Henry Noltenius


Heinrich "Henry" Noltenius was a German settler in the British colony of South Australia, and a prominent wine and spirit merchant.

History

Noltenius was born in Bremen, and arrived in South Australia in September 1843 aboard Madras from London.
In 1848 he joined the firm of Joseph Stilling & Co., then in June 1859 left and founded Noltenius and Co., wine and spirit merchants of 75 King William Street.
Noltenius purchased the Halifax Street brewery from W. H. Clark in February 1858, and five months later took on W. K. Simms as a partner, then sold him his share of the business. Both Clark and Noltenius were in debt to the bank. Clark left South Australia for the eastern colonies, out of reach of South Australia's laws, but Noltenius remained.
Noltenius & Co. dissolved around 1882 and he worked as a traveller for W. B. Rounsevell & Co, but his health was failing, and he died two years later.

Family

  • Henry Noltenius married Emma Eliza Payne on 1 July 1852. She was the eldest daughter of Samuel Payne of Payneham. They had a home in Bridge Street, Kensington. Their family included:
  • Bernhard August Noltenius founded Noltenius, Meyer & Co., wine and spirit merchants with Christian Ludwig Meyer in Adelaide by 1848, had a similar business at corner of Flinders Lane and Market Square, Melbourne 1852–1856. Both Noltenius and Meyer were proved insolvent in 1857. He had a shop at 31 Currie Street 1884–1887 or later. He left Adelaide, died in Borgfeld, near Bremen. Was he the person listed as "C. B. Noltenius", passenger aboard Leontine arrived August 1848 ?
  • Johannes Lebrecht Noltenius was tobacconist at Beechworth, Victoria around 1858. He managed mines at Montacute and the Barossa Valley. From around 1873 he managed a copper mine at Yam Creek in the Northern Territory, where he died of spear wounds inflicted by Aborigines. A party sent to arrest the culprits and recover stolen property took it on themselves to conduct a reprisal, killing around five Aborigines.