Waterfall Kingswood

People you can depend on to go the extra mile

The modern chapels and catering lounges at Gee & Hickton Funeral Directors' two sites have evolved from a history of funeral directing in the Hutt Valley that dates back to 1852, when Joseph Hall began a wheelwright and undertaking business in Lower Hutt.

The firm, known as W Hall Ltd, continued in the Hall family ownership for the following 94 years, carrying out some of the more memorable funerals in the Hutt Valley.

When grandson Bill Hall retired in 1946, with no further Hall family members to take over, it was sold to Ted Gee and Robert Hickton and became known as Gee and Hickton.

The business expanded to Upper Hutt where it was previously well know as Springgays.

 

Going in Style

Gee & Hickton Funeral Directors have brought back to Wellington a classic 1970 Rolls Royce Phantom VI that in its earlier life transported the Royal Family on their first visit to New Zealand.

The hearse has been stripped back to the metal and completely repainted to its former glory, but its engine has only required minor work to keep it in operation.

The vehicle was purchased new from Rolls Royce by the Department of Internal Affairs for the March 1970 Royal Tour of New Zealand. Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh brought Prince Charles and Princess Anne to introduce them to the nation. The Tour marked the first-ever 'walk-about' in a Royal visit.

The Rolls was one of two purchased by the New Zealand Government for the tour. The RNZAF was put on standby to bring them both into the country due to their late completion by Rolls Royce in London, but they were shipped in January, arriving just in time for the March Royal Tour.

While the other Rolls was retained to transport future dignitaries, this one was sold to a private owner soon after the tour with "minor damage incurred during an altercation with a sheep". It was purchased by Auckland's Westhaven Cabaret in 1972 where it was used as a limousine for patrons and was then sold to WH Tongue Funeral Directors in Auckland in 1974 and converted into a hearse.