OBITUARY

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVII, Issue 21473, 11 October 1939, Page 5

OBITUARY

MR NORTON FRANCIS By Telegraph —Press Association CHRISTCHURCH. October 10. Mr Norton Francis. C.M.G., who died suddenly to-day, was one of the most respected commercial men in Christchurch. Born in Middlesex, England, in 1871, Mr Francis was educated at Highgate school and came to New Zealand in 1893, commencing a long and successful business career in Waimate. where he had farming interests. In 1902 he was appointed managing-director of Guinness and LeCren. Ltd. This firm amalgamated with Pyne and Co., and

Gould, Beaumont and Co., in 1918, and Mr Francis was appointed one of the managing-directors of the present firm of Pyne, Gould, Guinness, Ltd. He had been an executive director ever since. Mr Francis’s first experience of public life was in Waimate, and he was Mayer of the borough from 1906 to 1912. A second term, commenced in 1914, was interrupted by his departure on active service. He had long been associated with the Studholme Mounted Rifles and the Waimate Rifles. He was gazetted captain in 1913 in the New Zealand Motor Service Corps. Reserve of Officers, promoted to the rank of major in 1914, and, on the disbandment of this corps, was transferred to the Canterbury Regiment. In 1925 he was transferred to the retired list. During the war he was attached to the New Zealand Forces Headquarters staff, being first appointed in 1914 to the QuarterMaster General’s Department, and later to the Chief of the General Staff. He served for a short period in 1915 as Staff Officer in Samoa and on his return to New Zealand was placed in charge of returned soldiers and the Base Records Office, a position he held from 1915 to 1919.

Commercial Interests

Mr Francis moved to Christchurch in 1919, and since then had been actively associated with commercial, political, and social organisations in the city. He was a past-president of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce, and was a foundation member of the Christchurch Rotary Club. He was vice-president in 1924 of the Christchurch Citizens’ Association, on the committee of which he also served. Other organisations with which he had been connected include

the Royal Empire Society, the Canter bury Aero Club, the Overseas Leagu 1 the Canterbury division of the Reform Party. Mr Francis was a member of the board of the Massey Agricultural College, he served on the Rural Intermediate Credit Board, and was one ol the original directors of the Reserve Bank before it was taken over by the Government. He was a member of the University Senate, and from 1935 ro 1938 vice-president of the Associated Chambers of Commerce of the British Empire. He represented the Netherlands as Vice-Consul in Christchurch He was chairman c directors .4 Mason, Struthers and Co., Ltd., a member of the board of directors ul New Zealand Newspapers, Ltd., a member of the board of the Canterbury Fiozen Meat and Dairy Export Co., Ltd. and president of the Christcb —h Golf Club from 1927 to the time of his death. Mr Francis was twice married. His first wife was Miss Ruth Studholme, daughter of Mr Michael Studholme, of Waimate. whom he married in 1896. His second wife, by whom h_ is survived, was Miss Maud Edith Jackson. daughter of Admiral Sir Thomas S. Jackson. K.C.V.0.. R.N. They were married in 1906. Mr Francis leaves one son and three daughters—Mr George Norton Francis. M.A. (Christchurch,. Mrs Angus Vickers (Scotland), and Misses Jocelyn and Marjorie Francis < Christchurch). Minister’s Appreciation The Hon. W. Lee Martin, Minister of Agriculture, to-day expressed his great regret at the death of Mr Francis. Mr Martin said he had met Mr Francis on many occasions during the last four years, Mr Francis having been a member of the Massey C "ege Board of Governors and chairman ol the New Zealand School of Agriculture since its inception. “I had the highest admiration, said Mr Martin, “for Mr Francis’s invariable courtesy and fair mindedness, and for the great ability which he placed so freely at the service ol others. His passing will be a great lor- to the agricultural colleges and to agricultural science in New Zealand.”