Harold Caro

Harold David Caro (1 September 1887 – 10 June 1964) was the 23rd mayor of Hamilton, New Zealand and a Hamilton businessman. He was awarded the OBE in 1950.

Biography He was born in Christchurch to Mrs Lewis Caro the eighth of ten children. He was educated in Parnell, Auckland and was employed by P Hayman of Auckland. Then he was a partner in Caro Bros, Auckland from 1910 to 1923. In 1923 he founded Caros GBS or Great Bargain Stores in Hamilton.

He was on the Hamilton Borough Council from 1931 to 1953, and was Mayor of Hamilton from 1938 to 1953, when he was defeated. He was chairman of the Waikato Hospital Board from 1948 to 1953, and chairman of the Waikato Patriotic Fund Board from 1939 to 1954. He was re-elected to the Hamilton City Council in 1959. In 1953, he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal.

Caro contested the seat of Hamilton at the 1935 general election for the anti-Labour Democrat Party, polling third with 20% of the vote.

He married Rubina Iris 'Renee' Ballin daughter of Bernhard Ballin of Christchurch in 1916. He had one son David Bernard Caro FRCS born 8 February 1922. In 1961 he was living in Raglan.