William “Bill” Higgins was born Jan 2 1894 in Mangatainoka, the town in which his mother Bertha’s family eventually settled after fleeing persecution in Prussia (now Poland) in 1875. Bertha married Bill’s father William “Henry” Higgins in 1891 when she was 16. Henry was a 23 year old from Essex in England. Despite having nine children together the marriage was troubled. In 1917 Henry left Bertha for another woman and the marriage was dissolved on the grounds of adultery and desertion in 1921. Henry later became a long term resident at Porirua Mental Asylum and was buried there in 1946.
Bill started his career as a sheep shearer and, prior to the “official” World Records Committee Organisation being established, was considered the World Record holder for sheep shearing in Maxwell Taranaki (King Country). He held the 1900 record and in 1921 established a new record of 372 sheep. Then in 1923 he held a new record again with 406 sheep. During this time he married Mildred Spinley and they eventually moved to Seatoun, Wellington with their four children. From there Bill started in the employ of Dalgety where he was known for being a shearing machine expert and travelling internationally, in particular to South Africa, as a representative selling Wolseley shearing equipment. He also travelled extensively in New Zealand selling Wolseley at agricultural shows while sleeping in the back of his small flatbed truck.
To Quote from the Evening Post Newspaper:-
“The keenest rivalry, however, is generally to be found on the shearing board, where, during a torrid 9-hour working day, sheep after sheep is deprived of its fleece with remarkable speed. Where tallies- of up to 300 per man and over are being made daily every minute counts, and when the breaks for “smoke-ohs,” morning and afternoon tea, and dinner arrive, a keen eye is kept on the watch in order to secure a “catch” before time is up. The fastest man in the shed known’ as the “ringer,” and, with every man in the shed striving to catch him, he has to look to his laurels daily. It was recently reported from Taranaki that a Pihalna farmer, Percy de Malinanche, had established a world’s record by shearing 412 sheep in one 10–hour day, but his performance has been challenged on at least two grounds. In the first place he had an extra hour —which would mean over 40 sheep— and in the second place he had his sheep caught for him, which is an important factor. It is a recognised thing that all attempts on the shearing record shall be made under ordinary working conditions, and although a shearer is entitled to expect his catching pen never to be empty, and to have the wool removed immediately each sheep is finished, it is his 30b to catch his own sheep.
A correspondent (“Just a Shearer”) has written from Breaker Bay referring to both these points in comparing de Malmanche’s performance with that of W. Higgins, who shore 406 sheep in nine hours at Moumahaki in February, 1923. “Should any man come along and catch his own sheep and do 40 or over in the proper shearing time of nine hours, we will acclaim him the world’s record shearer,” continues the correspondent. “Until then there is only one world’s record shearer, and that is the shearer’s mate and friend, Mr.Bill Higgins, who has established three world’s record tallies of 372,353, and 406 sheep in three working days of nine hours. I have known Bill Higgins for many years and have seen him doing 300 sheep day in and day out in that cool manner of his, and then walk from the shed quite unconcerned; so what a wonderful tally he would have had if he had someone to catch his sheep for him!”
The family assumed that “Just a Shearer” was Bill himself.
Bill passed away in 1939 aged only 45 in Karaka Bay as a result of Pernicious Anemia, a condition his daughter Elizabeth attributed to the years of driving and sleeping in his truck. Bill’s collection of shearing equipment and medals was held at a family home in Miramar until it was donated to a museum in the 1970s. He was buried at the Karori Cemetery.
By Sharon Higgins
Plot: *Ch Eng 2/M/386
All photos supplied by the author, except where noted.
