Alfred Hamish Reed

Who was Alfred Hamish Reed?

Alfred Hamish Reed Kt. CBE was a New Zealand publisher, author and entrepreneur. A. H. Reed was born at Hayes, Middlesex, England, on 30 December 1875, the son of James William Reed and Elizabeth Reed. He migrated to New Zealand with his parents in 1887. After some experience in Northland as a kauri gum-digger, he moved to Dunedin where, in 1897, he became manager of the Typewriter Co. An early childhood leg problem denied him access to active duty during World War I, and he was retained at an army base as a clerk due to his shorthand skills. He entered the bookselling trade when he founded the firm of A. H. and A. W. Reed, a leading publisher of New Zealand-related non-fiction and reference works, in association with his nephew Alexander Wyclif Reed. In 1932, he branched out as a publisher and in 1935 he became an author.

Reed also undertook walking and mountain-climbing expeditions. He climbed Mount Taranaki/Egmont, Mount Ruapehu, Ngauruhoe, walked from North Cape to Bluff, now known as the Te Araroa Trail and from East Cape to Cape Egmont, walked through Marlborough and through Otago, Canterbury, Westland, and the Haast.