Charles Hayward Burgess MBE

Established with Murdoch Fraser the wholesale warehouse business of Burgess, Fraser and Co. 1892.

Member of many public bodies and organizations including the Taranaki Chamber of Commerce and member and later chairman of the Taranaki Hospital Board. Elected member of the New Plymouth Borough Council 1903 and became Mayor, a position occupied during the First World War. A keen interest in the welfare of returned soldiers saw him awarded an M.B.E. in 1918.

In 1936 the Burgesses gifted their home 'Hapurunui' to the Borough now known as Burgess Park and also gave the funds for a tea-house at Pukekura Park.

Married Ann Swinnerton in 1881. They had no children.

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19371015.2.125?item...

MR. C. H. BURGESS DEATH IN NEW PLYMOUTH MANY PUBLIC BENEFACTIONS [by telegraph—own correspondent] NEW PLYMOUTH, Thursday One of Taranaki's best-known public men, and a noted benefactor of New Plymouth, Mr. Charles Hayward Burgess, died at New Plymouth this morning, aged 77. A son of Captain I. J. Burgess, first harbour master at Auckland, Mr. Burgess was born in 1860 and received his education at the Auckland Grammar School. He began his commercial career at the age of 14 with the firm of Owen and Graham, Auckland. This firm was one of the earliest Auckland business concerns and was chiefly concerned in trading in the South Pacific. With the late Mr. Murdoch Fraser, Mr. Burgess set up the first wholesale house in Taranaki in 1892. He played an important part in civic affairs at New Plymouth, sitting on the Borough Council, the Taranaki Hospital Board and the Taranaki Harbour Board. He was elected Mayor in 1915 and continued in office until October, 1919.

The great generosity of Mr. and Mrs. Burgess to New Plymouth reached its climax last year when in commemoration of the diamond jubilee of the borough they gave their beautiful home, "Hapuranui," at the Meeting of the Waters. It has since been renamed Burgess Park in their honour. Another notable gift was the kiosk in Pukekura Park, which they erected, furnished and fitted themselves. The children's playground at Wallace Place, is another of the amenities which New Plymouth owes to them. As Mayor and Mayoress in the war years, Mr. and Mrs. Burgess led the patriotic work of New Plymouth, and when the soldiers returned they continued their practical interest and sympathy. Every Anzac Day they entertained returned soldiers, and these reunions have become something unique in the memory of the men who have attended. The Cross of Sacrifice in the Te Henui Cemetery was presented by Mr. and Mrs. Burgess in memory of the men who fell. For his social and patriotic services, Mr. Burgess was created a member of the Order of the British Empire in 1918. Mr. Burgess is survived by his widow and two sisters, Miss K. Burgess and Mrs. G. Reid, of Auckland, and a brother, Mr. G. A. Burgess, of Hawera.