Biography

Charles Hardy Bills

Charles was born at Brighton, Sussex, on 14 May 1852, the eldest of 14 children of Richard Hardy Bills and Elizabeth, née Harper. His father was employed by the Otago Acclimatisation Society in 1868 to bring out a shipment of small English birds to Otago. Charles helped to net the birds in London and look after them during the journey to New Zealand on the Warrior Queen. They did this several more times, and also looked after the first shipment of deer to Otago. The family emigrated to Dunedin in 1869. On 27 April 1877 he married Elizabeth Brown, with whom he had seven children.

After their marriage, they set up a bird shop in George Street, and lived above the shop. Charles continued to collect birds for acclimatisation and sale. He then began to weave wire bird cages, and by 1885 was making wire mattresses (the first to be made in New Zealand) and other wire goods. Charles became a successful businessman, but remained best known for his interest in birds. He died on 13 January 1904.

Reference:

— Southern People: A Dictionary of Otago Southland Biography