James Garland Trevithick

DEATH OF MR. J. G. TREVITHICK. The announcement of the death of Mr. J. G. Trevithick, who has filled the office of drawing-master at Auckland Grammar School for the past twenty-eight years, will be received with general regret. He came of a good old Cornish family, which has made its name in the engineering world. His grandfather was one of the inventors of the steam engine, and his father designed and superintended the building of locomotives for the earlier English and South American railways, and for the Grand Trunk railway of Canada. Mr. Trevithick was a naval architect by profession, and was engaged on the building in England, of the first ships of the North German Lloyd Atlantic service. He came to New Zealand in 1881, and, finding there was little doing here in the way of shipbuilding, he accepted the position of drawing-master on the staff of the Grammar School, which he held till the time of his death. He did not give up the practice of his profession entirely, and many well-known vessels were built from his designs, such as the Harbour Boards first tug Awhina, and the Eagle and Osprey of the Devonport Ferry Company. Mr. Trevithick was a most successful master, and many of his old pupils at the Grammar School, now holding responsible positions as engineers, owe their start to his sound teaching. He was a man of very genial disposition and took a wide interest in things outside his profession. He was formerly a prominent member of the Art Society and took an active interest in promoting the competitions of last year, being a member of the committee of that association. His death has come as a great blow to the masters and boys, both past and present, of the Grammar School, and to his wide circle of friends. Source: Auckland Star (10 March 1911, p. 4).