Arawa war memorial, Rotorua

In my research on war memorials I came across a letter to the Minister of Defence, Sir James Allen, from W.H.Feldon in January 1919. He wrote: 'I have been in this beautiful Dominion for seven years, and find that if such work is commissioned it is usually obtained from Italy or London and it seems very difficult to get known. I should be delighted to carve a bust of yourself - entirely at my own expense - as a proof of my Art... It has been a struggle to keep going and my slender resources are nearly exhausted. I have a wife and six children and for their sakes I must succeed'. He had come from England and had written to every county chairman and mayor of the country offering his services to build a local war memorial. He won only two commissions - the Arawa memorial and one at Matakana. Both interestingly featured a portrait of the King.

According to a page at http://www.flickr.com/photos/geoff-inoz/4397580346/, St Paul's Church (Anglican), 28 Symonds Street, Auckland features the "fine carving of the capitals and label stops completed by William Feldon in 1910-11". W.H. Feldon is also mentioned in a couple of historic newspaper articles online at http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast. If you do a search using 'Feldon', two relevant articles include one from the Poverty Bay Herald, 27 July 1920 and the Evening Post, 6 May 1914 appear in the listing. The Ministry for Culture and Heritage was recently supplied information by John Feldon about W. H. Feldon.

Hi there, i was wondering if have any other details on what other sculptures etc W.H Feldon may have done. He was my Great Grandfather, and would love to track down any other work he may have done that we dont know about. Thanks Andrew