William and Thomas Hastie were two middle sons of Alexander and Jane Hastie (also pictured on this wall of the gallery) and younger brothers of James (the portrait to their right). William, the older boy on the left in the painting, was born in Edinburgh on 27 January 1844, and Thomas on 18February 1846. They clearly enjoyed a comfortable upbringing as the sons of a prosperous grocer, as evidenced by their having their portraits painted as children. In 1858, when William was 14 and Thomas 12, they emigrated to Dunedin with their family on the Jura.
Once in New Zealand, James, William and Thomas started working for their father performing contracting and carting jobs. By 1860 Thomas had also become a prominent member of the Dunedin Fire Brigade, and was well-known as ‘Foreman Tom.’ When their father retired around 1867, the Hastie brothers became contractors for the supply of horses to the Dunedin City Corporation. James was unfortunately drowned in 1870. William also later left the partnership to take up farming at West Taieri with his wife, Janet (née Ramsay), who he married in 1877. The couple went on to have six children, though only four survived past William’s death in 1924.
After William left the company, Thomas carried on working with their younger brother, Alexander Jnr. The firm, as ‘T. & A. Hastie, contractors’, became hugely successful under their ongoing partnership. As their business expanded they started to send large shipments of horses to India, making occasional trips there themselves, and became known throughout Australia and New Zealand. Thomas had married Maria Allan in 1873 and raised a family of one son and two daughters. Eventually the Hastie brothers relinquished their contracting business and Thomas retired but he was soon working again, managing the Invercargill tramways. Then, around 1910, he began managing the Brighton Private Hotel, living there with his family. He died on 29 August 1912, aged 66.
Masters William and Thomas Hastie