New Zealand inventor Ernest Godward, who had invented the spiral hairpin and received a patent in 1899, sells the American rights to the spiral hairpin for £20,000, which is a fortune at this time.
Born in Marylebone, London, on April 7, 1869, he is the son of Henry Robert Godward, a fireman, and his wife, Sarah Ann Pattison.
When Godward was twelve he was sent to prep-school but ran away to sea reaching Japan where he worked on a cabling ship between Nagasaki and Vladivostok before he was returned home by the British Consul, Nicholas Hannen.
On his return he was apprenticed to Shand, Mason and Co in London, a firm of hydraulic engineers and steam powered fire engine manufacturers, where he trained as a mechanic.
Quitting Shand Mason, he returned to the sea in 1884 as a ship's steward.
In 1886 Godward emigrated to New Zealand arriving at Port Chalmers aboard the 1310 ton Shaw, Savill & Albion Line sailing ship Nelson on December 31.
During his time in Dunedin he learned to play the banjo and formed a music group called the Star Variety Company.
He worked in the cycle trade for Sam Stedman before shifting in 1893 to Invercargill, where he became a partner in the Southland Cycle Works (later Godward and McKenzie) of Dee Street, which makes Sparrowhawk cycles.
On January 28, 1896, he married Marguerita Florence Celena Treweek; the couple will eventually have ten children: nine of their own plus a niece of Marguerita's.
Leaving the Southland Cycle Works in 1900 Godward had embarked on inventing and manufacturing a wide range of everyday objects.
Included among these are a non-slip egg-beater, a new post-hole borer, a new type of hair curler, a burglar-proof window and a hedge trimmer made from bicycle parts.
He founds the Godward Spiral Pin and New Inventions Co. Ltd., which is a listed company on the New Zealand stock exchange.
