Harry Edward Williams

Harry Edward Williams was born in New Zealand in 1883. His parents were Henry Edwin Williams and Cecilia Maria Williams (née Hamilton) who married in New Zealand in 1882, but were issued a separation order on 3 October 1906 in the grounds of persistent cruelty by Harry against Cecilia. Harry was the oldest of nine children. In 1907 Harry married Florence Maud Green. On 10 September 1914, Harry was employed on the sulphur mine on Te Puia o Whakaari [White Island] when the south-western crater rim collapsed, causing a lahar (volcanic mudflow) to rush through the crater floor, smashing the workers' huts, the manager's house and other mine buildings and shunting them into the sea. One of five camp cats, 'Peter the Great', was the only survivor. The bodies of the twelve men and other camp cats were never found. The claim of his Harry's wife for compensation, was rejected (New Zealand Herald, 30 September 1915, p. 5 https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19150930.2.16). No memorial or compensation was provided for any of the grieving families and the men were never officially recorded as having died. Biography by Debbie McCauley (17 December 2019).