The father of Hawke's Bay

Of all the pioneers in Hawke’s Bay, William Nelson is probably the least known now, but his legacy is literally everywhere.
From the founding of one of the biggest meatworks, to education and even the geography of the province, William Nelson had a hand in so many things that there is barely a piece of Hawke’s Bay untouched by him.
Born on February 15, 1843, in Warwickshire, England to chemist George Nelson and his wife Sarah. George worked with gelatine and other meat extracts so it was likely this influenced William who got a good education then worked at a tannery, a cement works and the family factory.
In 1863, William and his brother Fred came to New Zealand. After a bit of a tramping holiday they worked on a sheep run then worked for the local militia then a shearing gang.
The brothers bought Poporangi and began developing the land. William took the opportunity to head back to England - where he married his sweetheart Sarah Newcombe Bicknell in Wales before bringing her back with him to Hawke’s Bay.
After a failure in farming William moved his whole family to Mangateretere East where he built a house called The Lawn which ended up flooded then he lost a small fortune with a failed flax crop.
So William took his family back to England for 10 years where he learnt about meat preservation.
On their return in 1880 he, along with brother Fred, established a tallow and canned meat factory at Tomoana. He wanted to try refrigeration but his former business dealing had taught him caution and he let others experiment with the process first.
After the success of the first ship to make a successful run to England with refrigerated goods, he and his partners moved quickly to bring the process to Hawke’s Bay.
The first load of frozen meat from Tomoana left from Port Ahuriri in the Turakina in 1884. The next decade saw the Nelson brother become the biggest thing in frozen meat with William at the helm.
Branches opened in Waipukurau, Gisborne, Woodville and Spring Creek.
William meanwhile began farming again, in part to improve the meat quality of exports. He helped train young men in farm work.
He was a shrewd judge of men, one of his young stockmen was a William Richmond who would later set up his own meat export firm.
William’s first wife died in 1883 and he remarried to Emma Caroline Williams. When she died in 1921 he remarried again a year later to Katharine Maud Orford.
Along with his business works William helped establish Heretaunga School which was later moved to Havelock North and called Hereworth. William then helped build Woodford House.
He was a member of the Hawke’s Bay club, patron of the Hawke’s Bay Cricket Association and the Hastings Horticultural Society and chairman of the Clive River Board
He also sold land to the Hawke’s Bay Agricultural and Pastoral Society which became the Hastings showgrounds.
There are many memorials to and from William - Caroline Rd is named after his second wife - Nelson Street in Hawke’s Bay and in a Nelson Park in both Hastings and Napier. In the park in Hastings stands the statue of William along with his faithful dog Tiddles.
William died on November 16, 1932 and is buried in Havelock North Cemetery.​