Biography

ROBERT SPIERS SPARROW

Burial register ID: 8111
Surname: SPARROW
First name: ROBERT
Middle names: SPIERS
Gender: Male
Age: 62 Years
Cause of death: Unknown
Burial type:
Date of death: 06-Oct-1898
Date of burial: 08-Oct-1898

Block: 2
Plot: 20
Inscription:

On the front of the monument:-

SACRED

TO

THE MEMORY OF

WILLIAM ALEXANDER

ELDEST SON OF

ROB & ESTHER SPARROW

BORN 3rd SEPT. 1867

AND DIED UPON HIS

BIRTH DAY 1877

AGED 10 YEARS.

THE BANQUETTING HALL WAS

FILLED WITH MOURNERS.

EVEN SO FATHER FOR IT (SO SEEMS?)

GOOD IN THY SIGHT.

HENDERSON & FERGUS

GEORGE ST.

On the left side of the monument:-

IN

LOVING MEMORY

OF

ROBERT S. SPARROW

BORN 8th AUGUST 1836

DIED 6th OCTOBER 1898

ESTHER,

WIFE OF THE ABOVE.

BORN 8th JAN. 1840

DIED 31st JAN. 1899.

ALSO THEIR SONS, GEORGE

DIED 12th NOV. 1912. AGED 39 YEARS.

WILLIAM SPIERS

DIED 23rd DEC. 1912 AGED 30 YEARS.

AND THEIR DAUGHTER ESTHER

DIED 7th JAN. 1951.

On the back of the monument:-

IN

LOVING MEMORY

OF

AGNES

DIED 28th AUG. 1940.

On the right side of the monument:-

IN

LOVING MEMORY OF

JANET S. MARSHALL

1866 – 1912.

ALSO JANET MARSHALL

MOTHER OF THE ABOVE

1827 – 1913.

Bio contributor: Jill Allport

Robert Sparrow (1836-1898)

Robert Sparrow was a founder of the heavy engineering industry in Otago.

Robert was born on 8th August 1836 at Dumbarton, Kilmarnock, Scotland, the fourth of seven children of William Sparrow, a labourer, and Agnes, née Spiers. At the age of 14 Robert was a stableboy for a wealthy family in Kilmarnock. He may have served an engineering apprenticeship with Denny & Co. in Scotland.

Robert Sparrow arrived at Port Chalmers on 7th May 1862 aboard the Lady Egidia, and started his iron foundry business by 1869. He married Esther Hunter in 1864 and they had seven children (none of whom went on to have children of their own).

The Dunedin Iron Works, Robert’s foundry, was first established in Cumberland Street and then in Willis Street from about 1872. The firm produced bridges, dredges, boilers and ships. Some of the larger ships produced between 1872 and 1892 were the Ben Lomond, Egmont, Jane Douglas, Iron Age, Kakanui and Pioneer. Notable local projects included the Wingatui Viaduct and the Cromwell bridge. Robert’s firm also constructed the first iron railway engine to be built in New Zealand; another project was the well-known Platypus mining submarine. By 1894 the Dunedin Iron Works was sold to Gardner & Co. and the name changed to the Dunedin Foundry.

As well as these professional accomplishments Robert Sparrow belonged to the Otago Early Settlers’ Association, the Otago Institute, and served on the committee for the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition 1889-90. From 1878 until the time of his death Robert was a deacon of Knox Church.

Robert Sparrow died on 6th October 1898 at the age of 62 years. His wife Esther died three months later. They are buried in the family plot with their sons William Alexander, George Hunter and William Spiers Sparrow and their daughters Agnes, Jane Hunter and Esther Sparrow.

Details from:-

Sparrow, Ellon. ‘Sparrow, Robert Spiers (1836-1898)’, Southern People: a Dictionary of Otago Southland, Longacre Press

Papers Past website, Otago Daily Times 3rd March 1894.
Robert Spiers Sparrow
Source: Jill Allport

There are 10 Interments in this grave:

Surname First names Age Date of death Date of burial
MARSHALL JANET 86 Years 03-Sep-1913 05-Sep-1913
MARSHALL JANET SHAW 45 Years 05-May-1912 06-May-1912
SPARROW AGNES 69 Years 28-Aug-1940 29-Aug-1940
SPARROW ESTHER 73 Years 07-Jan-1951 09-Jan-1951
SPARROW ESTHER 59 Years 01-Feb-1899 02-Feb-1899
SPARROW GEORGE HUNTER 40 Years 12-Nov-1912 14-Nov-1912
SPARROW JANE HUNTER 80 Years 30-Aug-1946 02-Sep-1946
SPARROW ROBERT SPIERS 62 Years 06-Oct-1898 08-Oct-1898
SPARROW WILLIAM ALEXANDER 10 Years 03-Sep-1877 04-Sep-1877
SPARROW WILLIAM SPIERS 29 Years 23-Dec-1912 25-Dec-1912