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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Wellington Provincial District]
Mr. John Rees George
Mr. John Rees George,
M.I.C.E., J.P., who sat as a Councillor for Te Aro Ward from September, 1874, to September, 1878, was very well known as the engineer and manager of the Wellington Gas Company. Mr. George, who was the son of a London solicitor, was born at Lewisham, Kent. On leaving school he entered the office of a tea merchant in the Metropolis, but that line of life not being to his liking, and, having a taste for mechanical drawing, he found an opening with Kennards, contractors, of Great George Street, Westminster. Being greatly interested in his profession, Mr. George made rapid strides, a fact well proven by his selection for transfer to Portugal before he was twenty years of age, to assist in the construction of a line of railway then in progress by the Kennards. Here he gave his employers such satisfaction that on his return to England they gave him the general management of several important engineering works for the Wellington Provincial Government. This necessitated Mr. George's coming to this Colony. Arriving in 1865, he at once began the first iron extension of the Queen's Wharf, Wellington. His next work of importance was an iron bridge across the Wanganui River. He then laid down the Patent Slip at Evans Bay, and acted as manager to the Slip Company up to his death in June, 1889. Mr. George was one of the prime movers in providing Wellington with gas, and in the establishment of the Gas Company, of which also he was manager till the close of his life. For seven years prior to his death, too, he was managing director of the Wellington Trust and Loan Company. Besides serving the city as a councillor, Mr. George took an active
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part in all matters of public interest, and was deservedly popular. As a prominent member and past President of the Chamber of Commerce he was elected to represent that body on the Harbour Board. The high office of Consul for Portugal was held by Mr.
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George for many years. In Masonry he was prominent, being a “Past Master” of Lodge Waterloo, of which he was one of the founders. Mr. George was apparently in his usual health up to within a few minutes of his death, the suddenness of which at the comparatively early age of forty-nine, was felt by the people of Wellington as a very severe shock. All classes of the community attended the funeral to pay a final tribute of respect to one who had long held a warm place in their hearts. Mr. George married a daughter of the late Hon. John Martin, M.L.C., who is referred to under the heading “Wellington Late Members of the Legislative Council.” His widow and four daughters survived him. The third daughter, however, Miss Madoline George, died a few weeks later from a slight accident, the fatal consequences of which were considered by her medical attendants to be the result, to a very large extent, of the prostration caused by the death of her father, thus adding to the sorrows of her widowed mother and sisters. The late Mr. George's second daughter is married to Mr. A. S. Biss, of the well-known firm of Messrs. Badham and Biss, accountants, of Wellington.