Mr. Elijah Bythell was Mayor of Blenheim during the year 1892–1893, and had, for many years previously, been a member of the Borough Council. He was born in the year 1842, at Heaton-Mersey, near Manchaster, England, where he was educated, and learned the trade of a carpenter and joiner. Mr. Bythell afterwards went to Australia, where he prospected for a few years on the Victorian diggings. He then came to New Zealand, and from that time until his death, in 1894, he spent most of his time in Marlborough. For a long time Mr. Bythell worked for Mr. Caleb Davis, one of the oldest builders in the province; and about 1875, he started on his own aceount as a builder and contractor, and carried on a successful business. He was a member of the Lower Wairau River Board, of which he was for some time chairman; he was also a member of the Borough School committee, and of the Volunteer Fire Brigade, of which he afterwards became captain, and was an enthusiastic volunteer in one of the local military corps. Mr. Bythell died in the year 1894, leaving a widow, three sons, and one daughter.