Ogle Street (Waitara)

Ogle Street in Waitara is named after Arthur Wilding Ogle.

Born in Lancashire, England, Arthur Ogle settled in Waitara, opening a pharmacy in Queen Street in 1883. He married Emily Cameron in 1896.

Ogle quickly became very prominent in town affairs. As an active sportsman, he played cricket for the Waitara club and Taranaki. He was also a member of the town’s athletics, tennis, bowls and horse racing clubs. He held administrative positions in all these sports. His most significant and on-going involvement was with the Clifton Rowing Club. One of the founding members, he served on the management committee for many years.

As well as operating a successful pharmacy, he was prominent in various other business activities in the town. Ogle owned several commercial and residential properties in Waitara. He was a ship-owner, transporting coal from Mokau and leasing vessels to businesses that transported goods along the west coast of the North Island. He became a long-serving member of the Waitara Harbour Board. He was a Justice of the Peace.

In September 1904, Ogle was elected Waitara’s first mayor and served two terms. In the 1920s he was the town’s deputy mayor. He and Emily owned a notable house in Waitara and organisations sometimes used the property to host garden parties.

His business activities weren’t without difficulties. Several commercial buildings were destroyed by fires and had to be rebuilt. Two ships he owned capsized near the mouth of the Waitara River, one with the loss of two men’s lives.

Involved in several car accidents, the final and worst one was in 1926. Travelling up Mt Messenger, Ogle went too wide on the second bend and slid off the road, falling about ten metres down a bank. The car rolled and, in the days of no seat belts, Emily was thrown from the car and crushed under it. She died almost instantly.

Friends of Arthur Ogle said he never really recovered from the effects of that accident. Later he moved to Cambridge for health reasons and to be nearer family, but died not long after, in September 1929.

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.

Related items:

Taranaki SO1152 Sheet 3 (1899) Town of Waitara West, ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)

Taranaki DEED11 Sheet 1, ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)