Wiliiam Henderson, Mayor of Dannevirke for a single (1893-1894).
Mr William Henderson who was Mayor of Dannevirke in the second year of the borough's existence, was born in Sunderland, Durham, England, in the year 1852, and is a son of Mr. John Henderson, an early colonist, who came to New Zealand by the ship “Evening Star” in 1858. He was educated at Auckland and Otahuhu, and afterwards entered into farming pursuits with his brother, Mr. Matthew Henderson, in the Manawatu district, where they started a sawmill, and after a successful period transferred their interests to Dannevirke. Mr. Henderson subsequently devoted himself once more to farming; but the project for lighting the town of Dannevirke with gas offered at once fresh scope for his energy and capital, and he established the Dannevirke gas works. He was a member of the Road Board, and subsequently of the Town Board, and was placed at the head of the poll at the first election of borough councillors, but resigned his seat on initiating his gas-works enterprise. As a member of the Waipawa Licensing Bench, chairman of the Waipawa School Committee, and president of the Progressive Association. Mr. Henderson rendered useful public service, and, as one of the originators of the Dannevirke tennis and bowling clubs, he earned the thanks of his fellow members by laying out and forming the ground. In 1884 he married the daughter of Mr. Friis, farmer, of Norsewood.
Tararua District Council
