LONG RESIDENCE IN TIMARU

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVI, Issue 23074, 13 December 1944, Page 8

LONG RESIDENCE IN TIMARU

Late Mr Robert Holdgate Authority On Early Local History Mi- Robert Holdgate, who died in Timaru on Monday at the age of 81, could probably claim to have had the longest continuous residence in this town. He was the eldest of a family of nine, seven of whom survive him. Three days after the arrival of his parents, Mr’ and Mrs Edward Holdgate, in the ship Victory, Robert Holdgate was born in Timaru, and spent his whole life here. Before the Main i School was opened, he attender Mr Southward’s and later Jaggers’ school, and was one of the first pupils of the Main School. In 1875 he joined the firm of Priest and Holdgate, in which firm his father was a partner, and remained in the employment of the company until 1942. Sixty years of service in one firm is a record that can be claimed by few employees. From his earliest years he took a keen interest in church affairs. For more than 20 years he was superintendent of the Banks Street Methodiist Sunday School and for a number of years was the church organist. Mr Holdgate was regarded as an authority on early Timaru history. He had a faculty for remembering anecdotes of the early davs, and could recall the great fire of 1868 when 46 Stafford Street, business houses were destroyed. He could also tell of the narrow escapes that occurred in the 1868 Temuka flood. Mr Holdgate married the daughter of the late Mr and Mrs W. Silverton In 1889. Mrs Holdgate predeceased him two wears ago. He is survived bv three daughters—Mesdames C. L. Maslin (Christchurch), W. I. Tait and Miss Amv Holdgate (Timaru). and three sons—Messrs F. E. Holdgate (Opunake). W. E. Holdgate (Hawera) and E. K. Holdgate <Christchurch).