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Berry Family Portrait

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Description: This family portrait was likely taken just before Edwin Daniel Berry left New Zealand to conduct missionary work in Fiji. From left:

• Rimu (Reme) Ruahine Victoria Perkins nee Berry b.1899
• Francis (Frank) Leslie Berry b.1900
• Edwin Daniel Berry b. 1873 in Victoria, Australia
• Tryphena Elizabeth Harriet b.1910
• Elizabeth Berry nee Jefferson b.1871 in Victoria, Australia
• Zenas Jefferson Berry b.1906
• Edwin John Horace Berry, b.1898

Elizabeth and Daniel Berry were married in New Zealand in 1897. All five of their children were born in Palmerston North.

An biographical piece about Edwin Daniel Berry was published in the N.Z. Truth in 1926: “Young man who proved himself a modern Daniel – How New Zealand became a land of golden opportunity as the result of grit – A story of wheels whirling in industrial rhythm” See PapersPast: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/nz-truth/1926/08/26/1

Berry Engineering was established in 1907 by Edwin Daniel Berry as E. D. Berry General Engineer. It was originally located in Main Street, but as the business grew, it moved to Ferguson Street, later expanding up Ashley Street.

All three of Edwin Berry's sons worked for the company – Frank (Frances Leslie) trained as a tinsmith, Zean (Zenas Jefferson) as a refrigeration engineer and Edwin Jnr (Edwin Horace John) as a welder. Frank became the senior partner in the mid-1930s when Edwin senior began missionary work in Fiji.

The business was responsible for several patents and manufactured a wide variety of metal equipment for the dairy and brewing industries. It was bought out by Mauri Refrigeration in the 1960s, later being known as Protech Engineering. In the 1980s Protech was acquired by Steelfort Engineering.