linwoodcemetery.org.nz

Sultan Mahomet, a Moslem; son of Raizack Mahomet, was born about 1836 somewhere in Asia. One document gives his birth place as Dera, India, while another says Arabia. By occupation Sultan was a hawker. He found his way to Dunedin about 1895 and, in the last decade of his life, peddled knick-knacks to people living in outback areas in the southern half of the South Island.

At the end of 1905 Sultan came to stay with his son, Sali, in Brightlings Lane, a side street in the Avon Loop between where Willow and Hurley streets are now. It is probable that Sultan intended to attend his son’s wedding. While at Brightlings Lane, Sultan died. Following Sultan’s unexpected death, Sultan Mahomet’s  son Sali Mahomet, said under oath at the inquest that Sultan was

“…69 years old. He was a hawker. He was a native of North India. He had only just come to Christchurch on a visit. He arrived here on Monday night. He seemed all right until yesterday morning and he went away to catch the morning tram. He went out about 7.15 a.m. He got back later. I reached home a little after 2 p.m. I found the deceased very sick and retching. He told me that he had not been feeling well that morning. I rang up Dr. Russell who came at once. Deceased died about 2.50 p.m.”

Dr Charles James Russell‘s sworn statement was,

“I am a duly qualified medical practitioner but not now registered. I was called to the deceased at about 2.20 p.m. yesterday. I found him in pain, convulsed, breathing very heavily, foaming at the mouth and head and features very much congested. His extremities were cold, both upper and lower. He spoke a few words when I first went in. His eyes became fixed and features rigid and in that way he expired. The cause of death was apoplexy.”