Mr. William George Pring O'Callaghan
, Clerk of the Magistrate's and Warden's Courts, Mining Registrar, and Receiver of Gold Revenue, was born in Mayence, Germany, in September, 1842. He was educated at the Royal Naval School, New-cross, near London, and became a cadet in the Royal Navy in 1855. Mr. O'Callaghan has had an interesting naval and military career, served in the Russian and China wars, and afterwards in the New Zealand Militia during the Maori war. He was on board H.M.S. “Exmouth” in the Baltic at the bombardments of Sveaborg and Narva, and served on the Canton river in H.M.S. “Encounter,” at the taking of the Bogue forts; he was subsequently engaged in the capture of the French folly fort, the destruction of a fleet of junks, the attack on Canton in 1856, and at the final storming and capture of that city in the following year in H.M.S. “Actæon,” when Captain W. T. Bate of that ship was killed. He was present at the attack on the town of Santiang, at which place Captain R. Jenkins, who succeeded Captain Bate, was severely wounded, receiving no fewer than seven bullet wounds. Mr. O'Callaahan was a midshipman on board H.M.S. “Retribution” when she formed one of the squadron which proceeded up the Yangtse Kiang river in 1858, the other ships being H.M.S. “Furious,” with the flag of Lord Elgin, Plenipotentiary Extraordinary, H.M.S. “Cruiser,” and the gunboats “Lee” and “Dove.” The Yangtse Kiang river had been opened to British trade by the treaty of Tientsin, and Lord Elgin determined to prove the bona fides of the Chinese by pushing on to Hankow. At that time Nankin and many other towns on the river were in the hands of the Taeping rebels, and in these places the ships had to fight their way through. Before that time no ship had ever been beyond Nankin. At Nankin the “Retribution” lost one man killed, and had one officer and two men wounded. The expedition arrived safely at Hankow, where it became an object of great interest to the Chinese. After leaving China Mr. O'Callaghan served in H.M.S. “Aboukir,” 91 guns, in the Channel fleet, and H.M.S. “Miranda.” On leaving the Navy in 1863, with the rank of midshipman, he sailed for Auckland in the ship “Queen of Beauty” and joined the Militia, in which he served four years and a half. His first duty was to go to Sydney, New South Wales, to join the New Zealand gunboat “Pioneer,” then fitting out there for service in the Waikato river, as first officer under Captain Breton (late R.N.), and to bring her over to New Zealand. As lieutenant in the Wanganui Rangers, he was present at the occupation of Opotiki (after the murder by Kereopa of the Rev. C. Volkner), the engagement at Kiorikino, and other minor skirmishes, and afterwards saw active service at Patea. On the disbandment of his regiment in 1867, Mr. O'Callaghan engaged in mining on the Thames goldfield, and after two years went to England. On returning in 1870, he joined
the Armed Constabulary, and served a year in the Waikato; he was afterwards for some months a clerk under the Auckland Provincial Government. In September, 1872, Mr. O'Callaghan was appointed clerk of the Magistrate's Court at Papakura, and in June, 1874, was transferred to a similar position at Onehunga. In 1884 the appointment of assistant clerk in the Auckland Court was added to his other duties. In the following year Mr. O'Callaghan was appointed clerk of the Magistrate's Court and deputy registrar of the Supreme Court at Invercargill. In June, 1887, he was transferred to Blenheim in a similar capacity, and also as sheriff, having subsequently to perform as well the duties of registrar of electors, returning officer, and registrar of births, marriages and deaths. In March, 1894, he was appointed sheriff, deputy registrar of the Supreme Court, and clerk of the District and Magistrate's Court at New Plymouth; and received his present appointments in February, 1897. Mr. O'Callaghan holds the Baltic medal, the China medal with Canton clasp, and the New Zealand medal. As a Freemason under the New Zealand Constitution, he was two years Master of Wairau Lodge, and is now a member of Lodge Hiram, Dunedin, and is a Past First Principal of the Otago Chapter No. 7. Mr. O'Callaghan was married, in 1870, to a daughter of Mr. John Kelly, of Mount Eden, Auckland. This lady died in 1883, leaving two sons and one daughter. In 1885 he married a daughter of Mr. J. Wayland, of Onehunga, and one son and one daughter have been born of this union.