Business and Commerce

The following people, from across the fields of business and commerce, were passengers on the SS Wimmera:

Louis Edward Walker (representative, Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company) – January 1906
Montague Cohen (businessman/lawyer) – February 1907
William Callender (General Manager, Bank of New Zealand) – November 1907
Alexander McCracken (brewer/businessman) – February 1908
(Sir) James Hugh Buchanan Coates (General Manager, National Bank of New Zealand) – December 1909 / January 1910
Rt Hon George William Palmer (UK biscuit manufacture/politician) – January 1911
James Alfred Court (merchant/draper) – July 1911
William Mervielle de Jersey Vautier (merchant/grocer) – September 1911
Sir Stanley Bois (Ceylon businessman/politician) – October 1911
Halfdan Wilhelmsen (Norwegian shipowner) – March 1912
Percy Cornwell (pottery manufacturer/motoring & motor boat enthusiast) – May / June 1913
William Lawrence Baillieu (businessman/politician) – February 1916

© Ralph L. Sanderson 2004-2021

Alexander McCracken

Alexander McCracken was the founding secretary of the Essendon Football Club, the founding president of the Victorian Football League (now the AFL), Chairman of the Royal Agricultural Society and a partner in the McCracken Brewery. He was a prominent Melbourne businessman. On 2 February 1908, following a holiday in New Zealand, he boarded the ss…

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James Alfred Court

James Alfred Court was a son of George Court, the founder of “George Court and Sons Ltd,” whose drapery business was established in Karangahape Road, Auckland. J. A. Court was a passenger aboard the Wimmera on its departure from Auckland on Monday 10 July 1911. He was bound for Sydney before travelling on to Melbourne…

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William Mervielle de Jersey Vautier

Gisborne shopkeeper and grocer William Mervielle de Jersey Vautier and Grace Mabel Evans were married on Wednesday 6 September 1911 at “Oakleigh,” Whataupoko, New Zealand by the Rev. William Grant. On that same day the couple departed Gisborne for Auckland [on their honeymoon] aboard the ss Monowai. On Tuesday 19 September 1911 Mr and Mrs…

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William Callender

William Callender, the General Manager of the Bank of New Zealand, left Wellington for Sydney aboard the Union Steamship Co’s steamer Maheno on 25 October 1907. He arrived in the New South Wales capital on 29 October. He departed Sydney aboard the ss Wimmera just over three weeks later on Saturday 16 November. The ship…

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