Abraham Wachner
Abraham (Abie) Wachner | |
|---|---|
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| 35th Mayor of Invercargill | |
| In office 1942–1950 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 15 August 1892 London, England |
| Died | 23 August 1950 (aged 58) Dunedin, New Zealand |
| Resting place | Eastern Cemetery, Invercargill |
| Spouse | Mabel Christina Rice |
| Children | 2 |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  New Zealand |
| Branch/service | New Zealand Army |
| Years of service | 1914–1915 |
| Battles/wars | World War I, World War II |
Abraham (Abie) Wachner OBE (15 August 1892 – 23 August 1950) was the 35th Mayor of Invercargill from 1942 to 1950. He was awarded the OBE in 1946.
Early life[edit]
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He was born in London; his father was a furniture manufacturer of Polish-Jewish ancestry. His family moved to Australia when he was three months old and to New Zealand when he was 15. He was in the NZEF in Egypt and Gallipoli; a bugler in the field ambulance in Egypt, then he was a stretcher-bearer at Gallipoli and was invalided home after an injury at Walker's Ridge. He worked at a Greymouth drapers, then moved to Invercargill about 1919, where he worked in a footwear shop then started his own footwear shop. He was known to give shoes to those in need, and to fire them down stairs to those he did not like; he had fits of temper partly attributable to his war injury. He served in the Military Reserve and Home Guard in World War II.
Political career[edit]
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He was elected to the Invercargill City Council in 1938, becoming deputy mayor in 1941 and mayor in June 1942 after the previous mayor resigned through illness. He was a colourful and enthusiastic mayor, promoting Invercargill as the Auckland of the South, developing Oreti for recreation and securing the first air service to the city.
Personal life and death[edit]
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He married Mabel Rice (who he had met while in Greymouth) in 1922. They had two children. He died in Dunedin aged 58 after a short illness while waiting for an operation. He is buried in the Eastern Cemetery, Invercargill.
References[edit]
- Thomson, Jane, ed. (1998). Southern People: a dictionary of Otago Southland biography. Dunedin: Longacre Press. p. 529. ISBN 1-877135-11-9.
- Abraham Wachner No 3/181 WWI NZEF Military Personnel Record (online)
- 1892 births
- 1950 deaths
- 20th-century New Zealand politicians
- Burials at Eastern Cemetery, Invercargill
- Deputy mayors of Invercargill
- British emigrants to New Zealand
- Invercargill City Councillors
- Mayors of Invercargill
- New Zealand people of Polish-Jewish descent
- 20th-century New Zealand businesspeople
- New Zealand military personnel of World War II
- New Zealand military personnel of World War I
- New Zealand businesspeople in retailing
- New Zealand Officers of the Order of the British Empire