Noel B. Matheson

NOEL BRUCE MATHESON (17 AUG 1931 - 28 AUG 2020)

'The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne' (Geoffrey Chaucer, Parlement of Foules c. 1382) Noel Matheson was a teacher of English, expert woodworker, tool collector and conservationist who lived much of his life in Nelson, New Zealand. He married Edna Isabel Crompton, daughter of William Jardine Crompton and Eleanor Mary Hughes in 1956, and they moved from Cambridge, NZ to the picturesque Monaco peninsula in Nelson in 1968. Apart from a two-year stint (1974-75) in which both Noel and Edna taught at Tereora College in Rarotonga, they remained in the same house thereafter. William Crompton was the son of Henry Jardine Crompton and Louisa Isabel Clara Jennings - providing the link for Noel's interest in the history of the Jennings line as pioneering settlers in the Nelson region. Noel spent many years researching and collating information and drafting a description of the Jennings' story that forms the basis for this book. He had an insatiable curiosity about the story, and remarkable tenacity in following up leads both within New Zealand and in the United Kingdom, despite being a lifelong self-declared luddite who never upskilled to use a computer

LANCE CORDNER JENNINGS
Dr Lance Jennings QSO, is a great-grandson of David and Maria Jennings. Before his retirement in 2017, he was the clinical virologist for Canterbury Health and retains a Clinical Associate Professorship at University of Otago, Christchurch. On retirement he moved to Nelson, focusing on his family and outdoor alpine and cycling interests. He continues to be involved academically both in New Zealand and overseas and is known internationally for his work on influenza control strategies for New Zealand. He has published widely in the field of respiratory virology. In 2006 he was appointed as a Companion of the Queen's Service Order in recognition of his service to virology in New Zealand and internationally.