Percy, Arthur Welch

Birth Details
1865/5762 Arthur Welch Percy - no parents listed

Wellington Independent 14 January 1865
PERCY.- On the 9th January, at the Korokoro, the wife of Mr. Joseph Percy, of a son

Death Details
1939/32774, Arthur Welch Percy, Aged: 73Y

Hutt Valley Cemetery Records Arthur Welch Percy, Date: 8 Jan 1939, Christ Church Anglican, Taita, Monumental Inscription Record, Reference: 80

Evening Post 9 January 1939
PERCY.- On January 7, 1939, at Lower Hutt, Arthur Welch Percy, of Mill Road, Petone; aged 75 years.
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FUNERAL NOTICE
PERCY.- The Friends of the late Arthur Welch Percy are respectfully invited to attend his Funeral, which will leave the Chapel of J. R. Croft, Ltd., King''s Crescent, Lower Hutt, Tomorrow (Tuesday), January 10, 1939, at 2 p.m., for the Taita Churchyard Cemetery. J. R. Croft, Ltd., Funeral Directors, Hutt and Petone. Tels. 63-828 and 60-531

Evening Post 12 January 1939
MR. A. W. PERCY
The last member of the third generation of the Petone pioneer family of Percys, Mr. Arthur Welch Percy, died at his home on the western hills of Petone on Sunday, at the age of 75.
The Percy family was one of the first to settle in the Hutt Valley and for many years the Percys were among the foremost of the builders and contractors in the district. Among their many contracts was one for building one of the first bridges to span the Hutt River, near the site of the present Lower Hutt bridge. They also owned one of the first, flour mills in the valley; the building still stands at the end of Mill Road, Petone.
The late Mr. Arthur Percy and his brothers took a keen interest in native flora and it was largely owing to the initiative of Mr. Joseph Percy that the present law protecting native flora was passed. It was the desire of the brothers to have on their extensive property a specimen of every known native plant and the collection they made is extremely valuable: and forms; a beauty spot on the border, of Petone and Lower Hutt.
The late Mr. A. W. Percy, who never married, was a keen cricketer in his younger days and was a "googly" bowler of great merit. He was also an expert fisherman. He did many oil paintings on canvas and on glass, preparing his own canvas and colours after the manner of the old masters. Some of these paintings were of rare merit. He made, a violin which in its way was a work of art, being entirely composed of native timbers and of excellent tone. In his later years he was interested in botanical and horticultural research, producing many beautiful and rare hybrids, his Ligridium crosses being outstanding. He propagated many native mistletoes of at least four kinds, considered to be a very difficult feat. Along with his brothers he planted and cultivated the well-known Percy Gardens, which are of great scenic beauty and contain, besides a lake and a cave, many rare and beautiful plants.
The late Mr. Percy''s father, Mr. Joseph Hewlett Percy, planted an acorn on the bank of the Hutt River in 1843, and then transplanted it to the Percy homestead near where the ramp now is, and where it grew to a tree of 60 feet spread. It was cut down in 1926 and the stump removed and left above ground for three months exposed to all weathers. It was again planted in front of the old mill at the end of Mill Road, where it has grown to a height of 15 feet; or more. The old mill, the first wheat mill in the Hutt Valley, was built in 1851 and operated by the family. It has never had a coat of paint and the weatherboards are still sound.

Evening Post 14 January 1939
PUBLIC TRUST OFFICE
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
NOTICE is hereby given that all creditors and others having claims against the undermentioned estates are required to lodge such claims at the Public Trust Office at Wellington on or before the 15th day of February, 1939. Any claim not lodged by the date names is liable to exclusion. The claims must show full details, and must be certified as follows:-
"I hereby certify that the amount of this claim was due and owing at the date of death of the deceased."
ESTATES
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PERCY, Arthur Welch, late of Wellington, Retired Builder; died 8/1/39
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