Harrison E. Gawtry

Harrison Edward Gawtry (November 28, 1840 – January 28, 1919) was an American businessman who was one of the organizers of the Consolidated Gas Company of New York, and served as president for more than ten years until his retirement in December 1904

Early life Gawtry was born on November 28, 1840, in New York City. He was a son of Woolen merchant William M. Gawtry (1808–1893), who emigrated from England to New York in 1821, and his first wife, Harriet Hedden. His paternal grandfather, John Gawtry, was born at Elvington, near York, in 1773 and died in Geneva, New York, in 1847.

During the U.S. Civil War, Gawtry served with Company K of the 7th Regiment, New York.

In addition he was vice president of the New York Mutual Gas Light Company, and a member of the board of trustees of the New York Edison Company, the Consolidated Telegraph & Electrical Subway Company, the Northern Union Gas Company, the Northern Westchester Lighting Company, the Peekskill Lighting & Railroad Company. Shortly before his death, he had resigned as director of all of the subsidiary companies of the Consolidated Gas Company of New York. Gawtry also served as a trustee of the Astor Trust Company, Union Trust Company, and the Fulton Trust Company among other financial institutions. Together, they were the parents of:

Lewis Brown Gawtry (1869–1954), who married Olive Van Rensselaer, a daughter of Kiliaen Van Rensselaer and Olivia ( Atterbury) Van Rensselaer, in 1899. Helen Gawtry (1870–1961), who married Dr. Howard Dennis Collins (1868–1947), a son of George and Anna Maria ( Taft) Collins, in 1895.

He was a member of the Union League Club, the Union Club and Tuxedo Clubs, Chamber of Commerce of New York, New-York Historical Society, the American Museum of Natural History, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Sons of the Revolution and Seventh Regiment Veterans' Association. After several years of poor health, Gawtry died on January 28, 1919, at 33 East 57th Street, his residence in New York City.

Descendants

Through his son Lewis, he was a grandfather of Olive Van Rensselaer Gawtry (1901–1980), who married Robert W. Tilney in 1936, and Beatrice Gawtry, who married José A. Machado Jr. in 1932

Through his daughter Helen, he was a grandfather of Dorothy Collins (1901–1998), who married Willem van Tets (former Consul-General of the Netherlands in San Francisco) in 1929, and Hugh Gawtry Collins (1905–1999), who married Frances Oliver Fisher in 1931.