David Proudfoot (1838 – 20 March 1891) was a

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

engineering contractor and company director in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

. He was born in

Musselburgh Musselburgh (; ; ) is the largest settlement in East Lothian, Scotland, on the coast of the Firth of Forth, east of Edinburgh city centre. It had a population of as of . History The name Musselburgh is Old English language, Old English in ...

, or

Gilmerton Gilmerton is a suburb of Edinburgh, about southeast of the city centre. The toponym "Gilmerton" is derived from a combination of – a personal name and later surname meaning "Servant of he VirginMary", from which comes the first element, ...

Midlothian Midlothian (; ) is registration county, lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area and one of 32 council areas of Scotland used for local government. Midlothian lies in the east-central Lowlands, bordering the City of Edinburgh council ar ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, in about 1838 or 1841. He was a Dunedin landowner and contractor and was one of the promoters of the Dunedin Peninsula and Ocean Beach Railway. He owned the horse-drawn trams serving the suburbs of Dunedin and had a "virtual monopoly", until he sold them to the Dunedin City and Suburban Tramway Co. in 1883 for £55,000. He was the brother-in-law of newspaper proprietor Sir George Fenwick, owing to Fenwick's marriage to Proudfoot's sister Jane. In 1883, he left Dunedin and died in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

on 20 March 1891, while undergoing surgery. Reports of his age at death varied between 49 and 61. A cousin said he was 50. His

Waverley Cemetery The Waverley Cemetery is a Heritage register, heritage-listed cemetery on top of the cliffs at Bronte, New South Wales, Bronte in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Opened in 1877 and built by R. Watkins (cemetery lodge, ...

burial record and an inscription on his coffin said he was 49.

References

1838 births 1891 deaths Engineers from Dunedin Businesspeople from Dunedin Scottish emigrants to New Zealand People from Midlothian 19th-century New Zealand engineers {{NewZealand-business-bio-stub Burials at Waverley Cemetery