Biography

Louis Mortimer Godfrey c1860 – 1910

Louis Mortimer Godfrey and his two brothers came to Dunedin with their father John Louis Godfrey, a master craftsman who had distinguished himself in carving in London, in the early 1870s. The sons had followed the trade of their father. Probably William Larnach brought out these tradesmen, as he did with others, to work on his castle for twelve years, and they were responsible for much of the wood and stone carving. Although unaccustomed to carving in Oamaru stone, the Godfreys were not long in Dunedin before they were exhibiting very fine carvings of floral and animal life in the North Otago stone. With the completion of the contract at Larnach Castle, the Godfrey family remained in Dunedin working on other buildings in the city. Louis M. Godfrey was employed at St Joseph’s Catholic Cathedral to help with the stone sculptures around the cathedral. However, he found little work after this because of the economic depression in the 1880s and died at the age of 50 as a pauper. He had married Amelia Bassett in 1887 and they had two
daughters.