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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Wellington Provincial District]
Mr. L. J. Watkin
Mr. L. J. Watkin is the Headmaster of the Warrengate Public School, as the school at Fordell is called. He was born in New Plymouth, and is the son of the well-known and greatly-respected Rev. W. J. Watkin, whose father was one of New Zealand's earliest missionaries sent out by the Wesleyan Methodist connexion. Mr. Watkin was educated in various parts of the Colony, finishing at the Auckland Grammar School. He is the holder of the certificate known as D3, and had the good fortune to come out at the head of all his examinations. His first appointment as pupil-teacher was at Hunterville, and he was subsequently in the public school at Bulls as pupil-teacher. Several members of the Rev. Mr. Watkin's family have made reputations for themselves in educational matters. The rev. gentleman himself, under all the disadvantages of early colonisation, has ever been to the fore in all scholastic attainments. His son, Mr. L. J. Watkin, the subject of this sketch, is a worthy representative of his father's family, and is exceedingly popular as a schoolmaster. He is continuing his studies, but his inclinations have led him into the department of art, in which he has already made considerable progress, having passed with marked success several of the Kensington examinations in connection with the Technical School. He is studying under the tuition of Mr. David Blair, F.L.S., of Wanganui Technical School, whose qualifications and eminence in this department are proverbial.