Sporting & General Medals, Badges & Awards - Fire Bri

Lot 1539    SESSION 5 (9.30AM TUESDAY 12TH SEPTEMBER)    Sporting & General Medals, Badges & Awards - Fire Briga

Estimate $600
Bid at live.noble.com.au

NELSON VOLUNTEER FIRE BRIGADE, hand engraved presentation shield in silver (67x50mm), no maker, lug and screw back suspension, inscribed 'Presented To/William Lightfoot/by the Members of the/Nelson Volunteer/Fire Brigade/As a mark of their Appreciation/For services rendered to them/As Captain & Otherwise/During the last/Fourteen Years/1880'. Fine.

From the "Nelson Evening Mail" 3rd February 1890. Courtesy National Library of New Zealand - Papers Past.

OBITUARY - WILLIAM LIGHTFOOT.
"About four o'clock on Saturday afternoon the bell at the Fire Brigade station pealed forth an alarm. Less than an hour later the same bell was solemnly tolling the death knell of the Fire Brigade's Captain, who, in his haste to obey its summons, over exerted himself, and, five minutes after he left his home apparently in robust health, fell dead just as he approached the scene of the fire which he was on his way to subdue. Swiftly the news spread that with awful suddenness William Lightfoot had been, summoned to his last rest, and over the faces of the holiday keepers who were soon wending their way homewards from the festivities in Trafalgar Park, there crept a look of awe as they slowly realised the terrible event by which one of Nelson's best known citizens had been snatched from their midst, and a bright and happy household plunged into a depth of sorrow which it would be profanity for a stranger to attempt to fathom. The details of the tragic occurrence are brief and soon told. In the morning he had been working hard in aiding to beat out a fire which had been started by someone in Toi Toi Valley, and was threatening to do great damage unless extinguished. From there he went home and was resting, when the sound of the fire bell again called him out, the alarm being raised on account of a fire that had been kindled by a lighted match being thrown into the dry grass on the hill at the back of the Botanical Reserve. Slipping on his uniform, he started off at a run, which he appears to have kept up until reaching the junction of Tasman and Manuka Streets, where he hailed a cab, in which he drove to Milton Street at the foot of the hill on which Mr Sharp's house stands. Here the driver chanced to look round and saw Mr Lightfoot apparently in a dead faint. Assistance was summoned, and Mrs Fleming and a constable got into the cab and held him up while others brought water, but it was soon seen that something more serious had occurred than was at first thought, he was driven first to Dr.Hudson's, then to Dr.Laggatt's, then to Dr.Cressey's, but all were found to be away from home. Shortly afterwards Dr. Cressey was met, who at once saw that he was beyond the reach of human aid, and riding on to the house of a friend of Mrs Lightfoot's he told her his sad story, which she broke to the unhappy widow before the cab with its melancholy burden arrived at the house.

It would be difficult to name any man who would be more missed in Nelson than will Mr Lightfoot be, and certainly there was no more familiar face to be seen in the streets. For over fourteen years he has occupied the position of City Surveyor, to which he was appointed on the 3rd September 1875, being selected from ten competitors by the City Council. The gasworks which were created by the Provincial Government, were then under the control of the City Council though they had not actually acquired them by purchase, and the duties undertaken by the deceased comprised the management of all public works in the town, "consisting of gas and waterworks, and the streets and sewers, and the duties include a general supervision over all works and property of the Corporation." Such was the description given in the advertisement calling for applications for the office. In his new capacity Mr Lightfoot displayed a considerable amount of natural ability, for he had had no previous training, having been brought up to the trade of a builder, though for a short time he had occupied the position of Superintendent of Public Works under the Provincial Government. Self taught entirely, it was highly creditable to his perseverance and ability that he should have mastered the details of the various departments over which he was exercising supervision at the time of his death. Repeated proof was afforded of his knowledge of the value of work by the unfailing accuracy of his estimates for contracts for which the Council had invited tenders. Difficult indeed is the task which the Council have to face in providing his successor.

But the deceased was most better known as Captain of the Fire Brigade than as City Surveyor. He had been connected with the Brigade for over 22 years; in 1868 he was appointed Treasurer in the place of his brother in law Mr R. Morton, and in 1873 and every subsequent year he was unanimously elected Captain. In the work of the Brigade he was an enthusiast; in the management of it he proved himself an excellent tactician. In such bodies disagreements and unpleasantnesses must occasionally arise, but in the Nelson Brigade they were never allowed to grow and increase. A kindly word, a judicious remonstrance from their head, whom they all honoured and respected, was quite sufficient, to heal little sores which, if neglected, might have become serious wounds, and to restore amity and good fellowship among the members. He was always ready to lead them in any charitable work, and as for the excellence of the training those under him received at his hands, not a fire that has occurred in Neleon for many years past but has borne witness to it.

The immediate cause of his death was stoppage of the heart's action brought on by over exertion, and we learn from members of the Brigade that they had more than once observed that hurrying to the scene of a fire appeared to be too much for him. Notably was the case on the occasion of the recent fire at the Hall of Commerce, when he was remonstrated with for having run all the way from his house, and begged not to do so again when a fire broke out in a locality where an officer of the Brigade might safely be calculated upon being in attendance in a few minutes after the alarm was raised. However, as we said before, he was an enthusiast, and a strong desire to carry out the work in which he took so deep an interest overmastered every other consideration. When death overtook him it found him in harness, and engaged in the execution of his duty. It may here be mentioned that Mr Lightfoot was one of the earliest Volunteers in the colony, he being one of the first four to be sworn in in Nelson.

Mr Lightfoot married the elder of the two daughters of Mr Joseph Webb, a well known and highly respected old resident of Nelson, and he leaves a family of five, two boys and three girls, the youngest being about four years of age. It is almost superfluous to say that with his widow and fatherless children there is a feeling of deep sympathy, shared in not only by their many personal friends, but by the whole community. It is a strange coincidence that the husband of Mrs Lightfoot's sister, whom Mr Lightfoot succeeded as Treasurer to the Brigade, died as suddenly some years ago as he whose loss so many are mourning to-day, and that, rightly or wrongly, his death was at the time attributed to the effects of his exertions at a fire on the previous day. We understand that Mr Lightfoot's funeral is arranged to take place on Wednesday next, by which time his eldest son will have arrived from Christchurch."