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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Auckland Provincial District]

Mr. William Seagar

Mr. William Seagar, father of Messrs Seagar Brothers, Engineers, Auckland, was born at Portsmouth, England, in 1831. At the age of fifteen he was apprenticed to the SouthWestern Company, Engineers and Ironship Builders, Southampton. He remained in that employment for nine years, when he received an appointment with the Great Eastern Railway Company, and held it for several years. His ability as an engineer was so well recognised that he was requested to take charge of the contract for building the celebrated Albert Bridge at Saltash, Cornwall. Larger bridges have since then been constructed, but the Albert Bridge is still a monument to Mr. Seagar's skill. Mr. Seagar was afterwards engaged in several large ship-building and other contracts. In 1864, at the request of his brother, Mr. Charles Seagar, so well-known in Wellington, he came to New Zealand, accompanied by his family; and after remaining in Wellington for a few years, where he established a boiler-making factory, he removed to the Thames goldfields, where he started boiler-making. He was the first to establish that business at the Thames, where he remained for twelve years. Mr. Seagar then removed to Auckland, where he founded the extensive business now so successfully carried on by his sons.