Sir Henry Joseph Kelliher (2 March 1896 – 29 September 1991) was a New Zealand businessman, brewer, publisher, managing director, art patron and credit reformer.
Information about his early years is not plentiful but moved to the Wairarapa at the age of 17 to work as a Drover in Carterton prior to the outbreak of World War I.
When war broke out in Europe in 1914 Kelliher enlisted with the Otago Mounted Rifles as served as a Trooper until he was transferred during service at Gallipoli in 1915.
Kelliher survived the Gallipoli campaign and served in France at the Somme in a specialised Trench Warfare mortar team until he was gassed and invalided to Britain in 1917.
He pulled out of farming to invest in the Marquis of Normanby Hotel in Carterton,[1] one of the few licensed drinking venues in the Wairarapa area due to the dry-state that the town of Masterton had been placed in several years earlier.
From 1922 Kelliher chose to base himself in Auckland where he saw the potential for investment opportunities and soon began acquiring agent licences for key brands of spirit such as Dewar's White Label Whisky in 1926.
He chose however to continue his business ventures, choosing to invest with a South Auckland Brewing family run by Morton Coutts.
The Prize was discontinued as an annual award in 1977 due to the growth of New Zealand art but the Charitable Trust still engages in purchases and the promotion of Exhibitions through his descendants.