Captain Henry Cain (1816 – 29 January 1886) was the second Mayor of Timaru. He was at sea from age 13 and was one of Timaru's first settlers, where he lived for his last 30 years.

Life

Cain was born in 1816 in England. He went to sea at the age of 13 and traded between

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 ...

in Australia, the

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, China, and

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

in New Zealand. In circa 1850, he owned a bar in

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, California. In the following year, he traded with his 150-ton

schooner A schooner ( ) is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel defined by its Rig (sailing), rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more Mast (sailing), masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than t ...

''Pauline'' in New Zealand, and his first consignment was kauri pine that he sold to Henry Le Cren of Lyttelton. The ''Pauline'' was lost during a June 1851 storm in

Lyttelton Harbour Lyttelton Harbour / Whakaraupō is a major inlet on the northwest side of Banks Peninsula, on the coast of Canterbury, New Zealand, Canterbury, New Zealand; the other major inlet is Akaroa Harbour, which enters from the southern side of the ...

that claimed a total of five vessels, and he bought the vessel ''Kaka'' to transport goods between Lyttelton and the

Ferrymead Ferrymead is a suburb south-east of Christchurch, New Zealand. It is the main thoroughfare for reaching the eastern sea suburbs such as Sumner, as well as home to a number of cliff-top residences and businesses along the estuary front. After ...

wharf on the Ōpāwaho / Heathcote River for

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

under contract for Le Cren and his business partner, Joseph Longden. In 1852, he supplied diggers in the

Victorian gold rush The Victorian gold rush was a period in the history of Victoria, Australia, approximately between 1851 and the late 1860s. It led to a period of extreme prosperity for the Australian colony and an influx of population growth and financial capi ...

with the ''Fly'' that he bought from

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

. After that, he owned ''The Ocean'' and traded with Auckland. In 1857, he was asked by Le Cren to set up a trading post in

Timaru Timaru (; ) is a port city in the southern Canterbury Region of New Zealand, located southwest of Christchurch and about northeast of Dunedin on the eastern Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast of the South Island. The Timaru urban area is home to peo ...

, then merely a sheep station owned by George Rhodes. By the following year, Cain had become established in Timaru, was managing the landing station (there was no deep water in the port at that time), and Le Cren himself moved to Timaru and built a homestead for his family. Cain was poisoned by his son-in-law, Thomas Hall, and died on 29 January 1886. His wife had died on 26 July 1878.

Legacy

A statue of Captain Cain is placed in front of the Landing Service Building. Cain was one of the owners of that building; it is registered by

Heritage New Zealand Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (initially the National Historic Places Trust and then, from 1963 to 2014, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust; in ) is a Crown entity that advocates for the protection of Archaeology of New Zealand, ancest ...

as a Category I heritage structure. ''

The Timaru Herald ''The Timaru Herald'' is a daily provincial newspaper serving the Timaru, South Canterbury and North Otago districts of New Zealand. The current audited daily circulation is about 14,500 copies, with a readership of about 31,000 people. The pa ...

'' reported on Cain from "their archives" as part of the 150th anniversary of their first publication in 1864.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cain, Henry 1816 births 1886 deaths Deaths by poisoning Mayors of Timaru 19th-century New Zealand politicians