William Daldy

Daldy was born on 20 April 1816 in Rainham,[1] Essex, England.[2] He started going to sea aged 16 on the Mayflower, a ship belonging to his father Samuel Rootsey Daldy,[3] an Ilford coal merchant.[4] His seafaring first brought him to Auckland in July 1841.[5]

On 10 December 1840 he sailed from Liverpool in his schooner Shamrock, arriving in Auckland in July 1841, but remained a seafarer. In 1847 he started timber milling near Auckland. From 1849 he was a partner in the shipping firm Combes and Daldy.[5] He was a shareholder of Auckland Timber Co and his son, W C Daldy Jr., was its secretary.[6]

In April 1864 the Daldy family sailed to London[7] and in 1865 he became the English agent for the Province.[5] They returned on Combes and Daldy's ship, Queen of the North, in 1866.[8] Walter Combes died in 1870.[9]

Captain Daldy was the first chairman of the Auckland Harbour Board from 1871.[10] He was also a Justice of the Peace, Auckland Chamber of Commerce council member, Bank of New Zealand auditor, Auckland City Council member, New Zealand Insurance Co. director and volunteer fire brigade captain.[5]

On 22 April 1841 Daldy married Frances Harriet Pulham, in Launceston.[11] She died on 3 December 1877.[12] They had 4 children, Frances Catherine Wrigley (25 April 1842[1]-19 June 1879),[13] Maryanne Maria Mee Davies (7 August 1848 – 24 June 1926),[14] Edith Crush Daldy (1850[1]-6 February 1924)[15] and William Crush Daldy Jr (14 February 1852[1]-1934).[16]

William married Amey, née Hamerton, on 17 March 1880. Amey was president of Auckland branch of the Women's Franchise League and of the National Council of Women, and William gave a speech saying, "that men were cowards for not extending the franchise to women". Amey died in 1920.[17]

Daldy died in Ponsonby, Auckland, on 5 October 1903.[5] He had been in poor health for some time, before succumbing to pleurisy and dying of heart failure.[18] He was buried at Purewa Cemetery.[19]

He represented the City of Auckland electorate in the 2nd New Zealand Parliament from 1855 to 1860, when he was defeated. He did not serve in any subsequent Parliaments. He was a minister without portfolio in the government of William Fox, and was also a member of the Auckland Provincial Council[20] in 1857 and from 1861 to 1864. During the invasion of the Waikato in 1863 he was a senior captain of the Auckland Naval Volunteers.[21]

• William C Daldy, a historical Auckland steam tugboat named after him