Edward Elworthy was a New Zealand farmer and businessman, and large landowner who at one point was estimated to have been one of the richest men in New Zealand.
15 Facts About Edward Elworthy
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Edward Elworthy was the son of Jane Chorley and her husband, Thomas Elworthy, a woollen mill owner.
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Edward Elworthy moved to Toowoomba, Australia, in 1860, at the age of 24 with the intention of settling in Queensland and making his living as a farmer, but when after several years of trying, this did not work out as planned, he then moved across the Tasman to the Timaru area in the South Island of New Zealand in 1864.
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Elworthy bought a large 42 000 acres sheep run called Pareora, and the main property on this station and the place where Elworthy lived eventually came to be known as Holme Station.
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Edward Elworthy expanded the farm by aggressively acquiring neighbouring properties in the area inland from Timaru, and by 1872 he was running 46,000 sheep on 82,000 acres.
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Edward Elworthy took a leading part in social, public and business matters in South Canterbury, serving at one time or another as chairman of the Waimate County Council and the Timaru Agricultural and Pastoral Association, and as founding director of the South Canterbury Refrigerating Company.
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Edward Elworthy was a member of the South Canterbury Acclimatisation Society and the South Canterbury Athletic Club.
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Edward Elworthy's youngest son, John Churchill Elworthy was a captain in the Royal New Zealand Navy and later a farmer.
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Edward Elworthy was the father of farmer and businessman Sir Peter Elworthy, former National Politician Jonathan Elworthy and writer David Elworthy who wrote a book with his wife about his grandfather, his life, and the life of his many descendants, called Edward's Legacy.
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Percy was the youngest of Edward Elworthy's three sons and he was a farmer.
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Edward Elworthy was the father of Charles, Lord Elworthy who was a senior officer in the Royal Air Force both during and after World War 2.
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Edward Elworthy became Lord Lieutenant of Greater London in 1973.
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One of the great-great-grandsons of Edward Elworthy is Simon Maling, whose mother is an Elworthy and who played 11 tests as a lock for the New Zealand All Blacks in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
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Edward Elworthy suffered from ill health in his later life and he died in 1899, a few days before his 63rd birthday.
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In 2000, Edward Elworthy was posthumously inducted into the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame.