Pretty obvious, eh? A knighthood. Seems a good offer, as writing about the doings of the country’s leader is not a pleasant task so I can turn to something more cheerful and still get the knighthood.
"Sir Jim, for services to —". Um, not sure what they’ll put there. "Humanity" might cover it.
Naturally, I’ll be something of a local hero. In South Canterbury it’ll be "Timaru Boy Knighted" and in Dunedin "Otago Man Gets Gong". In places where I lived briefly (and unwillingly) the local media will make do with "the new knight spent two years in Palmerston North in the 1970s", "Sir Jim lived in Christchurch during 1967" or "Newest Knight Spent Time In Wellington".
In Patearoa the best I can hope for is, "Yeah, well you better shout."
I was led to thinking about this "local man does well" business by an item in the ODT "100 Years Ago" column.
In August 1924 the newspaper told its readers that "Mr H.F. Parker, formerly of Dunedin, designed the water recovery apparatus installed on one of the engines of the United States naval dirigible Shenandoah.
Of course, in Christchurch he became a local hero having "studied under the direction of Prof J. B. Scott, of the Canterbury College School of Engineering".
As the result of Parker’s research helium instead of hydrogen was used for inflating airships and Shenandoah had been the first rigid airship to be inflated with helium and the first to fly across the United States.
Parker also discovered water-recovery apparatus to keep airships at a constant weight, and do away with allowing valuable gases to escape.
Luckily, Parker was not on board the when Shenandoah crashed in September 1925 and 14 crew members were killed.
I thought I knew about all Dunedin’s famous people (especially as I am about to become one of them) but I’d never heard of "H.F. Parker". Some research was required.
Humphrey was a brilliant student and in 1907 won a scholarship which took him to Nelson College where, once again, he excelled. From 1913 to 1915 he studied engineering at Canterbury College until in August 1915 he left for England with the intention of joining the Royal Flying Corps. When he arrived, he was asked by the War Office to wait, and in the meantime worked 12 hours day at the Sopwith aeroplane factory. He was finally commissioned in the RFC late in 1916 but then had an attack of ptomaine poisoning followed by a plane crash after which he was discharged and sent home in April 1917, intending to carry on with "studying ways to increase the speed of aeroplanes"
His family now lived in Dunedin, his father having been appointed manager of the Bank of New South Wales in 1915.
During his time in Dunedin Humphrey took out a patent for "an aircraft" but after a few months in the South he headed to Auckland from where he left for America in March 1918 to undertake more aviation research.
In March 1919 came a report that he had invented a contrivance to reduce the dangers that attend the landing of an aeroplane. As opportunities in New Zealand would not enable him to work out his project, he had brought it under the notice of authorities in America.
As a result of investigations by these experts, he was admitted to the Bureau of Standards, Washington, and was given facilities to experiment with his device and perfect it.
Thus, the boy from Gisborne/Nelson/Christchurch/Dunedin became an important figure in the development of aviation in the United States.
By 1924 his work on airships was widely reported and despite the Shenandoah tragedy he persisted, leading a discussion in support of airships as against aeroplanes at the conference of the Society of Automotive Engineers, held in Detroit in 1926.
The US Navy continued to use airships until 1962 so Parker was always in demand. He married an American girl and by 1940 they were living in New York.
So, hardly a Dunedin boy, but a story worth telling.
To avoid confusion at New Year, I’ve prepared a press release — "Sir Jim is Timaru and Dunedin educated and is now a Central Otago resident".
Covers the bases, don’t you think?
— Jim Sullivan is a Patearoa writer.
