OBITUARY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22059, 15 March 1935, Page 12

OBITUARY

MISS GEORGINA RUNCIMA* DEATH AT AGE OF 92 DAUGHTER OF PIONEERS The death has occurred of Misti Georgina Runciman, aged 92, the last direct descendant of a pioneer Waikato family, from which the Runciman district "takes its name. Miss Runciman will be remembered for her gift of £3OOO a few years ago to the trustees of the St. Cuthbert's College,, Auckland, toward the construction of a swimming bath. The donor was then over 80 years ~of age, but she lived to see the bath officially opened in 1927.

Miss Runciman was the youngest daughter of the late Mr. Thomas Runciman. Her parents arrived from Selkirk, Scotland, in 1839, and soon after settled in the Whangarei district, where Miss Runciman was born. When she was a child the family was forced to flee the district in face of nativo hostility, and they sailed to Auckland in an open whaling boat. After a few years' residence in the young city, the family moved south and took up farming near Drury. Her father, with the aid of two sons, cleared a large tract of virgin land, and the family continued to live in tho district after Mr. Runciman's death in 1866.

Some years later Miss Runciman accompanied her mother to the Cambridge district. In her residence in Drury and Cambridge, Miss Runciman was well known for her great interest in the welfare of pioneering families. She continued in .this work until sh'3 took up her residence in Papatoetoe about 30 years ago. At the age of 81 she suffered amputation of a leg, but quickly regained her health.

CATHOLIC HISTORIAN MR. J. J. WILSON'S DEATH The death occurred suddenly in Auckland last night of Mr. J. J. Wilson, of Dunedin, formerly for 17 years subeditor of the New Zealand Tablet and a leading authority on the history of the Roman Catholic Church in the Dominion. Mr. Wilson, who was aged 73, retired last year, and for some months had been staying with his brother, Mr. D. B. Wilson, of Clonbern Road, Remuera,. He had come to Auckland to undertake research with Bishop Liston among the archives preserved in the Bishop's House, Ponsonby, preparatory to compiling a history of the Church in. the Diocese of Auckland from the earliest days of Bishop Pompallier's mission to New Zealand. He was engaged upon this work until immediately before his death.

Born at Upper Hutt and educated at church schools in Wellington, Mr. Wilson entered business in Christchurch and while there became local corresipondent for the Tablet. Later he was appointed to the staff as sub-editor and made his home in Dunedin. On the retirement of the editor, Dr. Kelly, he acted for some months as editor, until a successor was appointed. In 1910 Mr. Wilson published the first volume of an historical work, "The Church in New Zealand," bringing the record up to the present day with a second volume in 1926. Through this and his journalistic work he was very well known in Roman Catholic circles throughout the Dominion. Mr. Wilson, who was a widower, is survived by four children, Mr. Ray Wilson and Miss Gwen Wilson, of Welliington, Mrs. Cunningham, of Christchurch, and Mrs; Ironside, of Invercargill. The interment will be in Dunedin.