William Cutten came to Otago on the John Wickliffe in 1847, sharing cabin accommodation with the Cargill family. Then, in 1850, he married Christina Dorothea, the eldest Cargill daughter, so he was part of the Otago establishment from the beginning, despite being an Englishman and an Anglican. One of his more remarkable abilities was being able to oppose Captain Cargill on public matters while keeping on good terms with him as father-in-law. Few other early Dunedin settlers managed this trick.
Cutten was born in London in 1822, the eighth child in a family of nine. Bursting with talents and ability, he was an ideal candidate for a colonial career and seized his opportunities in Otago from its very beginning. Trained in the law, Cutten set up instead as an auctioneer in Dunedin and quickly emerged as one of the new settlement’s most energetic businessmen. He was also prominent in public affairs, acting as immigration agent, a member of the Provincial Council and the General Assembly, and founding Dunedin’s second newspaper the Otago Witness in 1851. A decade later he and Julius Vogel established the Otago Daily Times as New Zealand’s first daily newspaper.
William and Christina were to have 11 children. They lived first at the foot of Stuart Street but this was a damp area along the tidal flats so in 1861 the family moved across the harbour to Goat Hill (now called Sunshine). Living first in a small house they constructed a fine new home on the crest of the hill, which they called ‘Belmont’. This home still stands at the top of Belmont Lane. William died there in 1883 aged just 61. Christina survived him at ‘Belmont’ by another 35 years. She was one of the grand old matriarchs of Otago when she died in 1918 aged 91.
Mrs William Henry Cutten (née Christina Cargill)
Mr William Henry Cutten