers, Mr Brittan did good service to his lellow colonists. Ho was their representative in thoir dealings with Mr Godley, the agent of the Canterbury Association. Having ceased to occupy an official position under that body, ho continued to enjoy its confidence in a high degree. Active, vigilant, and industrious in public affairs, he occupied a leading position till the dissolution of tho Association. Since that event the stormy arena of politics seems to have had no charms for him. As Chief Commissioner, during many years, of Crown Lands, he has proved himself a useful, conscientious public servant, and has been highly respected, but, with the exception of one contested election (in 1853, wo believe), he has never made any attempt to enter public life. Mr Brittan was one of the earliest of the Christchurch settlers, having crossed the Port Hills some time before the bulk of his fellow pioneers who settled in Lyttelton, The older portion of the Clarendon Hotel was erected by him in those early days, and subsequently did service as the Provincial Council Chamber. Englefield and Lanadowne next successively knew his enterprise. Here he exercised a wide-spreading hospitality, which will keep his name green amongst his many friends. An enthusiastic cricketer, he frequently assembled at his house the cricketers that could be gathered together. Ho took every opportunity to foster the game, and did so much for it that he may well be called the father of cricket in Canterbury. For the past ten years he was in very bad health, so that his death was not unexpected.