JERVIS, HENRY MAHON (1820-1901) was born at Stroud, Kent, educated there and in London, and trained to mercantile life. He came to New Zealand in the ship London, arriving at Port Nicholson Dec 1840 and intending to settle at Bay of Islands. Early in 1841 he sailed in the Brougham with the Company's surveyors, seeking a site for the Taranaki settlement. (His diary of this journey was published in the New Zealand Herald in Mar 1892.) Fearing that his goods had been lost in the schooner Jewess, Jervis walked overland by the coast to Wellington. He spent some time sawing timber in the Hutt valley, but the floods carrying it away he commenced trading in Wellington.

In 1842 he visited Nelson, and chartered a schooner of 70 tons to visit the ports on the west coast of the North Island. Reaching Onehunga at the time of Hobson's death (Sep 1842), he sailed in the schooner Osprey for Hobart and walked overland to Launceston. He traded Tasmanian produce with New Zealand ports, and eventually settled for 12 months at Hicks Bay. In 1845 he returned to Auckland, and worked for Scott and Davis. Early in the fifties he married, and for some years he was associated with Nathan and Co., for whom he managed the shipping and troop business. He retired from this service about 1860 to act as agent for passenger ships trading to New Zealand, and became New Zealand manager for the Panama Mail Co. and Hall's Californian line, and agent for the Australian and New Zealand Co.'s services.

For a short time Jervis was engaged in mining ventures at Thames and Coromandel, but in 1870 he returned to Auckland and purchased the Golden Crown Brewery, which was afterwards acquired by Campbell and Ehrenfried. He died on 14 Sep 1901.

Cycl. NZ., ii (p); N.Z. Herald, 5 Mar, 14 May 1892, 16 Sep 1901.

Reference: Volume 1, page 235

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