fielding

William Fielding (ca 1875-1946)

William Fielding was born in Lancashire, England around 1875 and began his architectural career with a firm in Manchester. He later became a junior partner there. In 1900 he married Lily Midgley and their daughter May was born in 1904. About 1908 the family migrated to Wellington, and they lived in Matai Rd for many years. A son named Robert was born in 1921.

Mr Fielding was the architect for several prominent buildings in Wellington including the Congregational Church in Cambridge Tce (1916), the Evening Post building in Willis St (1927), and the Methodist Church in Waitoa Rd (1928). He was for a time chairman of the Wellington branch of the New Zealand Institute of Architects, and in his private life was a member of the Hataitai Bowling Club and the Hataitai Municipal Electors' Association. William was a member of the choir at the Congregational Church, and his funeral took place there in July 1946. Lily died in 1951 and their son Robert died at sea during a yacht race only two weeks after his mother.

Sources: Evening Post, 26 and 29 July 1946; other sources.