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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Otago & Southland Provincial Districts]

Mr. Henry Aitken

Mr. Henry Aitken , who was Mayor of Oamaru for four consecutive years, and had been for the previous two years a member of the Council, was born in 1840, in the Shetland Islands, where he was educated and brought up to the building trade. He arrived in Dunedin in 1860, by the ship “Lady Egidia,” and settled in Oamaru three years later. For about five years he was engaged with Messrs Young and Dalgety, and in 1868 he established himself as a timber merchant and commission agent. He conducted a large and successful business in both lines till about 1883, but after a time he confined himself to the shipping trade, and was the Union Steam Ship Company's representative at Oamaru. By virtue of his office as mayor, Mr. Aitken was a member of the Harbour Board, and was at one time chairman of that body. He was a member of the Board of Governors of the Waitaki High Schools, and of the Oamaru Caledonian Society, and as a Freemason under the Scottish Constitution he had passed all the chairs. Mr. Aitken, who was married, in 1863, to a daughter of the late Mr. W. Williamson, of Shetland, died on the 18th of March, 1899, leaving a widow and one son.

The late Mr. H. Autken.

The late Mr. H. Autken.