OBITUARY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 March 1939, Page 8

OBITUARY

MR HERBERT STEEL ELGIE. STEP-BROTHER OF MAYOR OF WANGANUI. The death occurred recently in the Wanganui Hospital of Mr Herbert Steel Elgic, step-brother of the Mayor of Wanganui, Mr W. J. Rogers. The late Mr Elgie, who had suffered a lengthy illness, was 58 years of age. _ 'Mr Elgie was born in Wellington in 1881, and at an early age, with his sister, now Mrs J. Vaughan, of Brockport, New York, he was taken by his mother who had re-married, together with his infant step-brother (Mr Rogers) to England. He was brought up in e village of Worle, Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, England, learning his tiadc as a stone-mason. His father, Mi Thomas Elgie, having been a Yorkshn sea-captain, it was natural that his son should manifest a desire to follow a sea-calling and in 1889 he joined the Navy as a stoker and spent 12 years there. On the Boxer Rising in 1900 HMS Isis, on which vessel he was stationed, was ordered to China and for his part on that occasion he was subsequently awarded the Blue Riband and China Medal. On his retirement from the Navy, he came to New Zealand and followed various callings until the start of the War when he enlisted with the Btn Reinforcement, Engineers’ Section, a Trentham. After some years overseas in war service he was retired as medically unfit. On his return to Masterton after the war he worked with hrs stepbrother, at the Masterton freezing works. Then followed several years in the Hawke’s Bay district where he followed the occupation of an enginedriver at various sawmills until oveitaken by a serious illness which compelled him to enter the Waipukurau Hospital in October of 1937, next the Napier Hospital, and the Wairoa Hospital. He was admitted to the Wanganui Hospital in February last year, and spent over a year there. Mr H. S. Elgie is survived by his mother, Mrs A. E. Curry (now 79 years of age), of Worle, Somerset, England, and his stepfather, Mr S. Curry. Other relatives include Mrs W. Blake, of Masterton, Mrs R. Lyster, of Greytown; and Mr W. Curry, of Eketahuna. The funeral, which was largely attended, took place in Wanganui.