Biography
Albert Errington Exley (1881-1956). Engineer. Born 25 November 1881 at Wanganui, first son of Albert Edwin and Esther.
Apprenticed to William Neill & Co., Wellington, 1900-1905. His apprenticeship began the same year Wellington City Council took ownership of the tramway system. Supervised erection of a gold dredge at Greymouth during the last year of his apprenticeship. Subsequently engineer on the installation of electric tram cars in Wellington. The first public electric tram ran on 30 June 1904; by 1907 lines reached Kilbirnie, Miramar, Seatoun, Island Bay, Brooklyn, and Karori. Albert Errington’s work placed him in the thick of this rapid expansion.
In 1903 married Lillian Louise Wills, daughter of Frank and Louisa Wills. Seven children.
1922-27: engineer installing electric tramway system for Christchurch City Council, then the largest tramway in New Zealand. Key projects included new automatic-acceleration tram cars (1922), substations at Cashmere and Fendalton receiving AC power from the State hydro scheme, and the final track extensions to Spreydon (August 1922). His departure after 1927 coincided with the system’s transition from expansion to retrenchment.
Then Lower Hutt. 1931: bought a farm at Greytown (unprofitable). 1937: returned to Eastbourne, Wellington. Worked for Ford Motor Co. Retired, built a house at [?] Bay in 1947.
See The Wellington and Christchurch Tramways.
Evidence
- Listed on Meryll’s hand-drawn tree (Meryll’s Hand-Drawn Family Tree)
- RTF tree gives detailed dates (Wills-Exley Family Tree (RTF))
- Exley Chronicle (Typed), page 7: detailed career biography