Charles Alfred St. George Hickson

Mr. Charles Alfred St. George Hickson, Secretary and Deputy Commissioner of Stamps, Registrar of Joint Stock Companies, Secretary for Lands and Deeds, etc., was born at sea in the Irish Channel in 1844.

His father, Captain John Annesley Hickson, who belonged to County Kerry, Ireland, was an officer of the 73rd Regiment, and in 1848 brought out a company of pensioners per ship “Ann,” Captain Walker, to Auckland, and, settling at Otahuhu, he remained until his death in 1858.

Mr. Hickson was educated chiefly by his father, but completed his education at the Auckland Wesley College. On the death of his father, Mr. Hickson removed to Otago, where, until the age of twenty-one, he was engaged in sheepfarming.

In 1865 he entered the service of the General Government as a clerk and interpreter in the Native Department, having learned the Maori language when a boy. For some nine months Mr. Hickson was stationed at Maketu, in the Bay of Plenty, when he was transferred from the Native Department to that of the Treasury at Auckland, and was afterwards employed at the Compensation Court in the Waikato.

On the creation of the Stamp Department in 1867, he was appointed to a clerkship in that department at Napier. Two years later he was transferred to Wellington, where he rose in 1874 to the position of chief clerk and accountant, and in 1890 to his present important office. Socially, as officially, Mr. Hickson has always been active and popular.

Forover a quarter of a century he has been a prominent member of St. Paul's Choir, and for a good part of that time was a leading tenor soloist. He has also taken active interest in the Harmonic and other musical societies of Wellington. In his younger days he was enthusiastic in yachting, boating, and similar pastimes. Two of Mr. Hickson's sons are well known in Wellington banking, insurance, boating and football circles, having risen to positions of importance in those branches.

Ref: http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Cyc01Cycl-t1-body-d3-d15-d14.html

Photo by Wrigglesworth and Binns.