linwoodcemetery.org.nz

Date of death: Thursday 7th October 1943

Date of burial: Friday 8th October 1943

Buried in same plot as his father Sultan Mahomet (c1836-1905) and daughter Florence Wylie (1916-1998)

Sali was born about 1866. His marriage certificate puts his place of birth as Ceylon.  Though his death certificate puts his place of birth as Punjab, India.  He came to NZ with his father circa 1895 and they settled in Dunedin.

He worked as a hawker with his father, selling to isolated areas in lower South Island. He then became an ice-cream seller, selling from a cart in the south-east corner of Cathedral Square, where he became well known as ‘Ice-cream Charlie.  Suli operated from there from the early years of the 20th century until about 1940 when he was moved round the corner into Hereford Street.

Sali Mahomet was short and plump, had a large clientele, lived in a stylish home, which is still standing at 69 Caledonian Road and married a European woman, Florence Henrietta Johnston on 5th January 1906.

Florence was 19, born in Oamaru and a domestic.  She resided in Christchurch and was the daughter of John William Johnston, railway employee and Frances (nee Otto).  Sali was probably almost 40 when he married despite the marriage certificate showing a deduction of 10 years.  It was quite common in those days for an older man to reduce their age when marrying a very young woman.

The witnesses to the wedding were Marie Foster, Brightlings Lane, Christchurch and J. H. Upham, a Christchurch Solicitor.

The couple had four daughters whose Eurasian good looks made them the beauties of Christchurch in the 1930s and ’40s.  One of Sali’s daughters, Florence Wylie, lived from 1916-1998 and is buried with her father and grandfather.

Sali suffered a stroke in 1942 and, in 1943, died at the Old Men’s Home, Ashburton.  His mother whose name is omitted from his 1906 marriage certificate, is given in the death certificate as Addul. His age is given as 77 years.

(Richard Greenaway; Linwood Cemetery Conservation Plan.)