Sir William Chronology
1899 |
Charles William Fielden (Bill) Hamilton is born on July 26 at Ashwick Station, South Canterbury, New Zealand. Son of William Fielden Hamilton and Cora Blakeney (nee Cannon), half-brother to Cyril Blackeney, brother to Leila and Catherine (Kitty) Hamilton. |
1906 -1916 |
Bill Hamilton attends Waihi School, then Christ's College in Christchurch |
1912 |
Ashwick Station is subdivided and sold off. 820 acres were retained around the original homestead. |
1916 |
Cyril Blackeney, who had been managing Ashwick Station, was killed in action in August. Bill left his schooling at Christ's College tomanage Ashwick. |
1921 |
Bill Hamilton buys Irishman Creek Station in Central Otago for 16,000 pounds. |
1923 |
Bill and his parents travel to England. Here he buys an Isle of Man Sunbeam motorcar, and meets Peggy Wills, who he marries in October 1923. They return together to New Zealand. |
1924 |
Builds his first workshop at Irishman Creek, and buys his first lathe. |
1925 |
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1926 |
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1928 - 1935 |
During the Depression Bill takes on contracting work to help pay off his debts. Through this work he designs a number of machines, including a shingle loader, a water sprinkler, a hay lift, an air compressor and an air conditioning plant. |
1930 |
Bill Hamilton enters a Bentley in three races at the Brooklands Easter Meeting in England, and creates a stir by winning them all. |
1939 - 1943 |
Irishman Creek workshop expanded to produce munitions for the War effort while continuing to manufacture some earthmoving equipment. |
1943 |
Designs and builds a loader-dozer, hydraulic pumps and an excavator. |
1945 |
Opens an engineering business in Christchurch, New Zealand. |
1947 |
Helped design and build the first rope ski tow in New Zealand. |
1951 |
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1954 |
![]() Bill hires engineer George Davison to work with him to produce a more efficient jet unit design. With this added expertise Bill's team makes rapid advances in waterjet propulsion systems. |
1959 |
Bill and Peggy travel to the US, there to make the first upstream passage of a 160km stretch of the Colorado River running through the Grand Canyon. |
1960 |
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1961 |
William Hamilton is named on the Queen's Honours list with an Order of the British Empire (OBE). Its citation read: "For very valuable service in the field of engineering and especially in the design and construction of the jet-propelled motorboat." |
1965 |
Bill retires from the company. |
1974 |
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1978 |
On March 30, 1978, Sir Charles William Fielden (Bill) Hamilton dies at the age of 78. |
1990 |
Sir William Hamilton is inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame. |
2004 |
Sir William Hamilton is inducted into the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame. |