Milmoe Memorial Fountain (1903)

Plaque inscription:

To the Memory / of / Lawrence Milmoe Esq / by whose generosity / the West Wing, the Nurse's  / Home, and this Fountain / were erected 1903

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Re-erected 1930

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Re-located 2002

Lawrence Milmoe (1824?-1901) was born in Sligo, Ireland. He served with the Taranaki Military Settlers (TMS) and Armed Constabulary in the 1860s (Stowers 2010) and was one of the survivors of the Ngāti Ruanui attack on Turuturu Mōkai in 1868. Milmoe was one of the seven survivors recommended for the New Zealand Cross for their actions at Turuturu Mōkai but none received the award. In 1872 he was granted land in the Pātea District (Hāwera) for his TMS service (Taranaki Govt Gazette XX 8).

In the 1880s Milmoe had a farm, Peach Grove, near Normanby. He later retired to Hāwera to become a successful property owner & developer. He was a member of the Hāwera Road Board and a dedicated supporter of the Catholic church and its convent school. Because of ill-health he had moved to New Plymouth just before his death. 

In his will he left £1625 to the Hāwera Hospital Board for a nurse's home, extension to the wards, a new kitchen, surgical supplies and a memorial to himself. The memorial - a fountain - was selected by the Hāwera Beautifying Society. It cost £130 and was of "pressed bronzed zinc which was fitted [filled?] with concrete." 

The extensions were built and the fountain installed at Hāwera's first hospital in Gladstone Street but the fountain was moved to the forecourt of the Hunter Street site in 1930. It was relocated on its present site at the new hospital in 2002. 

The nurse's home and hospital extensions were opened by Premier, Richard Seddon at Gladstone Street, on 3 February 1904 when he visited the town to open the Hāwera Industrial Exhibition. "Mr Seddon then invited Mrs [Emma] Scott, wife of the Chairman of the Board [John W. Scott], to unveil the fountain....".

Milmoe Street in Hāwera is named after him.

(Two of Milmoe's brothers. Daniel & Patrick, were reported to have been mining multi-millionaires and resident in Mexico. (Hawera & Normanby Star 6 August 1884 & 15 April 1899) 

Note: Lawrence Milmoe's name is sometimes spelled "Laurence".

Related document:

Milmoe Fountain (South Taranaki District Council Heritage Register)