James Boucher Winton – erected by his friends and comrades
James was born in 1864 in Greenock, Renfrew, Scotland. He was the youngest child of John Winton and his wife Jane Kerr. His mother died when he was 3 and his father remarried.
He came to New Zealand about 1881, aged 19 and by 1888 he was working on Cuba Street as a crockeryware merchant for “Winton and McLauchlan”. It was here that Terrence Gormley, sometimes cab proprietor, was charged and dismissed with stealing James’ pony harness.
In the 1890 directory, James described himself as an importer. The company opened a second branch on Lambton Quay in 1898.
James was also a member of the Wellington Cycle Corps, one of its “most popular and prominent members”.
He acted as Honourable Secretary of the first ever Wellington Cycle Corps ball in 1899 in the Masonic Hall “The decorations were tasteful and elaborate, conspicuous among them being the crest of the corps, a wheel crossed with arms, while bicycles suspended around the walls of the hall denoted the avocation of the corps” (Evening Post, 27 July 1899)
James died in May 1900. The newspaper reported that he suffered from “an affection of the heart” and that he succumbed to it at his residence on Dixon Street.
James died intestate and his estate comprised £15 cash, two promissory notes of £26-13-4 each, £6 effects and mining shares £13.
He was interred at Karori Cemetery with full military honours. The coffin was carried into the cemetery on a gun carriage attended by a detachment of D Battalion. The First Battalion Wellington Rifles furnished the firing party of 19 men and one sergeant who fired volleys over the grave. The Garrison Band also attended.
Personal friends rallied to organise a headstone for his grave. The Cycle Corps donated £2 to the fund.
