Kenneth Whyte 1882-1884 Son of John Blair Whyte 1840-1914

In April, 1888, Mr J B Whyte MHR asked Hamilton Borough Council for permission to remove a tree that was damaging his child’s grave in the Hamilton East Cemetery. It is not known whether the tree, a Pinus insignis (now radiata), was part of the attempts to beautify the cemetery or was just one of the many weeds – whichever, it was damaging the low wall surrounding son Kenneth’s grave. Kenneth Whyte died at Hamilton in March, 1884, aged only 14 months. He was the third son of John Blair Whyte and his wife, Annie MacGregor Hay.

John Blair Whyte, farmer and gentleman, owned 4000 acres at Tuhikaramea and a few hundred acres of Bankwood, a northern suburb of Hamilton, now occupied in part by Waikato Diocesan School for Girls. The historic Bankwood homestead was built by his successor to the farm, Whyte’s house having been burnt down in 1882.

Some of the many trees Whyte planted at Bankwood still exist and