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Charles Elgar (entrepreneur)

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Charles Elgar
Born1855
Died19 April 1930
Featherston, New Zealand
SpouseElla Pharazyn
Children1

Charles Chapman Elgar (1855 – 19 April 1930) was a wealthy New Zealand entrepreneur and the husband of wealthy socialite Ella Elgar (1869–1945).

Biography

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Elgar's former home Fernside Homestead near Featherston in 2015

He was a director of the National Bank of New Zealand and the chairman of the Wellington Meat Export Company, Ltd. He was also a well-known owner of racehorses. He lived at Fernside Homestead, a 1,134-acre estate near Featherston. He also owned Clay Creek Estate outside of Martinborough.[1]

In 1890 he married Ella Pharazyn who had been born into one of the Wairarapa's wealthiest colonial families a family who had built their fortune on sheep farming.[2][3] They had one daughter, Enid Awa Elgar, who married Gilbert Claud Hamilton, the son of Lord Claud Hamilton. His daughter died in 1916 aged 25.[1][4]

Elgar had racehorses and in 1923, his colt Black Ronald won the New Zealand Derby.[1] He also owned Vertigern, whose wins included the 1929 Wellington Cup and the 1930 Awapuni Gold Cup.[1] Elgar died in the luncheon interval at Featherston's Tauherenikau Racecourse on 19 April 1930.[5] His wife, Ella, half-sister of Lieutenant-Colonel Noel Pharazyn, died fifteen years later in her flat in Victoria Street, Christchurch, on 23 August 1945.[6]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Obituary". Manawatu Standard. Vol. L, no. 123. 21 April 1930. p. 6. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
  2. ^ "Married". New Zealand Times. Vol. LI, no. 8935. 11 March 1890. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  3. ^ "Biography of Ella Grace Elgar". Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa Collections online.
  4. ^ "Deaths". The Dominion. Vol. 9, no. 2752. 22 April 1916. p. 1. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
  5. ^ "Obituary: Mr. Charles Elgar". The Evening Post. Vol. CIX, no. 92. 19 April 1930. p. 9.
  6. ^ "Obituary: Mrs Charles Elgar". The Press. Vol. LXXXI, no. 24653. 24 August 1945. p. 2.