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William John and Herbert Henry Skinner, the two older brothers of Percival George Skinner, went to New Zealand in the early 1900s. This part of the Skinner Family History has been written from information supplied by Terry Skinner (New Zealand) and supplemented by a little data from Stuart Skinner.

WILLIAM JOHN SKINNER was the eldest son of William Skinner and MARY ANN (nee Hubbard), born in 1876 at Windsor -- a suburb of Melbourne, Australia. He was educated at Windsor State School until he was 13 years old. He was apprenticed and learnt his trade as a Plumber and Gas Fitter.

William married Caroline Beatrice Street in March 1901 and later that year their first child -- Ethel Beatrice Mary -- was born.
Work in his trade was not plentiful at this time in Melbourne, so William decided to go to New Zealand to seek work and was successful in gaining employment at the Auckland Gas Works -- it is believed that this was his only job until his retirement.

Having gained this work he returned to Australia to quickly bring his wife and daughter to New Zealand and they settled at 81 John Street, Ponsonby by 1903. William and Caroline’s family grew to a total of four children, Ethel born 1901 in Melbourne, followed by Dorothy Evelyn born 1903, Eric William Herbert born 1906 and Fred Percival born 1910. William was a keen gardener, lawn bowler and a great walker and also had a very keen sense of humour.

Stuart can remember quite vividly William visiting Melbourne for Christmas 1938 and his arrival from Sydney at Spencer Street Station on the new express train “The Spirit of Progress”. Stuart and his father Percival George greeted him, took him to his accommodation at the old Victoria Palace and then they went out to Camberwell to have William re-united with his mother (Mary Ann) and the rest of the Skinner family. This holiday was the last time in which William was to see his mother as she died 6 months later on 1st July, 1939. William died in 1956 and Caroline in 1968.