CYCLOPEDIA OF NZ 1897

Wellington Province

JOHNSONVILLE:

BANNISTER, Edwin

Page 1069

Bannister, Edwin, Settler, Woodlawn Farm, near Johnsonville. The subject of this notice was the son of the late Mr. William Bannister, coal pit owner and ironfounder, of the firm of Bannister, Banks and Bannister, Wolverhampton. Born at Dudley Castle in 1827, he came to New Zealand with his parents, per ship `Bolton,' in 1840, and was apprenticed to Mr. F. Revans of the New Zealand Gazette newspaper. Subsequently he worked on the Spectator and Cook Strait Guardian, The Independent, and the Evening Post. Mr. Bannister afterwards joined the staff of the Government Printing Office, where he remained till retiring from active city life to his pretty homestead. During his long residence in the Empire City he was an enthusiastic Oddfellow, his native lodge being the Brittannia, M. U. Mr Bannister was one of the founders of the Loyal Antipodean Lodge, of which he was secretary for forty years, and acted as provincial corresponding secretary for the Wellington District, No. 7, retiring only because of failing health, when he was the recipient of various presentations testifying to the value of his long and ardent services. For his genial and obliging disposition, as well as for his readiness to assist others, he was well known and sincerely respected in Wellington, and his death on the 31st of May 1895, at the residence of his daughter, Mrs. W. Rowlands, of Fitzherbert, Palmerston North, was the cause of profound regret. Mr Bannister left a widow and seven daughters and four sons. He was the last of his family, but his name is very unlikely to die out, as the grandchildren now number over forty.

Return to General Index

Shadows Homepage: