Burgess Hill Road

Burgess Hill Road, between New Plymouth and Egmont Village, was named after a former mayor.

Charles Hayward Burgess was Mayor of New Plymouth from 1915 to 1919, during most of the First World War and the devastating influenza epidemic that followed it. Born in Auckland in 1860, one of nine children, Charles moved to New Plymouth in 1892 and established the importing merchant business of Burgess, Fraser and Co with his friend Murdoch Fraser.

Burgess was a member of many public bodies and organizations including the Chamber of Commerce, Harbour Board and Hospital Board. Elected to the New Plymouth Borough Council in 1903, he went on to win the Mayoralty unopposed in 1915.

Charles married Ann Swinnerton in 1881 but the couple had no children. Ann formed the Women's Patriotic Committee during the war, which presented food parcels to new recruits before they left New Plymouth, and organised the first ANZAC Day reunion in 1918 for ex-service personnel. This annual gathering, held after each year’s parade, quickly grew to accommodate over 1000 people, with the Burgesses paying for the celebrations out of their own pocket.

As members of the War Graves Committee, the couple helped set up the Soldiers' Plot in Te Hēnui cemetery and were both awarded an MBE in 1918 for their patriotic work. In 1931 the Burgesses donated the tea house at Pukekura Park to the city to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary. Five years later they gifted part of what is now Burgess Park.

Charles Burgess died on 14 October 1937 at the age of 77. His obituary in the Daily News paid glowing tribute to his life of service, and mourned “the loss of a faithful friend”. Burgess is buried with his wife in Te Hēnui, in the Soldiers’ Plot the pair helped to create.

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.