Charles Stuart Curtis (15 December 1850 – 4 April 1923) was a storekeeper and local politician in

Taranaki Taranaki is a regions of New Zealand, region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano Mount Taranaki, Taranaki Maunga, formerly known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the ...

, New Zealand, and played a leading role in the development of the town of Stratford.

Biography

Family background

Charles Stuart Curtis was born to George Curtis and Eliza Curtis (née Newsham) in

Omata Omata is a locality in Taranaki, in the western North Island of New Zealand. It is located on State Highway 45 just southwest of New Plymouth. Omata and Western New Plymouth are adjacent to the Tapuae Marine Reserve. The area was the site of ...

, Taranaki, on 15 December 1850. His parents and siblings had emigrated to New Zealand from London earlier that same year. Arriving at

Port Nicholson A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manche ...

, his father had walked overland from Wellington to

New Plymouth New Plymouth () is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, in Devon, from where the first English settlers to New Plymouth migrated. The New Pl ...

, and made preparations for his family, who arrived there on 7 February 1850. They took up a farm in the new settlement of Omata, and George also became the senior partner of Curtis and Watt, a

wholesale Wholesaling or distributing is the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers; to industrial, commercial, institutional or other professional business users; or to other wholesalers (wholesale businesses) and related subordinated services. In ...

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in goods produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Merchants have been known for as long as humans have engaged in trade and commerce. Merchants and merchant networks operated i ...

and agent of Lloyd's in New Plymouth.

First Taranaki War

War broke out between settlers and

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

in 1860, and as a result Eliza and the children moved to New Plymouth. George remained at the Omata stockade, but after seeing his home burned to the ground, and to avoid the

epidemics An epidemic (from Ancient Greek, Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of Host (biology), hosts in a given population within a short period of time. For example ...

plaguing the crowded town of New Plymouth, the Curtis family evacuated to

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

. They remained there until the hostilities ceased in 1861, then returned to their land at Omata.

Business

George Curtis became a prominent leader in

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

matters in the province of Taranaki, representing Omata on the

Taranaki Provincial Council The Taranaki Province was a province of New Zealand from 1853 until the abolition of provincial government in 1876. Initially known as New Plymouth Province, the province was renamed on 1 January 1859 as the Taranaki Province. Area With an area ...

. Charles worked with his father in their Omata store, and quickly picked up the same business acumen which proved invaluable to his own commercial ventures in the new settlement of Stratford.

Pioneers at Stratford

In October 1878 Charles and his brother Herbert erected the first permanent building in the newly opened bush settlement of Stratford, a site for which the first sections had been sold in August of that year. Herbert and another brother George ran a

butcher A butcher is a person who may Animal slaughter, slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat, or participate within any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat and poultry for sale in retail or wholesale ...

y in the nearby settlement of

Inglewood Inglewood may refer to: Places Australia *Inglewood, Queensland * Shire of Inglewood, Queensland, a former local government area *Inglewood, South Australia *Inglewood, Victoria *Inglewood, Western Australia Canada * Inglewood, Ontario *Inglewoo ...

, and together with Charles he established a similar operation at Stratford in conjunction with yet another brother, Oswald. The business operated as a butchery, a merchant store, and also a

bakery A bakery is an establishment that produces and sells flour-based baked goods made in an oven such as bread, cookies, cakes, doughnuts, bagels, Pastry, pastries, and pies. Some retail bakeries are also categorized as Coffeehouse, cafés, servi ...

, and due to its quick growth the Curtis Brothers replaced their temporary premises with a two-storey building and bakehouse in January 1879. The store also provided postal services for the town until a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

was erected in 1880. On 3 April 1880, Curtis married Emma Clara Low at Omata Church. Together they had two children; Minnie and Henry. Curtis was a member of the

Town Board A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counci ...

from its inception in 1882, and in 1885 was elected

chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

, replacing his brother George who had been the inaugural chairman from 1882. Charles continued as Town Board chairman, or

Town Clerk A clerk (pronounced "clark" /klɑːk/ in British and Australian English) is a senior official of many municipal governments in the English-speaking world. In some communities, including most in the United States, the position is elected, but in ma ...

, until 1890. A private development of Curtistown was named for the family, as was a street in this development. The streets of Curtistown remained in private ownership until 1899. Curtis also made a name for himself as he and his brothers explored the eastern slopes of

Mount Taranaki/Egmont Mount Taranaki (), officially Taranaki Maunga and also known as Mount Egmont, is a dormant stratovolcano in the Taranaki region on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island. At , it is the second highest mountain in the North Island, afte ...

and cut the original track on that face. With T. H. Penn and Frank Arden he completed the first recorded alpine circuit of the mountain over Christmas 1888, during which they named an eastern

ridge A ridge is a long, narrow, elevated geomorphologic landform, structural feature, or a combination of both separated from the surrounding terrain by steep sides. The sides of a ridge slope away from a narrow top, the crest or ridgecrest, wi ...

and a Manganui River

waterfall A waterfall is any point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in seve ...

after Curtis. Charles' wife Emma was also a mountaineer, and was the first woman known to reach the summit by the Stratford Road track. Curtis was also a founding member of the Stratford

Bowling Bowling is a Throwing sports#Target sports, target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a bowling ball, ball toward Bowling pin, pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). Most references to ''bowling'' are ...

Club. Curtis and his wife eventually retired to New Plymouth. He died on 4 April 1923, aged 72.

References