Dictionary of NZ Biography — Surname Index A

NameBiographyReference

John Abbott

John Abbott

ABBOTT, JOHN (1832-1901) was born at Colsterworth, near Grantham, Lincolnshire, and educated at Halifax Place Academy, Nottingham. He joined the staff of the banking house of Craddock and Middleton, Loughborough, and seven years later resigned to purchase a printer's and stationer's business in Loughborough. There he started the Loughborough News. Coming to New Zealand (1864) he entered into partnership with F. L. Prime as grocers, but dissolved after six months and bought large stocks of merchandise on his own account. Later he became a business, mining and financial agent. Abbott was interested in many philanthropic movements and was the originator and founder of the Jubilee Institute for the Blind (1890). He died on 15 Jan 1901.

Cycl. N.Z., ii (p); N.Z. Herald, 16 Jan 1901.

Reference: Volume 1, page 17

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Charles John Abraham

Charles John Abraham

ABRAHAM, CHARLES JOHN (1814-1903) was born at Farnborough, Hampshire, and was the son of Captain Thomas A. Abraham, 46th Regiment, then on the staff of the Royal Military College. Educated first at Dr Arnold's school at Laleham, he went to Eton (where he played in the XI) and then as a scholar to King's College, Cambridge (of which Thackeray was provost). A fine classical scholar, his Horace and Homer remained with him throughout life. He graduated B.A. (1837) and M.A. (1840), and succeeded to a fellowship, which he held until 1850. Ordained deacon in 1838, he was curate of Headley Downs for a while and then returned to Eton as an assistant master. While there he became the close friend of G. A. Selwyn (q.v.). Abraham published in 1846 Ancient and Modern History. In 1848-49, while still at Eton, he was divinity lecturer at St. George's Chapel, Windsor, and in the latter year he published the Festival and Lenten Lectures, delivered in that capacity. Having remained at Eton long enough to assist in the carrying out of important reforms in the school, Abraham at last, in 1850, fulfilled a longstanding promise by coming out to Auckland to accept the post of chaplain and principal of St. John's College. Thenceforward he was intimately associated with Bishop Selwyn in the work and organisation of the Church in New Zealand. In 1853 he was appointed archdeacon of Waitemata. When the see was subdivided Abraham was nominated as the first Bishop of Wellington, and he was consecrated at Lambeth in 1858 along with his friend Edmund Hobhouse (q.v.), who had been designated first Bishop of Nelson. In the new diocese Abraham took a firm stand for justice for the Maori people in the war. In 1870 he resigned the see to accept Selwyn's invitation to be his assistant bishop at Lichfield. Two years later he was presented with the prebendial stall of Bobenhall in Lichfield Cathedral, and in 1876 Selwyn gave him a residentiary canonry, which he held till 1890. He was rector of Tatenhill, Staffordshire (1875-76) and resided for the last few years of his life with his son, Bishop C. T. Abraham (then vicar of Bakewell). He died on 4 Feb 1903. Abraham married in 1850 Caroline Harriet, daughter of Sir Charles T. Palmer, of Wanlip Hall, Leicestershire; she died in 1877, leaving an only son. Abraham was a total abstainer and an advocate of temperance. His work for Eton College is commemorated by a marble slab and effigy in the college. The foundation of Selwyn College, Cambridge, was due to the joint efforts of Sir William Martin (q.v.), Hobhouse and Abraham.

D.N.B.; Davis (p); Tucker; Selwyn, Annals; Jacobs; Maxwell Lyte, History of Eton.

Reference: Volume 1, page 17

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John Barton Arundel Acland

John Barton Arundel Acland

ACLAND, JOHN BARTON ARUNDEL (1823-1904), the first of the Aclands in New Zealand, was a scion of an old Devonshire family, the Dyke Aclands of Columb John. He was the sixth son of Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 10th baronet of Killerton. His ancestor's house at Columb John was destroyed in the Cromwellian wars, and the Parliament fined him £3,000. Acland of Canterbury was born at Killerton, educated at Harrow and at Christ Church, Oxford. He graduated B.A. with honours in mathematics (1845) and in due course took his M.A. He proceeded to study law, was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn (1849) and entered into practice in London. Dissatisfied with his prospects at the bar, and not caring for London life, he spent his vacations in Switzerland, Norway, the Orkneys and Shetlands.

The Aclands had taken notice of the proposed Canterbury settlement through C. G. Tripp (q.v.), who in 1850 thought seriously of joining the Canterbury Association. Acland made the acquaintance of Godley, Fitzgerald, Selwyn, and Sir George Grey and decided to give up his practice and become a sheepfarmer in New Zealand. He and Tripp took passage in the Royal Stuart, which sailed from London in Oct 1854, and reached Lyttelton in the first week of 1855. As soon as possible they made a journey through north Canterbury as far as the Conway river, visiting many stations. Acland went as cadet to H. J. Tancred at Malvern Hills, and Tripp to W. J. Burke at Halswell. In Mar they went with Burke carrying stores by bullock dray to his station on the Opihi; and in the spring they set out to look for country up the Rangitata and Ashburton rivers. In May 1856 they started their own station at Mount Peel, and during the next three or four years increased their holding to about 250,000 acres, including Mount Peel, Mount Somers, Mount Possession, and Orari Gorge. They were the first runholders in Canterbury who conceived that the hill country overlooking the plains could be successfully stocked with sheep. As all the lower country had already been taken up they made extended explorations up the gorges of the Rangitata, Ashburton, and Orari rivers, and burned a good deal of country in preparation for their occupation. Mount Peel carried 4,100 sheep in 1857 and 2,700 the following year. It was another ten years before the back part of this station was stocked by Acland himself.

Acland and Tripp, coming from traditional land-owning families in England, understood the duty and the policy of encouraging their employees to settle down and bring up their families on the property. They built cottages for the men and encouraged them to deal in stock on their own account and to become landowners. Acland in 1868 erected a stone church at Mount Peel capable of seating 80 persons. In 1862 they dissolved the partnership. Acland took the Mount Peel property of 100,000 acres which he had named Holnicote, after the family seat in Somersetshire (1856). While paying close attention to his run, he always found time to do what one in his position regarded as his public duty. He never stood for the Provincial Council, but he took a leading part in the affairs of his own locality and of the colony. On his suggestion the first agricultural show was held (1859). He wished it to be on his property at Mount Peel, but the northern stockowners objected to driving their animals so far, and the meeting was held at Benjamin Moorhouse's station at the Rangitata.

Early in 1864 Acland was elected a member of the Geraldine road board. Next year Weld, wishing to have a representative of south Canterbury in the Legislative Council, nominated Acland, and he remained an active member for 34 years until advancing age prompted him to resign (1899). He was chairman of the Mount Peel road board from its inception in 1870 until 1900. He was a fellow of Christ's College (1873-78), a member of the board of governors of Canterbury College, and of the senate of the University of New Zealand, from which he retired to visit England (1877). He was one of the founders of the Christchurch Club. Acland was prominent in the councils of the Church of England, of which he was always a devout supporter. As a licensed lay-reader he preached regularly at Mount Peel and Peel Forest. He was for many years a member of both the diocesan and the general synod and was mainly responsible for the erection of the church at Fendalton. Acland married (1860) Emily Weddell, eldest daughter of Bishop Harper. He died on 18 May 1904 (see W. EMPSON).

Col. Gent.; Acland; Scholefield in The Press, 5 Jul 1930 (p); The Press, 19 May 1904.

Reference: Volume 1, page 17

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James Adam

James Adam

ADAM, JAMES (1822-1908) was born in Links Street, Aberdeen, and received the usual Scots schooling up to the age of 10. He was then apprenticed to a rope-spinner. At 17 he went to the south of England and worked for a year on railway construction. He then had some experience as a shipwright in Aberdeen. In his twenties he was precentor of the Free West Church. Adam tells in his book, Twenty-five Years of an Emigrant's Life in New Zealand (1876), how one evening when passing along Belmont Street he heard that Dr Burns and Dr Aldcorn were to speak in the Free Church on the Otago scheme. He went to the meeting and heard them, and afterwards had an interview with the speakers and made some suggestions. This produced a letter from the Edinburgh office of the Otago Association offering him a free passage to New Zealand on condition that he remained in Otago for a certain period. Adam sailed with his wife in the Philip Laing (20 Nov 1847). Two days after the selection of town lands in Dunedin Adam had granted to him at £4 per annum the lease of a section at the corner of High and Princes streets. There was a fine clump of mapau trees on it, and Adam lopped the branches of those that stood in suitable positions and left them standing as the corner posts of his house. The others were used in the building. Native builders inserted wands between the uprights 12 inches apart and laced long swamp grass into them. At the sale of town lands Adam's section was bought over his head. He worked at his trade as a shipwright and boatbuilder; built a ship or two, and planned a sawmill and flourmill for Valpy in the Leith valley. He also acquired at Anderson's Bay a small farm, at which he worked in his spare time. He was precentor and bellringer at First Church, the dual position yielding a salary of £10 per annum. Adam owned a small lighter, the Queen. He was pilot for the upper harbour and in 1856 piloted the ship Gil Blas, 175 tons, to an anchorage within 400 yards of the Dunedin jetty, thus solving the problem of navigating the upper harbour. In 1855 he recovered from the harbour near Port Chalmers the safe stolen in the robbery of the customhouse. Searching the bays from his lighter he detected it, half submerged, and rescued it with practically the whole of the £1,400 that it contained.

In 1853 Adam was elected to the first Otago Provincial Council, being second on the poll. During debates in the Provincial Council he complained of the slow settlement of the province, declaring that it would take 4,000 years at the existing rate to occupy the whole of their lands. The Council decided to open an office in Edinburgh, and Adam was sent to take charge of the work in Great Britain. James Barr remarks that he was well fitted by unwearied energy and ability to set forth in graphic and forcible terms the benefits which the working man might derive from emigration. A great qualification he possessed, too, in being able to speak from practical experience and personal observation, and in himself was a striking, though by no means uncommon or exaggerated, example of the inducements which the province held out to the intelligent, hardworking and persevering among the working classes. A vote of £25,000 was provided and Adam was absent until Jun 1857. Two months after his arrival in Scotland 220 emigrants were ready to sail. He returned by the Jura with 304 fellow-passengers, making a total of 2,017 souls who had sailed under his auspices in eight ships. There were fears during 1858 that the supply of labour would not easily be absorbed. At a public dinner at which he was entertained on his return Adam said he hoped to see Otago raised from the sixth to the third position amongst the provinces of New Zealand. Some time later, at the invitation of Taieri farmers, he visited Auckland, where there was surplus labour, to induce some of the men to move to Otago. About 100 accepted his invitation.

Adam had represented the Eastern Division of Dunedin in the Provincial Council in 1853. On his return to Otago he was invited to go into the Council again but, wishing to go on the land, he sold his Anderson's Bay property to W. H. Cutten (1859) and bought about seven square miles in south Tokomairiro, where before long he was running 4,000 sheep. Two thirds of the land was arable, but the discovery of gold put agriculture out of the question; his men went to the diggings and Adam spent long hours in the saddle looking after his flock. When gold was discovered on his own property at Adam's Flat 700 miners agreed to pay him a royalty of 2/6 a week each to dig there, but the payments were so irregular and the business so troublesome that he was glad to exchange the land with the government for twice the area elsewhere. His homestead was at Bon Accord, south Tokomairiro.

In various capacities Adam continued to do public service. In 1863 he was road claims commissioner. After contesting the Tokomairiro seat more than once he was again returned to the Provincial Council (1864-67). He was twice a member of the executive government (under Paterson in 1864-65, and Miller in 1865-66). In 1873 he was again appointed emigration agent for the provincial government and succeeded in directing to Otago a large portion of the emigration under the Vogel policy. In 1876 he published the book already mentioned.

Adam married, first Margaret Milne (Aberdeen), who died in 1856; and later Jessie Esson, who died in 1914. He died on 27 Mar 1908.

Otago P.C. Proc; Hocken; McIndoe; G. Brown; Otago Witness, 11 Oct 1858, 28 Mar 1898; Otago Daily Times, 26 Mar 1908; Scholefield in Otago Daily Times, 11 Apr 1930 (p).

Reference: Volume 1, page 18

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Alexander Samuel Adams

Alexander Samuel Adams

ADAMS, ALEXANDER SAMUEL (1861-1937) was born at Taieri Mouth, his father, John James Adams, having arrived in Otago in 1848. Educated at the Stone school in Dunedin (while Sir Robert Stout was a teacher there), he decided at the age of seventeen to become a lawyer and entered the office of his brother (J. A. D. Adams). On passing his final examination in 1883, he received the Canterbury Law Society's honours certificate. Having been admitted, he entered into a partnership with his brother which lasted till 1910. In 1888 he successfully conducted the Roche case, in which it was held that a married woman could not hold a publican's license. His opponent was Stout, then at the height of his fame at the bar. In 1919 Adams took his two sons into the firm. In 1920 he became crown solicitor in Dunedin (in succession to W. C. Macgregor), and a few months later he was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court. Adams was deeply interested in social movements, especially temperance. He was president of the New Zealand Alliance and of the Otago and Southland No-license Council; of the Council of Churches (1903-04) and of the Baptist Union (1905-06). He married Margaret, daughter of John Boyd (Tapanui). He died on 10 Sep 1937.

Who's Who N.Z., 1908; The Press, 11 Sep 1937.

Reference: Volume 1, page 18

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Arthur Henry Adams

Arthur Henry Adams

ADAMS, ARTHUR HENRY (1872-1936) was born in Lawrence, the son of C. W. Adams (q.v.), educated at Wellington College, the Otago Boys' High School (1886-92) and Otago University. He graduated B.A. in 1894 and spent three years studying law but abandoned it eagerly on being offered a position on the literary staff of the Evening Post, then edited by his uncle, E. T. Gillon (q.v.). During these years he contributed original prose and verse and he wrote the libretto of a Maori comic opera, Tapu, which was produced with success in Australia. Adams then became associated with J. C. Williamson as dramatic secretary and devoted his spare time to writing plays and pantomimes. In 1899 he published Maoriland and Other Verses. On the outbreak of the Boxer war in China he was appointed war correspondent for the Sydney Morning Herald and some New Zealand papers (1900-01). He was invalided from China with enteric fever and proceeded to England, where for the next few years he was engaged in writing and freelance journalism. He published there a volume of verse, The Nazarene 1902, and his first novel, Tussock Land 1904. His earnings from literature were, however, not adequate to maintain him and he returned to New Zealand in 1905 and became associate editor of the New Zealand Times. His bright topical columns in that paper were a feature of New Zealand journalism. In 1906 Adams published London Streets and in the same year returned to Sydney and accepted a post on the Bulletin, for which he eventually wrote the Red Page. He also worked on the Lone Hand and was for a short time editor of the Sydney Sun. In 1908 he married Lilian Paton. Among his novels were Galahad Jones 1910, A Touch of Fantasy 1912, Grocer Greatheart 1915, and Honeymoon Dialogues (published in 1911 under the pseudonym 'James James'). He wrote many full-length plays, including Mrs. Pretty and the Premier, which was successfully produced by Arthur Bourchier in London. Among his latest work was an autobiographical volume A Man's Life. Much of Adams's verse was of a very high order, notably the collections which he published while in London. His prose was particularly graceful, the product of an extremely selective and sensitive mind, which showed little diminution in quality in spite of his great output. Adams died on 4 Mar 1936.

Otago H.S. Reg.; Annals N.Z. Lit. (p); Adams, op. cit; Evening Post, 5 Mar 1936; Sydney Morning Herald, 5 Mar 1936.

Reference: Volume 1, page 18

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Charles William Adams

Charles William Adams

ADAMS, CHARLES WILLIAM (1840-1918). Born at Buckland, Tasmania, Adams was the son of the Rev. H. Cay Adams. He was educated at Campbelltown School, Tasmania, and in 1859 entered the survey department of Victoria as a cadet. Two years later he returned to Tasmania, and in 1862 left for New Zealand, settling in practice in Dunedin as a partner of W. H. Pilliet (q.v.). The partnership being dissolved, Adams entered the survey department of the province of Otago. A year or two later he went to Wellington and entered the service there. In 1867 he was removed to Otago, where he rose to the position of chief surveyor in 1885. In 1897 he was appointed chief surveyor and commissioner of crown lands in Marlborough, which position he held until his retirement in 1904, when he went to live at Hutt. Adams was a man of high scientific attainments and took a keen pioneering interest in astronomy. He was appointed in 1879 the first geodesical surveyor in Wellington. In 1884 he observed the transit of Venus and total eclipse of the sun. He was for some years in charge of the Government Observatory, which was then situated on Mount Cook (Wellington), and collaborated by telegraph with an observer in Sydney in the task of ascertaining the true latitude of Wellington. This was finally established with an error of only seventeen feet between the Sydney and Wellington observations. Adams also discovered an error in the position of a star according to the Nautical Almanac and, the report being verified by important observatories elsewhere, the position was duly corrected. In 1888 with an official party he surveyed the Sutherland Falls, the height of which he calculated to be 1904 feet. He sowed garden seeds and planted strawberries and raspberries in the Fiords. For many years Adams edited the New Zealand Surveyor, to which he contributed many articles. He died on 29 Oct 1918. Adams married Eleanor Sarah (who died on 11 Dec 1934), sister of E. T. Gillon (q.v.).

M'Hutcheson, Camp Life in New Zealand, p. 89; Jourdain; Otago Daily Times, 27 Sep, 29 Oct 1888, 11 Jan 1892; Evening Post, 29 Oct 1918; The Dominion, 18 Dec 1934.

Reference: Volume 1, page 18

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Henry Adams

Henry Adams

ADAMS, HENRY was a prominent lawyer in Nelson for many years. He was elected to the first Nelson Provincial Council for Nelson, which he represented from 1853 to 1873. As provincial solicitor (then and for many years later), he was a member of the executive in 1854 and again 1865-73, and was deputy-superintendent in 1869.

Reference: Volume 1, page 18

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Robert Albert Adams

Robert Albert Adams

ADAMS, ROBERT ALBERT (1842-1904) was born in the Vale of Clwyd, Wales, a son of the Rev. Edward Adams. Educated in Flintshire, he was apprenticed to a draper in Liverpool. In 1862 he emigrated to Melbourne, and in the same year came to New Zealand. He was on the Otago and Thames goldfields and took part in the Waikato war (including Orakau) as a private in the militia. After the war he took up land in Waikato, but soon spent a year or two in Canterbury, and in 1868 again enlisted (in the Armed Constabulary) for the war on the West Coast. He was present at Nukumaru. In 1874 Adams commenced a drapery business in Patea, where he was for many years a leader in local government. A member of the town board, he was afterwards for six years mayor. He was also on the school committee (eight years chairman), the Patea harbour board (1877-78), Wanganui education board, hospital and charitable aid board (some time chairman), and chairman of directors of the Hurleyville Dairy Co. In 1883 he married a daughter of Daniel Smith.

Cycl. NZ, vi.

Reference: Volume 1, page 18

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Thomas William Adams

Thomas William Adams

ADAMS, THOMAS WILLIAM (1842-1919) was born at Graveley, Huntingdonshire, and educated at a private school in Cambridge and afterwards at the British and Foreign Normal School, Borough Road, London. Coming to Canterbury in 1862, he took up land at Greendale in 1865 which he farmed successfully for many years. At an early date he planted shelter belts of trees, devoting much study to ascertain the best varieties for the conditions. In this way he created fine mixed plantations and a collection of exotic trees and shrubs which was then the largest in New Zealand. His researches with regard to the Monterey pine (pinus radiata) constituted an important advance in New Zealand forestry, establishing this as a valuable timber tree for New Zealand. In 1897 he became a member of the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury. Many of his papers on tree culture appeared in the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, the journal of the Canterbury A. and P. Association, and the report of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science (1904). In recognition of his services he was elected an honorary member of the Royal British Arboricultural Society and a life member of the New Zealand Forestry League. Adams was a member of the Courtenay road board (1875), of the Greendale school committee for 35 years (and its first chairman), and the North Canterbury education board from 1892 (chairman 1897-1905). He was for twenty years from 1896 a governor of Canterbury College, to which he left 100 acres of planted land at Greendale, his entire collection of trees and shrubs and the sum of £2,000 as the nucleus of a forestry school. He was a member of the Royal Commission on Forestry (1913). He was a Baptist and a temperance advocate. Adams died on 1 Jun 1919. He married Miss Pannett.

Acland; Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. 51 (p); Who's Who N.Z., 1908; The Press, 2 Jun 1919.

Reference: Volume 1, page 19

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William Adams

William Adams

ADAMS, WILLIAM (1811-84) was born at Upton, Herefordshire, the son of Miles Adams, a lawyer. In 1850 he came to Nelson in the Eden, and shortly afterwards went to Marlborough and took up the Redwood run in the Avondale valley. A leader of the separation movement, he was elected to the first Marlborough Provincial Council for Wairau Valley, which he represented till 1862. Adams was the first Superintendent of the province, but resigned the superintendency to accept the post of commissioner of crown lands. He continued a member of the executive until Jan 1862 when, his salary having been reduced by the opposition party in the Council, he resigned and left the province to practise law in Nelson, where he founded the firm of Adams and Kingdon. He represented Picton in Parliament (1867-68). He retained his pastoral run on the north bank of the Wairau river, where he died in 1884 (see W. A. B. ADAMS).

Marlborough P.C. Minutes and Gaz.; Cycl. N.Z. v (p); Buick, Marlborough

Reference: Volume 1, page 19

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William Acton Blakeway Adams

William Acton Blakeway Adams

ADAMS, WILLIAM ACTON BLAKEWAY (1843-1924) was born at Wilden Manor, Worcestershire, the eldest son of William Adams (q.v.). Coming to Nelson in the Eden in 1850, he was educated at Nelson College (1857-59). In 1862 he was admitted a barrister and solicitor and he then went to England and studied for two years at the Inner Temple. He married a daughter of Dr T. R. Leadam, of London. Returning to Nelson in 1869, Adams was junior partner in his father's firm for some years. Early in 1873 he was elected member of the Provincial Council for Nelson City, and during stormy debates in the Council he fought out the question of responsible government against the executive and the superintendent of the day. He took a leading part in the Nelson and West Coast railway league and drew up a scheme for the construction of the line by means of land grants, a plan adopted later in the case of the Midland railway. In 1878 Adams purchased from the Hon N. Edwards his share in the Tarndale station, and some time later acquired the balance of the property. In 1878 also he entered Parliament as member for Nelson after a hard fight with Col Pitt (q.v.). He was re-elected in 1879, but resigned in 1881 owing to ill-health. Adams consistently supported the Hall government. After a prolonged visit to Europe he returned and took up his residence in Christchurch (1883), practising in partnership with T. J. Joynt and afterwards with Kippenberger. Here too, he became a member and chairman of the Railway League. Adams added considerably to his landed interests, acquiring the Molesworth run, Hopefield and Woodbank in Amuri, Island Farm and Salop Downs, and finally Motunau. At one time he was shearing 75,000 sheep, but he suffered considerable losses through rabbits. Acton Adams died on 19 Jan 1924.

Parltry Record; Acland; Nelson Coll. O.B. Reg; Portrait: Parliament House.

Reference: Volume 1, page 19

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Thomas Adamson

Thomas Adamson

ADAMSON, THOMAS (1847-1913) was born and educated at Wanganui. At the age of 16 he joined the militia and served in the East Coast expeditionary force in 1865-66. He was in the Wanganui Rangers in 1866, and the Wanganui cavalry in 1868. An expert bushman who fought in the Maori manner, he was associated with Keepa's Wanganui contingent in the final chase of Titokowaru to Whakamara, and was awarded the New Zealand Cross. Adamson was then enrolled in the corps of guides (1869). He was severely wounded at Ahikereru on 7 May. After the war he farmed at Moawhango.

N.Z. Army records; Cowan (p); Cycl. N.Z.

Reference: Volume 1, page 19

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John A'Deane

John A'Deane

A'DEANE, JOHN (1826-89) was born at Ashcott, Somersetshire, his father being an army surgeon named Tucker. Educated at Grosvenor College, Bath, he spent some years in the Taunton branch of a banking house of which his uncle was a director. He came to New Zealand in 1855 with his only brother and for some years they gained experience on Hawkes Bay stations, chiefly in the Waipukurau district. He then took up an extensive property which he called Ashcott and converted into one of the finest stations in the province. He contested the Napier seat in Parliament (1861). In 1863 he visited England, and while there changed his name to A'Deane, and married a daughter of Robert Deane Bayly, Kilcott, Gloucestershire. He was in the Hawkes Bay Provincial Council for Waipukurau (1859-62). After his return from England he represented Hampden (1867-71), Te Aute (1871-75) and Ruataniwha (1875-76). For most of this time he held some office. He was speaker from 1867 to 1871; was in the executive in 1869, and was again speaker when the provincial period was closing. A'Deane died on 31 Aug 1889.

Cycl. N.Z., vi (p); London Gaz., 3 Nov 1865; Hawkes Bay Gaz., 20 Feb 1866; N.Z. Gaz., 13 Mar 1866.

Reference: Volume 1, page 19

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John Campbell Aikman

John Campbell Aikman

AIKMAN, JOHN CAMPBELL (?-?) came to Canterbury with his brothers in the first years of the settlement and took up Mount Fourpeaks station in 1858, selling it a year or two later. They had a wharf at Heathcote before the railway was constructed and when freight was brought by sea over the bar at Sumner. Aikman represented Heathcote in the Canterbury Provincial Council (1863-65). He was afterwards in business in Christchurch as an auctioneer and was a lieutenant in the Canterbury Yeomanry Cavalry. His home was in Aikman's road, which was named after him.

Acland.

Reference: Volume 1, page 19

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John Guthrie Wood Aitken

John Guthrie Wood Aitken

AITKEN, JOHN GUTHRIE WOOD (1849-1921) was the son of a farmer at Park Kilchenzie, Kintyre, Argyllshire, and received his education at Campbelltown Grammar School. Instead of becoming a farmer he entered the Glasgow office of James Templeton, carpet manufacturers, and was later connected with the London branch for twelve years. There he met George Wilson, with whom in 1882 he established a business in Wellington, the firm being known as Aitken, Wilson and Co., general merchants. In 1900 Aitken was elected mayor of Wellington and he held the position unopposed until resigning in 1904. He was a member of the harbour board during the same period. In 1902 he was elected to Parliament for Wellington City and in 1905 for Wellington East. He retired in 1908 and in 1914 was called to the Legislative Council, of which he remained a member until his death (on 17 Aug 1921). He was a prominent member of the Presbyterian Church, and in 1917 was elected moderator of the General Assembly of New Zealand. Aitken was chairman of directors of several important companies, and took a great interest in education and philanthropy. He was chairman of the Wellington education board for some years and of the Wellington College board of governors, and was associated with the founding of the Boys' Institute and the activities of the Y.M.C.A. Aitken was unmarried.

N.Z.P.D., 22 Sep 1921; Cycl. N.Z., i; Who's Who N.Z., 1908; Evening Post, 17 Aug 1921; The Dominion, 18 Aug. Portrait: Parliament House.

Reference: Volume 1, page 20

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William Akersten

William Akersten

AKERSTEN, WILLIAM (1825-1905) was born in England. He served his apprenticeship as a shiprigger, then went to sea, gaining a master's certificate; was a master rigger and stevedore in London and owned small vessels in Australia. In 1855 he came to Nelson on behalf of James Henty and Co., Melbourne, to adjust the insurance on the damaged wool cargo of the Aden. He subsequently bought the schooner Maid of Alicante and brought goods and passengers to Nelson. Having made some study of civil engineering, he built the Napier wharf at the port. He had a good business as a ship chandler, stevedore and marine surveyor. As superintendent of public works for the province he designed many bridges and proposed cutting through the Boulder Bank. Akersten was a member of the board of works (1869), of the borough council (1886-1903), and the licensing committee. He was M.P.C. for Nelson (1865-68), and stood for the superintendency in 1869 (Curtis 894, Akersten 374, Gibbs 293). He arrested Bully Hayes at Croixelles on behalf of the owners of his ship and brought him to Nelson. Akersten died on 11 Mar 1905.

Parlty Record; Cycl. N.Z., v (p); Broad; The Colonist, 13 Mar 1905 and Jubilee Souvenir.

Reference: Volume 1, page 20

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William Steadman Aldis

William Steadman Aldis

ALDIS, WILLIAM STEADMAN (1839-1928) was a son of the Rev. John Aldis, a Baptist minister, and was (according to The Times) the doyen of a noted family of mathematicians, including five high wranglers, among them the inventor of the Aldis lens and unit sight.

Born in London, Aldis was educated at the City of London School and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he entered in 1858 and was senior wrangler of his year in 1861. The Times says: "His success was indirectly of public importance. No one could take a fellowship in any college without signing a declaration that he was a bona fide member of the Church of England. For 13 years Trinity had failed to secure a senior wrangler. In 1860 there was Stirling, who was afterwards Lord Justice, but he, being a United Presbyterian, refused to sign the declaration. In 1861 Aldis made the same refusal. This succession of brilliant achievements, coupled with the subsequent conspicuous success of Aldis's two younger brothers, set on foot an agitation which ended in the abolition of the religious tests at both Oxford and Cambridge in 1871."

Aldis remained at Cambridge as a private mathematical tutor for some years. In 1870 he was appointed professor of mathematics and physical science at the new college at Newcastle-on-Tyne (now Armstrong College) and he was principal of this institution when he received the appointment as professor of mathematics at Auckland University College. He married (1863) Mary, daughter of the Rev. William Robinson, also a Baptist. Mr and Mrs Aldis were leading advocates of the higher education of women and drew up a petition for the admission of women to examinations and degrees in the universities which was extensively signed throughout the United Kingdom. The outcome of this movement was that women were allowed to compete in the Tripos examinations on the same terms as men.

Aldis's connection with Auckland University College terminated in 1894 as the result of a difference with the council. He then returned to England and spent some years at Oxford employed as an examiner for the universities. On his retirement he resided in Tenterden, Kent, where he died on 7 Mar 1928. Aldis was not only a man of very wide general knowledge, but he had a particularly lovable and unselfish nature, and was greatly interested in political and social movements. His books on Solid Geometry and Optics were for many years standard works.

Auckland Univ. Calendar; A. and M. Aldis (information); N.Z. Herald, 27 Nov 1893; The Times (London), 13 Mar 1928.

Reference: Volume 1, page 20

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John Aldred

John Aldred

ALDRED, JOHN (1818-94) was born at Stutton, Suffolk, where he was qualifying for the Wesleyan ministry; he was ordained at Bristol on 4 Sep 1839. Having been selected with several others by the centenary conference at Liverpool for missionary service in the South Seas, he sailed in the brigantine Triton, 119 tons, accompanied by the Revs Buddle, Turton, Smales and Buttle.

Arriving at Hokianga on 8 May 1840, Aldred, with Buttle and Ironside, proceeded to their station at Ahuahu, near Kawhia. Here he made quick progress in mastering the Maori language. Travelling on foot to the southern settlements of Taranaki and Wanganui, the three missionaries fell in with a large number of prisoners captured by the Waikato in recent raids upon the Taranaki tribes. They secured the release of many of them and accompanied them back to their homes in Taranaki. In return the Maori tapued 100 acres of land for the purposes of the mission. At Oeo Aldred narrowly escaped evil consequences from having unwittingly used for kindling purposes sacred wood from a wahi tapu. Having reached Waitotara in three months from Kawhia, they returned by foot in three weeks and sailed shortly afterwards in the Magnet for their southern stations. Aldred reached Port Nicholson on 23 Dec 1840 and took up his abode at the Te Aro pa as the first resident Wesleyan minister in Wellington. On 16 Jun 1842 he sailed for the Chatham islands in the schooner Blossom (which was wrecked shortly after her arrival). He was the first clergyman to visit these islands. The 600 Maori to whom he ministered had come from Taranaki eight years earlier, having sold their guns and potatoes to induce Captain Howard to give them a passage in his brig. They found 300 Moriori, whom they enslaved. On 24 Feb 1843, shortly before the Wairau affray, Aldred left Wellington to take charge of a mission at Nelson. In 1849 he was appointed to the Hutt, but before taking up his new post he visited Auckland. He remained at the Hutt until Mar 1854, when he moved to Canterbury as the first resident Wesleyan minister in Christchurch. He married a daughter of the Rev Walter Lawry, superintendent of the mission. After opening the first Wesleyan chapel in Canterbury he moved in 1859 to the Hutt, in 1862 to Wellington, and in 1864 to Dunedin. While there he travelled far and wide on the goldfields, and while riding over the hills from Port Chalmers to Dunedin met with an accident from the results of which he was compelled to retire from regular service in 1867. Thereafter he did connexional work for the remainder of his life and took a keen interest in the British and Foreign Bible society and the female refuge. He died on 12 Jan 1894.

Morley (p); W. J. Williams (p); Buller; M. A. R. Pratt (information); Lyttelton Times, 13 Jan 1894.

Reference: Volume 1, page 20

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Volume 1, page 20

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Alexander Alexander

Alexander Alexander

ALEXANDER, ALEXANDER (1820-73) was one of the earliest agricultural and pastoral settlers in Hawke's Bay and was on the commission of the peace in 1858. He originally settled in the Poraite district and was believed to be the first settler to graze stock on the Wharerangi hills. He was also a storekeeper and trader and had an intimate knowledge of the language and customs of the Maori, over whom he exercised a considerable influence. Alexander made an early journey from Napier to Auckland to open up a mail route. He was an advocate of separation, and when Hawke's Bay became a province he was elected to the first Provincial Council for Napier Country, which he represented from 1860 to 1862. In 1861 he was a member of the executive. Alexander died on 25 Jul 1873.

Hawkes Bay P.C. Proc.; Waka Maori, 1873, p. 105; Hawkes Bay Herald, 29 Jul 1873.

Reference: Volume 1, page 20

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Volume 1, page 20

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James Alexander

James Alexander

ALEXANDER, JAMES (1818-95) was born in Scotland and came to New Zealand in the Martha Ridgway (1840). He was for a little while in the Wairarapa and then settled in Wanganui as manager for W. B. Rhodes, for whom he carried out several army contracts. Later he undertook contracts with F. Y. Lethbridge and D. Peat (with whom he was afterwards in partnership for many years). Alexander died on 15 Jul 1895.

Cycl. N.Z., i (P).

Reference: Volume 1, page 21

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Volume 1, page 21

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James Allan

James Allan

ALLAN, JAMES (1824-91) was born in Irvine, Ayrshire, the son of John Allan (1791-1863) of Bellfield, Taieri. Brought up at Irvine, he came to Nelson with his parents in the New Zealand (1842) and in 1846 went to Otago with a party which had contracted to survey a large block including the Clutha district. Allan brought the plans to Dunedin early in 1847 and shortly afterwards returned to Nelson, where his father had a small farm, and persuaded them all to go to Otago. They sailed in the schooner Emily, 12 tons, in Apr 1848, accompanied by J. C. Smith (q.v.), who had a quantity of merchandise, produce and building material. Together Smith and Allan started a store and bakery. In 1851 Smith retired to go on land at Hopehill, Taieri, which in the following year he transferred to Allan. A few years later they were in partnership in a run near Tokomairiro, and in 1855 made a journey together to Riverton for cattle, which they drove back. The run contained 13,000 acres, including Gabriel's Gully and the Woolshed. About 1860 Allan sold out to John Martin (q.v.) and shortly afterwards the run was resumed for mining purposes. Allan now devoted his attention to the freehold at East Taieri, which he increased eventually to 5,000 acres. He was a successful farmer and breeder. In 1864 he was captain of the East Taieri Rifles and a leading marksman. In 1870 he was elected M.P.C. for Taieri, which he represented to 1875. He was a member of the Taieri county council, the Grey road board and the school committee. Allan married (1850) Jane, daughter of Richard Sutcliffe (who arrived in the Ajax, 1849). He died on 5 Jul 1891. (See G. M. THOMSON.)

Otago P.C. Proc; J. A. Thomson (p); James Smith in Evening Star, 23 Mar 1898; Otago Witness, 23 Mar 1898 (P); Otago Daily Times, 7 Jul 1891.

Reference: Volume 1, page 21

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Edmund G Allen

Edmund G Allen

ALLEN, EDMUND GILLETT (1844-1909) was born in Somersetshire, and arrived in New Zealand in 1863 after having spent ten years in Tasmania. Within a few years he became engaged in railway contracts on the Wellington-Hutt and Waipukurau-Takapau lines and the line between Sawyer's Bay and the Purakanui tunnel, in Otago. When this contract was finished in 1875, Allen settled in Port Chalmers, where he was interested in stone work and quarrying. For 10 years (1884-94) he was mayor of Port Chalmers and in 1896 he was returned to the House of Representatives as member for Waikouaiti. He sat continuously until 1908, representing Port Chalmers from 1902. He had the support of the Workers' Political Committee in 1902 and 1905. For many years Allen was chairman of the dock trust, and he had a seat on the harbour board. He was a strong advocate of a modern dock at Port Chalmers capable of accommodating ocean-going steamers, and it was largely due to his efforts that this end was achieved. He had a retiring disposition and performed his public duties quietly and unostentatiously. He died on 18 Dec 1909.

Hansard, 20 Dec 1909; Cycl. N.Z., iv (P); Who's Who N.Z., 1908; Paul, Trades Unionism; Otago Daily Times, 20 Dec 1909. Portrait: Parliament House.

Reference: Volume 1, page 21

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George Allen

George Allen

ALLEN, GEORGE (1814-99) was born at Deal, Kent, the son of a boatbuilder who took him as a seven-year apprentice to his own trade. By that time the South Australian Company was attracting attention and he accepted an engagement to build its boats and small craft.

In 1836 Allen left England in the brig Emma, 160 tons, which six months later cast anchor off Kangaroo Island. There they had to wait two months for the arrival of the governor (Captain Hindmarsh) in the last week of 1836. The expedition then proceeded to establish the colony and lay out the town of Adelaide. With a view of returning to England, Allen signed on as a carpenter on a homeward-bound ship, which was wrecked at the outset on Encounter Island. He then tried the Sarah and Elizabeth, but she was condemned, and he had to put in some time at Hobart at his own trade. Having worked his passage to Sydney he joined the Orontes, but she too was wrecked (on the north coast of Australia) and the castaways found their way overland to Port Essington, where H.M.S. Alligator lay. Allen was engaged to repair the captain's gig and to do jobs, and then found his way back to Sydney, about the middle of 1839. He came to New Zealand in the Adelaide, visiting Bay of Islands and Waitemata, was back in Adelaide for Christmas, and reached Deal towards the end of 1840. Having received payment from the Admiralty for work done for the Alligator, he married Jane Elizabeth Paul and left for New Zealand in the Katherine Stuart Forbes (Feb 1841). He was then 26 years of age.

In the alarm of 1846 he had command of a militia patrol on the outskirts of Wellington. He worked at his own trade (boatbuilding) with such success that he was able to retire in 1866, and bought a farm at Waiwetu. Having now a competence, Allen was elected for Wellington City to the Provincial Council (1861). He was a member of the committee which decided upon the position of the Queen's wharf, and it was largely due to his insistence that the durability of the piles was increased by coppering. He was defeated at the election in 1865. Allen was a member of the City Council (1876-83 and 1887-88), and for a few months in 1879 he was mayor of the city. He also served on the charitable aid board, and was a trustee and treasurer of the hospital.

Wellington P.C. Proc.; Ward; Cycl. N.Z., i (p); Evening Post, 30 Sep 1929.

Reference: Volume 1, page 21

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William Allen

William Allen

ALLEN, WILLIAM (1806-76) seems to have arrived in Wellington by the Exporter in 1842, and was on the burgess roll in 1843 as an auctioneer in Manners Street. He was a member of the Wellington town board, and represented the City in the Provincial Council (1856-61).

Allen was chairman of the small farms association (1855-58), and later manager of the land on deferred payments society, and of the Wellington Trust and Loan Co. He held a unique position of esteem in political life, exercising considerable influence even when not in office or council. Allen died on 9 Jan 1876.

Wellington P.C. Proc.; Ward; Wellington Independent, 21 Feb 1863; N.Z. Spectator, 1854, pass.

Reference: Volume 1, page 21

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William Shepherd Allen

William Shepherd Allen

ALLEN, WILLIAM SHEPHERD (1831-1915) was born at Manchester, England, and educated at Wadham College, Oxford, where he graduated M.A. He married a daughter of John Candlish, M.P. for the borough of Sunderland.

In 1865 he was elected Liberal M.P. for Newcastle-under-Lyme, which he represented till 1886. Finding himself unable to agree with his leaders on the question of Irish home rule, he became a Unionist. In 1885 Allen visited New Zealand, and a year or so later he acquired a property in Piako, where Morrinsville now is. A staunch Methodist, he and his sons were local preachers and he assisted in establishing Prince Albert College in Auckland. In 1890 Allen was elected to Parliament for Te Aroha, but unseated on petition. He again tried to gain a seat (for Parnell), but without success. For some years he was a member of the Piako county council, from which he resigned on returning to live in England, where he died on 15 Jan 1915. He was deputy-lieutenant for Staffordshire.

His eldest son, WILLIAM ALLEN (1870- ) represented Newcastle-under-Lyme in the House of Commons in 1892-1900 and Stoke-on-Trent 1931-35. He is a K.C. and was recorder of Ludlow (1928-32). Another son, STEPHEN ALLEN (1882- ) commanded the Auckland regiment in the war of 1914-18 and was administrator of Western Samoa (1928-30). (D.S.O. 1918; C.M.G. 1919; K.B.E. 1933).

Studholme; Morley; W. J. Williams; Who's Who N.Z., 1932; The Times (London), 16 Jan 1915; N.Z. Herald, 19 Jan 1915.

Reference: Volume 1, page 21

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James Allison

James Allison

ALLISON, JAMES (1817-67) graduated in medicine at Edinburgh, and came to New Zealand in 1840. He settled on a farm at Lamb Hill, Wanganui, where he married Georgina, daughter of J. A. Gilfillan. About 1848 he moved to Wairau, where he had a farm. This he sold out in 1855 and returned to Wanganui. He did not practise medicine and being of a retiring disposition, took little part in public life; but he represented his district in the Wellington Provincial Council for several years (Wanganui and Rangitikei 1861-65; Rangitikei 1865-67). He was an ardent horticulturist. Allison died at St Peter's, West Indies, on 30 May 1867 on his way to England.

Cycl. N.Z., i; Wellington P.C. Proc.; Woon.

Reference: Volume 1, page 21

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Albert James Allom

Albert James Allom

ALLOM, ALBERT JAMES (1825-1909) was the son of Thomas Allom, the artist and architect who made the lithographic plates for Wakefield's Adventure in New Zealand (1845). Born and educated in London, Allom came to New Zealand as a survey cadet in the Brougham (which arrived at Wellington in Feb 1842). He was employed in Manawatu, on the roads to Porirua and Karori, and in the Hutt valley. In 1844 he was one of the preliminary survey party sent to Otago in the schooner Carbon. The staff being disbanded early next year, he settled in Wairarapa in partnership with John Tully, another cadet, leasing the Tauanui run from the natives. Recalled to England on private affairs in 1848, Allom spent some time with Edward Gibbon Wakefield at Boulogne assisting as amanuensis in producing The Art of Colonisation (published in 1849). He was associated with Wakefield in the affairs of the Canterbury settlement and with Frederick Young in the shipping arrangements. Having seen the first four ships off at Blackwall, he was soon after appointed private secretary to Sir Dominic Daly, lieut.-governor of Tobago, and a year later he became colonial secretary in that island. He took part in the defence arrangements in 1853 when relations with Russia became strained, and was in England on leave when the Crimean war broke out (1855). In 1856 he married Eliza, daughter of G. W. Horn, of Winchfield, Hampshire, and returned to his post in the West Indies, which he had to resign in 1860 owing to ill-health. Being appointed general manager and agent of the Great Barrier Land, Harbour and Mining Co., he came to Auckland in the Mermaid (1861). The company going into liquidation in 1867, he went to Thames and held various appointments, including those of clerk of the court, mining registrar (1870) and receiver of gold revenue at Mackaytown (1875). Retiring owing to the age limit in 1886, he lived in Tasmania 1889-97, when he returned to Auckland. Thereafter he took a prominent part in public movements, including the Auckland scenery preservation society (1899). Allom died on 16 Feb 1909.

Cycl. N.Z., ii (p); N.Z Company reports; Thames Jubilee; Who's Who N.Z., 1908; Roll of Honour, Auckland Centennial

Reference: Volume 1, page 22

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Volume 1, page 22

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Harry Allwright

Harry Allwright

ALLWRIGHT, HARRY (1837-92) came to New Zealand in the Cressy (1850), worked at Lyttelton for a few years for his father (a painter and glazier), on whose death he took charge of the business. A member of the Lyttelton municipal council (1868), he was on many occasions on the borough council and was mayor 1877. In 1879 he was elected M.H.R. for Lyttelton, which he represented to 1887, defeating Murray-Aynsley and E. Richardson. He was prominent in all sports bodies, president of the yacht club and commodore of the regatta. He was a member of the charitable aid board and school committee. Allwright died on 18 Jul 1892.

Lyttelton Times, 19 Jul 1892

Portrait: Parliament House.

Reference: Volume 1, page 22

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Oscar Thorwald Johan Alpers

Oscar Thorwald Johan Alpers

ALPERS, OSCAR THORWALD JOHAN (1867-1927) was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, and educated at Kelskov's grammar school there. Coming to New Zealand in the Friedeburg with his parents at the age of eight, he completed his education at the Napier High School. In 1884 he entered upon his studies at Canterbury College, where he graduated B.A. (1887) and M.A. (1888), with first-class honours in languages and literature and the John Tinline scholarship.

For three years Alpers was assistant to the professor of English, J. Macmillan Brown (q.v.), and he engaged in literary work for the Christchurch papers, in dramatic productions and in debating societies. He was some years (from 1889) master at the Christchurch Boys' High School, all the time increasing his salary by journalism. In 1904 he graduated LL.B. and was admitted to the bar. He practised for some time in partnership with J. W. White, crown prosecutor at Timaru, moved to Christchurch in 1908, and in 1910 joined the firm of Garrick, Cowlishaw and Co. In 1911 he married Natalie, daughter of Henry Rose (Dunedin). In addition to journalistic work, Alpers wrote a good deal in a better literary style, both to New Zealand publications and to English reviews. As a poet he had some standing. His jubilee ode, written in 1900, struck a high note and he had poems in College Rhymes (1923) and the Jubilee Book of Canterbury Verse (which he edited in 1900). In 1902 he collaborated with R. F. Irvine in The Progress of New Zealand in the Century, and before his death he completed a fine volume of personal reminiscences (Cheerful Yesterdays, 1928).

In 1925 he was appointed to the supreme court bench. During the war of 1914-18 Alpers conducted a journal, the Red Cross Record (the profits of which were expended upon the Rannerdale home for soldiers), and he was chairman of a citizens' committee interested in a soldiers' club. He died on 21 Nov 1927.

Alpers, op. cit. (p); Who's Who N.Z., 1924; N.Z. Law Jour., 1927; Annals N.Z. Lit; The Dominion, 28 Nov 1927; The Press, 9 Feb 1925, 22, 28 Nov 1927; Lyttelton Times, 22 Nov 1927.

Reference: Volume 1, page 22

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Stephen James Ambury

Stephen James Ambury

AMBURY, STEPHEN JAMES (1851-1929) was born at Aston Ingham, Herefordshire, and came to New Zealand in the British Empire (1880). After farming at Cambridge, he started a milk business in Auckland and commenced the manufacture of butter. He was a pioneer of butter exporting and factory manufacture. In 1885 he called a meeting of farmers at Mangere and offered to erect a creamery if they would supply the milk. He exported the first ton of factory butter from Auckland (1899) and was later associated with the Auckland Farmers Freezing Co. of which he was an original shareholder, and director and chairman (1914-21). In public life Ambury was mayor of Newton (1887-90), and a member of the Auckland hospital board. He was an officer of the Pitt Street Methodist Church and chairman of the Probert Trust. On his death (23 Jul 1929) he made substantial religious and philanthropic bequests.

N.Z. Herald, 24 Jul, 3 Aug 1929.

Reference: Volume 1, page 22

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Archibald Anderson

Archibald Anderson

ANDERSON, ARCHIBALD (1817-1910) was born at Stirling, the son of John Anderson, who owned fisheries. After getting a sound Scots education Archibald helped his father in the business. He had not turned 21 when the New Zealand Company's agents came to Scotland and, with the help of his father, he purchased orders for one town acre in Port Nicholson and 400 acres of rural land. When the Bengal Merchant sailed from the Clyde (30 Oct 1839) Anderson was just 22. He took with him a ploughman (Donald Drummond). Reaching Port Nicholson on 21 Feb 1840, the Scotsmen found that the land was not available; the surveyors were engaged elsewhere. Anderson allowed his married couple to take work while he erected a raupo store at Pipitea Point and invested his capital in a business which for a year or two thrived. In 1842, in partnership with Andrew Rowan, he erected a second store in Willis Street, but profits being low they invested in the purchase of 20 cows and 500 Southdown sheep, which they depastured on land near Terawhiti (leased from Dr Evans). During the disturbances in 1845 the graziers abandoned the place and Anderson left for Otago in the Scotia with John Jones to prospect the country. He had married (1844) Anna, daughter of Joseph Miller, a trader from Sydney (formerly of Bromley, Kent). Favourably impressed with Otago, he took up grazing land and chartered two schooners to convey his livestock-30 cows, two horses and 500 ewes-to their new range. Rowan remained in charge of the stock at Otago Heads for 18 months, bringing in some income by trafficking with whalers. When Anderson had wound up his affairs in Wellington the partnership was dissolved, each partner taking half of the stock. Rowan lost his life on a voyage to Sydney. Anderson's son, John Crawford (q.v.), was born at the Kaik two days before the arrival of the John Wickliffe. Anderson now moved to Blueskin, where he spent two years, but owing to trouble with native dogs moved his stock to the higher country about Roslyn, and then to Saddle Hill, where he spent eight years. During this time he had a store at Wise's corner and he acted as postmaster until 1849.

Having prospected south Otago before the new settlers arrived, Anderson took up land at Inch Clutha and Stirling, and in 1850 leased the Molyneux run of 30,000 acres, upon which he erected his homestead at Moir's Bush, Barnego Flat. When the land was required for settlement, he gave up the lease and purchased the freehold of 2,000 acres between Balclutha and Tuakitoto lake. He let small farms and himself farmed 200 acres on Inch Clutha. The Balmoral property he worked from 1858 until 1880. In his kitchen the first services in Inch Clutha were held by the Rev W. Bannerman (q.v.), and the first school. Anderson also held the Beaumont run till 1860. At Inch Clutha he operated a ferry for the benefit of the settlers; grew and ground his own wheat; he sledged his family and supplies all the way from Dunedin, and shipped produce in his own boat round the coast to Otago harbour. He was early prominent in public life. In the Provincial Council he represented the Southern District (1853-59). Generally he walked to Dunedin to attend the meetings. He was speaker of the Council in 1854 and a member of the executive (1854-55).

His wife having died in 1860, Anderson retired from public life, except for his interest in the Inch Clutha church, of which he was an elder and benefactor for many years. When it was first built he gave a site of 25 acres. In 1880 he went to live at the Hermitage, Inch Clutha, where he died on 13 Sep 1910.

Otago P.C. Proc.; Hocken, Otago; Beattie; Otago Witness, 9 Mar 1893; Scholefield in Otago Daily Times, 23 Aug 1930 (p).

Reference: Volume 1, page 23

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Volume 1, page 23

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George James Anderson

George James Anderson

ANDERSON, GEORGE JAMES (1860-1935) was born at Back Creek, Bendigo, Australia, and came to New Zealand in 1862 with his parents, who were attracted by the gold rush at Gabriel's Gully. He attended the Lawrence school until the age of 14, when he began work as a compositor's apprentice. In 1890 he married Mary Annie, daughter of Edward Ball.

After experience on the mechanical side of several newspapers, Anderson became business manager of the Mataura Ensign, Gore, and in 1908 took control of the editorial department. In the same year he was elected member of the House of Representatives for Mataura (defeating a strong opponent), and he held this seat continuously until he was defeated in 1928 (by D. McDougall). Anderson was for some years a member of the Gore High School board of governors, and of the Southland education board. In 1920 he accepted a portfolio (as Minister of Internal Affairs) in the Massey Government. Besides that office (which he held 1920-21), he was Minister of Labour (1921-25), and Minister of Marine in 1922. In the Coates Government (1925-28) he was Minister of Labour and of Mines, and was for a time Minister of Pensions and of the Government Printing and Publishing department. After his defeat in 1928 he was called to the Legislative Council (1929), of which he was a member till his death (on 16 Dec 1935).

Who's Who N.Z., 1932; Otago Daily Times, 17 Dec 1935 (p).

Reference: Volume 1, page 23

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Henry Anderson

Henry Anderson

ANDERSON, HENRY (1838-88) was born at Glasgow, educated there and trained as an analytical chemist. He was for a while a pupil of Dr MacAdam. Before coming to New Zealand (1858) he contributed a good deal to the papers in Rothesay and made a voyage to China with his brother (a sea captain). Anderson spent two years with a sister in Rangitikei before coming into contact with T. W. McKenzie (q.v.), who appointed him in 1863 editor of the Wellington Independent. He was a vigorous and forceful writer and made his influence felt in provincial politics. With C. Roe and J. and E. Bull he founded the Advertiser (1869), which only lasted a year or two. He was editor of this paper and later of the Evening Post and the Chronicle. He married in 1864 a daughter of Henry Schultze (Wellington). In 1869 he was elected M.P.C. for Wellington, which he represented to 1871. He died on 20 Jul 1888.

Ward; N.Z. Times, 14 May 1879, 21 Jul 1888; Evening Post, 20 Jul 1888.

Reference: Volume 1, page 23

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John Anderson

John Anderson

ANDERSON, JOHN (1820-97) was born at Musselburgh, Scotland, and at an early age moved with his parents into the city of Edinburgh, where he got, not without difficulty, the usual education of an unendowed Scots boy. Apprenticed to a blacksmith, he worked from six in the morning until the same hour in the evening. He attended evening classes at the school of arts, and gained his diploma and medal. For some time after the expiration of his apprenticeship he worked in Edinburgh. Then he went to Liverpool, and obtained employment in a large shipbuilding yard. In 1847 he married at Edinburgh Jane Gibson, and thus came into touch with a Scots gentleman (Mr Dalmahoy), who was prominent in the councils of the Free Church. This friendship was a tangible influence in his later life.

Anderson became interested in the Otago settlement scheme of the Church. He did not join the pioneers, but in the next few years made up his mind to come to New Zealand, and was accepted as a settler under the Church of England association which was colonising Canterbury. Anderson and his wife and their eldest son sailed in the Sir George Seymour. Arriving at Lyttelton (Dec 1850) he walked over the hills to call upon the Deans brothers (q.v.) at Riccarton. Encouraged by their confidence, he decided to start in business at Christchurch rather than at Lyttelton and promptly set up his forge at 'The Bricks,' the terminus on the Avon of the waterway from Lyttelton. There he was fully busy and occasionally in the evening walked across the hills to Lyttelton and carried back the bar iron required for the next day's work. In 1852 Anderson purchased section No. 877 in Cashel street, and laid the foundations of the Canterbury ironworks, with his residence adjoining. The business grew steadily, and in 1857 he imported engines, boilers, and furnace for the first foundry. He operated the first forge; built the first boiler and imported some of the first ploughs and harvesting machines into the province. Anderson sent his two eldest sons to Scotland to complete their education at the Merchiston Castle school. The eldest trained as a mechanical engineer and the second as a civil engineer. The firm not only made boilers, engines, bridges, dredges, viaducts, flourmilling and flaxmilling machinery, but actually undertook the construction of railways. In 1885 they completed the Rakaia-Ashburton Forks branch. In 1887 they undertook a contract for the line from Te Kuiti to the Mokau river. Having in 1887 opened an engineering shop in Lyttelton, in 1890 they launched the steamer John Anderson for the Peninsula trade. In the following year they did an important repair job on the steamer Duke of Buckingham, and later similar work on the Fifeshire and the Tomoana. In 1900 they built the dredge John Townley for the Gisborne harbour board. They built bridges and viaducts in all parts of New Zealand, including the Beaumont bridge over the Clutha river, the Waiau bridge, many bridges on the Midland railway, and several of the North Island viaducts, including those at Makatote and Mangatera.

While steadily building up his business, Anderson was elected a member of the first town board in Christchurch (1862) and five years later, when Christchurch became a municipality, he was elected to the council, and presided at the first meeting. In 1868 he succeeded to the mayoral chair. When Anderson was about to pay a visit to the United Kingdom in 1875 the citizens of Christchurch presented him with a sufficient sum of money to get his portrait painted by a leading artist in Great Britain (A. Glasgow). Just before leaving he co-operated with Reeves, Peacock, Gould, Coster, and others in the flotation of the New Zealand Shipping Co., of which he was a director almost to the time of his death. He was an original shareholder, and an early director of the Christchurch Gas Co., an original director of the Christchurch Press Co., and a director of the Union Insurance Co. He was one of the first members of the Lyttelton harbour board, first chairman of the licensing committee, for some time chairman of the chamber of commerce, and a strong supporter of the Canterbury A. and P. association. He was one of the founders of the Mechanics' Institute, which was eventually merged in the Christchurch public library. Anderson was instrumental with others in bringing to the province its first Presbyterian minister (the Rev Charles Fraser), and he was a trustee of the property of the church. It was largely due to his exertions that a high school was established under the auspices of the church on the Lincoln road.

Mrs Anderson died in Mar 1894, and Anderson on 30 Apr 1897. (See JOHN ELMSLIE).

His son, JOHN ANDERSON (1850-1934), who was educated at Merchiston Castle, became chairman of directors of the firm. He was a member of the Christchurch City Council (1923-25) and many years a director of the New Zealand Shipping Co. and The Press Co., president of the Agricultural and Pastoral association and a life member of the council of Canterbury University College.

Cycl. N.Z., iii (p); The Press, 30 Apr 1897, 21 Dec 1925; Scholefield in The Press, 1 Nov 1930 (p).

Reference: Volume 1, page 24

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John Crawford Anderson

John Crawford Anderson

ANDERSON, JOHN CRAWFORD (1848-1930) was born at Maori Kaik, Otago, the son of Archibald Anderson (q.v.). Educated at Inch Clutha school and Otago Boys' High School (1863-64), he worked on his father's farm and as a carrier to the goldfields. At the age of 20 he leased 2,000 acres from his father. He was engaged opening up an antimony mine in the Lammerlaw range, but returned to farming and shepherding in Marlborough. In 1883 he entered into partnership with James Horn (q.v.) in a general store at Quartzville (Bannockburn). He contested the Bruce seat unsuccessfully against Donald Reid in 1885 and in 1887 (having sold his business and settled at Inch Clutha) he stood as a Stout-Vogel candidate and was successful. He retired in 1890 and devoted his attention to his business as a stock and station agent in Oamaru. Returning to Stirling, he contested the Bruce seat in 1899 against James Allen. Anderson was a member of the Clutha river board, the Otago land board (1911-15), the Stirling school committee, and the Anglican diocesan synod (1910-23), a life member of the Clutha and Matau A. and P. society, a director of the South Otago Freezing Co., and of the Stirling dairy factory. He married (1893) a daughter of Henry Hamilton (London). His death occurred on 12 Nov 1930.

Who's Who N.Z., 1924; Otago Witness, 18 Nov 1930 (P). Portrait: Parliament House.

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John Chapman Andrew

John Chapman Andrew

ANDREW, JOHN CHAPMAN (1822-1907) was the son of the Rev James Andrew, vicar of Whitby. Educated at Sedbergh school and at University College, Oxford, he graduated B.A. in 1844 and M.A. in 1847 (with honours in classics and mathematics). In 1845 he was elected a fellow and tutor of Lincoln College, but resigned the fellowship on his marriage in 1856 to Emma, daughter of the Rev H. Fendall, vicar of Crambe, Yorkshire. He was ordained deacon (1847) and priest (1848), and appointed vicar of St Michael's, Oxford.

In 1856 Andrew emigrated to Canterbury in the Westminster, and made some explorations in the Mackenzie country and the Southern Alps. In 1857 he leased the Otamatata run, on the upper Waitaki, which he held till 1866, when he moved to the North Island, purchasing 18,200 acres at Castlepoint, upon which he resided after his return from England (1869). He gave the run the name 'Ica,' from his initials as stencilled on his wool bales. Andrew represented Wairarapa East in the Wellington Provincial Council (1867-75) and Wairarapa in Parliament (1871-77). He was chairman of the Whareama road board, a member of the Castlepoint county council and of the first Wellington education board. From 1876 to 1886 he was headmaster of Nelson College, resigning his seat in Parliament to attend to this duty. He was one of the founders of the University of New Zealand, and was a member of the senate (1874-1907), and vice-chancellor (1885-1905). While in Nelson he assisted to found the Nelson Philosophical Society. In 1880 he married (secondly) Emily Sarah, daughter of John Morgan (Hobart). About 1895 Andrew retired from farming and resided thereafter at Otaki, where he died on 7 Dec 1907.

Nelson Coll. Reg.; Wellington P.C. Proc.; Who's Who N.Z., 1908; Col. Gent.; Cycl. N.Z., i; Hocken, Otago; John Wilson; J. Park in Otago Daily Times, 25, 26 Mar 1925; N.Z. Times, 9 Dec 1907. Portrait: Parliament House.

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John Andrews

John Andrews

ANDREWS, JOHN (1842-1932) was born in Somersetshire, England, and came to New Zealand in the Timandra. He was educated at a private school and afterwards at a night school in New Plymouth, while he worked with his father, an orchardist, at Hurdon. In the Taranaki war, after being several times rejected as too young, he served under Atkinson. He was present with the militia and volunteers at Waireka, Huirangi and Te Arei and employed in the convoy of stores. After the war he went to the South Island, visiting Gabriel's Gully and finding employment at sawmilling in Canterbury and the West Coast. Having married (1865) Emily Young (Aberdeen), he returned to Taranaki and took up land at Huirangi, where their child was baptised by Whiteley (1866). Andrews's first earnings were invested in the purchase of draught bullocks. He was greatly interested in public affairs, being a member of the road board and cemetery board at Huirangi, the education board (1885), the hospital board and the Taranaki county council. He represented Grey and Bell in the Provincial Council (1873-75). Andrews died in Apr 1932.

Taranaki P.C. Minutes; Taranaki Herald, Apr 1932.

Portraits: Taranaki Hist. Coll; General Assembly Library.

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Samuel Paull Andrews

Samuel Paull Andrews

ANDREWS, SAMUEL PAULL (1836-1916) was born in Isle of Wight, educated at private schools and learned the trade of plasterer. For ten years (1854-64) he was in Victoria, at first mining, and later as owner of a threshing plant. He then came to New Zealand, under contract to the Union Bank of Australia to plaster their buildings in Auckland, Nelson and Christchurch. He also plastered the Exhibition building in Dunedin (now part of the public hospital).

Settling in Christchurch, Andrews became a member of the Provincial Council, representing City of Christchurch (1872-75). He also represented Christchurch City in the House of Representatives from 1879, but was defeated for the North Christchurch seat in 1881. He sat on the Christchurch City Council for three years (1884-87). He was a prominent temperance advocate for over 40 years. He took an active part in establishing the Independent Order of Good Templars, being at one time chief templar, and he was interested in founding the Sons of Temperance, of which he was patriarch. For five years he was champion oarsman of Christchurch, and later became vice president of the Christchurch sports association. Andrews married (1863) Elizabeth Ann, daughter of B. Gahagan. Until his death on 18 Oct 1916, he was a stone-quarry owner and contractor.

N.Z.P.D., 29 Jun 1917; Cycl. N.Z., iii (p); Who's Who N.Z., 1908; Lyttelton Times, 11 Sep 1879; The Press, 19 Oct 1916. Portrait: Parliament House.

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George French Angas

George French Angas

ANGAS, GEORGE FRENCH (1822-86) was born at Newcastle-on-Tyne, the son of George Fife Angas (1789-1879), who was associated with the South Australian Land Co., and whose information of the designs of the French (in Dec 1838) hastened the action of the Colonial Office in gaining possession of New Zealand. Educated at Tavistock for business, his tastes were artistic, and he studied lithography and anatomical drawing. Going to South Australia in 1843, he accompanied Governor Grey on some of his explorations, making sketches and drawings. He came to New Zealand in 1844, and made many pictures in the North Island, notably about the Taupo district, which he used for his great work, The New Zealanders Illustrated (published in London in 1847), and Savage Life and Scenes in Australia and New Zealand (1847). Angas spent two years in South Africa doing similar work. He was secretary of the Australian Museum in Sydney from 1853, and returned to England in 1861, where he died on 8 Oct 1886.

Austral. Encycl.; Angas, op. cit.; Loyau; Hodder, George Fife Angas, 1891

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Paora Apatu

Paora Apatu

APATU, PAORA (?-1875), a Wairoa chief, the son of Te Apatu, was descended from Kahungunu and Ruatapuwahine. When Pomare attacked the Ngati-Kahungunu in Kaimango pa (1818-19) the defenders stole the Ngapuhi canoes, in which Te Apatu put to sea to escape the vengeance of the northern taua. He was drowned on the Wairoa bar in 1854. Paora Apatu and Kopu (q.v.) in 1866 sold the land on which Wairoa stands. He stood out against the Hauhau invasion and strengthened his pa as soon as the emissaries entered the district. In the campaign against Te Kooti, Apatu and Whanga led their contingents in the pursuit from Wairoa (Jul 1868). They were present at Whitmore's first assault at Makaretu, though too late to take part. Apatu had not much influence and could muster only 25 men to accompany the friendlies in the Waikaremoana expedition (1870). He died in Oct 1875.

Lambert; Cowan

Reference: Volume 1, page 25

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Ruka Aratapu

Ruka Aratapu

ARATAPU, RUKA (?-1904), an East Coast chief and one of the lieutenants of Ropata Wahawaha, first distinguished himself at the siege of Ngatapa in 1868. With Ropata and a small force he pursued the Hauhau close up to their defences and fought them muzzle to muzzle across the first wall. Climbing a tree, he fired again and again at the defenders, ignoring Ropata's orders to come down. He was also in the second attack on the stronghold. In 1870-71, with the rank of lieutenant, he served under Ropata and Porter in the long pursuit of Te Kooti. On 1 Sep 1871 he was prominent in the fight at Maungapohatu, where he and Lieutenant Large commanded the right centre party of 20. All but eight of the defenders were captured, Te Kooti having escaped down a cliff at the first alarm. Large and Aratapu were then left in garrison in the Opokere pa. Later they held the new military post at Hinau-Piwai, Maungapohatu, until Nov 1871, when all forces were withdrawn. His father was of the Ngati-Maniapoto tribe (King Country) and his mother of Ngati-Porou. He married Harata Parata, of the Ngati-Ira sub-tribe of Ngati-Porou, and his wife accompanied him on some of the campaigns in which he took part. After peace was re-established Ruka was engaged in trade and at one time kept a hotel near Port Awanui. He died at Gisborne on 13 Feb 1904.

Lambert; Cowan, Wars; do. Sketches (p); Sir Apirana Ngata (information).

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Francis Arkwright

Francis Arkwright

ARKWRIGHT, FRANCIS (1846-1915) was born at Church Mayfield, Staffordshire, the son of the Rev. Godfrey H. Arkwright, of Sutton Scarsdale, and great-great-grandson of Sir Richard Arkwright, the inventor. He was educated at Eton and held a commission for some time in the 100th Regiment (Royal Canadians). He was a J.P. for Warwickshire and the North Riding of Yorkshire, and lord of the manor of Churchover, Warwick. In 1874 he was elected M.P. for East Derbyshire, which he continued to represent as a Conservative until 1880. He then came to New Zealand and took up a property near Marton, which he called Overton.

Arkwright took an interest in New Zealand politics and stood for Rangitikei on two occasions as a supporter of Seddon rather than as a Liberal. In 1887 he was defeated by R. C. Bruce and John Stevens, and in 1890 by D. H. MacArthur. At the nomination in 1887 he protested against the 'meaningless sham of nomination at the hustings,' which he said had been abolished in England 20 years earlier, and he refused to address the electors first as required by the alphabetical order usually observed. Called to the Legislative Council in 1895, Arkwright moved the address-in-reply in the following session. He was a staunch supporter of Liberal legislation and made one of his best speeches in support of the old age pensions bill, warning members that though they might throw such a measure out again and again they would eventually be compelled to pass it. He was reappointed to the Council in 1902, and resigned four years later on going to reside in England. He died at Bournemouth on 1 Mar 1915.

Arkwright married first (1868) Louisa, daughter of Henry J. Milbanke, and second (1875) Evelyn Addington, daughter of Viscount Sidmouth. As a freemason he was the founder and first master of lodge Marton-Ruapehu (1885) and was grand master of the Wellington district (E.C.) from 1893-1900. During this period articles of recognition were made between the grand lodge of New Zealand and the united grand lodge of England. An accomplished French scholar, Arkwright made a translation of the memoirs of the Duc de St Simon which was published after his death. He once hunted a pack of harriers in Derbyshire; was a keen fisherman and a first-rate shot with both gun and rifle.

Hansard, 13 Dec 1897; A. E. Currie (information); N.Z. Chess Book, 1922.

Reference: Volume 1, page 25

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George Armstrong

George Armstrong

ARMSTRONG, GEORGE (1822-1905) was born at St. Johns, Nova Scotia. He first visited Banks Peninsula in command of a trading brig, and left his ship, the Phoenix, at Hawkes Bay in 1846. While in command of the Wellington schooner Edward Stanley, engaged in carrying stores for the troops at Wanganui, he was court-martialled for taking his vessel to the rescue of a settler who was attacked by natives. Armstrong married Miss Cummerfield (Foxton) and settled in Akaroa, taking the Bruce hotel. Returning from a visit with his family to America, he bought the schooner Mary Louisa at Sydney and traded between Wellington and Akaroa. He bought land at German Bay, and established the Mount Vernon homestead, afterwards acquiring other land from the Government. Armstrong represented Akaroa in the Provincial Council (1861-62) and Wainui (1862). Early in 1866 he was elected to Parliament for the same constituency, which he represented till 1870. He died in 1905. His son, GEORGE ARMSTRONG (1853-1932) was first elected in 1879 to the Akaroa borough council, on which he served for fifty years (for nearly 30 years of which he was mayor). He represented the borough on the North Canterbury hospital board and the Banks Peninsula power board, and was chairman of the Akaroa High School and a member of the Wainui road board. In 1879 he married Mary, daughter of Captain Robert Gray (Nelson). His death occurred on 6 Nov 1932.

Canterbury P.C. Proc; J. Hay; Akaroa Mail, 8 Nov 1932; Lyttelton Times, 7 Nov 1932.

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Henry Armstrong

Henry Armstrong

ARMSTRONG, HENRY represented Wallacetown in the Southland Provincial Council in 1864; New River (1864-67), and Invercargill (1867-69). He was a member of the executive for almost the whole of that period and in 1868 was deputy-superintendent for J. P. Taylor.

Southland P.C. Proc.

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John Philip Armstrong

John Philip Armstrong

ARMSTRONG, JOHN PHILIP (1828-1906) was born in Wexford, Ireland, and trained as a chemist in Dublin, where he qualified as a dentist. In 1848 he went to America, returning to Ireland in 1850, and emigrating almost at once to Victoria, where he spent ten years on the goldfields practising as a dentist. The gold discoveries at Gabriel's Gully attracted him to New Zealand and he established himself in Dunedin in 1861. He represented Mount Ida in the Provincial Council (1871-73 and 1875). Armstrong was a prominent freemason (a founder of lodge Dunedin) and was keenly interested in cremation. He published in the Otago Daily Times his reminiscences of The Adventures of an Irish Pilgrim. His death occurred on 11 Feb 1906.

Cycl. NZ., iv (p); Otago Daily Times, 26 Feb 1906.

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George Alfred Arney

George Alfred Arney

ARNEY, SIR GEORGE ALFRED (1810-83) was born at Salisbury, England, in 1810, the seventh and youngest son of William Arney, of The Close, and Maria Charlotte, daughter of Thomas G. White, of Kew. His father was a lawyer with a good practice and steward of several large landed estates. Educated at Winchester and at Brasenose College, Oxford, Arney excelled in classics. He graduated B.A. in 1832 and M.A. the following year. He was admitted to Lincoln's Inn in 1829 and was called to the bar at Easter Term 1837. For some years he went the Western circuit and attained a leading position at the bar. In 1835 he married Harriett (d. 1842), daughter of Captain Thomas Parr, R.N.

After practising for more than twenty years, and being recorder of Winchester, Arney was appointed on 2 Sep 1857 to be Chief Justice of New Zealand, on the recommendation of Mr Justice Coleridge. When he arrived at Auckland early in 1858 by the Gertrude, he was the only judge in the colony. Arney was an able lawyer, absolutely impartial, a man of great refinement and a Christian gentleman; modern in his outlook, gentle almost to timidity; a lover of the classics and art. Under him the New Zealand courts led the way in the fusion of law and equity. Immediately on his arrival in New Zealand he was called to the Legislative Council. He intervened in debate rarely, but always with a sense of conviction and earnestness. In his first session he protested against the Government's expecting the Council to come to a decision without sufficient information, and objected to "holding a position something between a registration officer and a printer's devil" (6 Jul 1858). He spoke chiefly on legal measures, of which in those days there were many, and on 13 Aug 1861 persuaded the Council to reaffirm a resolution of 1856 that judges of the supreme court should not be removable except by Her Majesty or on an address from both houses of Parliament, and that judges should be appointed only on the recommendation of a judge of the superior court in England. One of his most noteworthy speeches in Parliament was delivered on 30 Aug 1860 in a debate on the Maori war. In a dignified and impassioned plea for social justice to the Maori he declared: "I should hold the entire province of Taranaki hardly worth the cost of one year's contest." In 1862 Arney was knighted. He was absent from the Council for two consecutive sessions, and early in 1866 he resigned his seat. In 1873 he was for a few months administrator of the government. On 31 Mar 1875 he retired on a pension, and on the eve of his departure for England he received a flattering testimonial of esteem from the citizens of Auckland and from the Provincial Council. Sir George on returning to England lived chiefly at Torquay, and continued to take a lively interest in colonial matters. By the death in 1879 of his brother, Colonel Arney (who was in New Zealand with the 58th Regiment), Arney inherited considerable property. He died on 7 Apr 1883, and was buried in Salisbury Cathedral.

N.Z.P.D.; Cycl. NZ., ii (p); App. H.R., 1874, A5; University Registry, Oxford; Morton; N.Z. Herald, 31 Aug 1865, 11 Apr 1883. Portrait: General Assembly Library.

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James Frederick Arnold

James Frederick Arnold

ARNOLD, JAMES FREDERICK (1859-1929) was born at St Peter's Port, Guernsey, the son of Julius Arnold, a lawyer, with whom he came to New Zealand in 1864. In 1875 he was apprenticed as a clicker in the bootmaking industry in Christchurch. There he remained till 1882, when he took an engagement with Sargood, Son and Ewen, in Dunedin. In Christchurch Arnold was an active member of friendly societies, including the I.O.G.T. and the A.O.F. In 1890 the bootmakers' union agreed to admit clickers to membership, and Arnold attended the first federal conference at Wellington. In 1891 he distinguished himself as a debater in a conference with employers, and for some years thereafter he presided at such meetings. In 1896 he conducted the bootmakers' disputes before the conciliation board and in the Arbitration Court. Subsequently he successfully raised the question of jurisdiction. In 1898 Arnold was elected president of the union, which he represented for a time on the Workers' Political committee and the trades and labour council. Elected to Parliament in 1899 as one of the representatives of Dunedin City, he sat continuously (for Dunedin City 1899-1905, Dunedin South 1905-08, Dunedin Central 1908-11), until he was defeated by Sir Charles Statham. For some years he was chairman of the labour bills committee. Arnold was a member of the Mornington school committee, and the school committees' association; of the Mornington borough council (for six years); and of the executive of the Dunedin technical classes association. For some years before his death (on 10 Jul 1929) he was officer in charge of the labour bureau at Timaru. He married (1884) Isabella Lawden.

N.Z.P.D., 30 Jul 1929; Cycl. N.Z., iv; Otago Daily Times, 11 Jul 1929.

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Thomas Arnold

Thomas Arnold

ARNOLD, THOMAS (1823-1900), a son of Dr Arnold, of Rugby, was born at Laleham, Middlesex, when his father was rector there. Educated at Winchester and Rugby, he was a contemporary of Thomas Hughes and at University College, Oxford, of Clough, Jowett and Shairp. He graduated in 1845 and commenced to read law, but accepted a post in the Colonial Office (1847). In 1848 he came to New Zealand in the John Wickliffe, expecting to take up land purchased by his father from the New Zealand Company. He exchanged his father's sections at Makara for land on the Porirua road, but the trustees forbade the exchange. On the advice of Domett he started a school in Nelson, but was soon attracted to Tasmania by the offer of a position as inspector of schools (1849). His book, Passages in a Wandering Life, published in 1900, gives interesting sidelights on New Zealand society in the forties. Becoming a follower of the Oxford Movement, Arnold left Tasmania for England in 1856 and joined the Roman Catholic church. He was professor of English literature at the Roman Catholic University in Dublin. There he wrote his Manual of English Literature, Historical and Critical. He followed Cardinal Newman to Edgbaston, teaching at the Birmingham Oratory School. In 1882 he was elected a fellow of the Royal University of Ireland, and appointed professor of English in University College, St Stephen's Green. Arnold brought out editions of many English classics. He died on 12 Nov 1900. His eldest daughter was the novelist, Mrs Humphrey Ward.

D.N.B.; Hocken, Bibliog.; D. Cowie in N.Z. Railways Magazine, Jan 1937.

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James Ashcroft

James Ashcroft

ASHCROFT, JAMES (1834-1911) was born and educated in London, and for fourteen years worked in the mercantile firm of Redfern, Alexander and Co. He came to New Zealand in the Kensington (1862) and after a year with Peacock and Co., Christchurch, he was eleven years in business as a grain and produce merchant in Oamaru. He represented the town in the Otago Provincial Council (1869-70). For five years he was with Cargill and Co. and the National Mortgage Co., in Dunedin, and he then joined the Otago Daily Times, which he edited (1878-83). Appointed official assignee, he was stationed in Dunedin for nine years, and in Wellington until he retired (1908). Over 3,000 bankruptcies came under his supervision. A member of the Church of England, Ashcroft was closely associated with the Sunday school movement, and was a member of the diocesan synod of Otago. His publications include a collection of Fugitive Poems on local topics, and two short pamphlets on Ritualism and Auriferous Resources of Otago and Southland. He died on 23 May 1911.

Cycl. NZ, 1; Who's Who N.Z., 1908; Paul; Ashcroft, op. cit.; Otago Daily Times, 23 May 1911.

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Benjamin Yates Ashwell

Benjamin Yates Ashwell

ASHWELL, BENJAMIN YATES (1810-83). A frail youth, joined the Church Missionary Society at the age of 21, spent two years in the training institution at Islington and then proceeded as a lay missionary to Sierra Leone (1833). The climate reacted unfavourably on his frail physique and highly strung temperament, and he was shortly ordered back to England, on the advice of Kissling (q.v.).

In 1835, with his wife, he sailed for New Zealand, arriving on 23 Dec. His fellow missionaries did not appreciate Ashwell's mercurial temperament, and he was not considered a likely missionary to have a separate charge. On his own initiative he took up his residence amongst the lawless community at Russell, where he ministered not without success. When he joined the Rev R. Maunsell (q.v.) at Waikato Heads his temperament provoked hostility, and it was a year before the natives would build him a separate house. When he was at length given a station at Taupiri, five miles north of Ngaruawahia, his courage, zeal, enterprise and self-sacrifice, and unremitting sympathy for the Maori yielded results beyond all expectations. Impetuous and eccentric, he held a privileged position amongst the Maoris. He could say and do as he wished, and even persuaded Maori parents to entrust their children as boarders to the care of himself and Mrs Ashwell. In 1839 he chose a site at Te Awamutu for a mission station, and later in the year opened the mission at Otawhao (Jul 1839). He had immediate success with the Ngati-Ruru tribe, converting to Christianity the chief Mokorou (as Riwai) and inducing a section of the tribe to establish a Christian pa. In 1841 Ashwell was succeeded by Morgan (who had been for six years on the Waihou at Matamata and at Rotorua). Ordained deacon (1848), he was admitted to priest's orders at St Paul's, Auckland, on 22 May 1853. Ashwell later maintained a mission at Kaitotehe, opposite Taupiri, until the outbreak of the war compelled him to retire to Auckland (1863). He was one of the few who could return to their stations afterwards, but he devoted most of his later years to service at the Auckland hospital, the gaol and the old men's refuge, and to the welfare of Maori lads attending St Stephen's school. Ashwell died at Auckland on 29 Sep 1883.

Gorst; Morton; W. Williams; Sherrin and Wallace (p); Davis; Southern Cross, 22 Apr 1867; N.Z. Herald, 3 Oct 1883.

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Arthur Richmond Atkinson

Arthur Richmond Atkinson

ATKINSON, ARTHUR RICHMOND (1863-1935) was born in New Plymouth, the only son of A. S. Atkinson (q.v.), and nephew of Sir Harry Atkinson. He attended Nelson College (1870-78) where he won the Newcombe Scholarship (1874) and was head of the school (1878). He went to Clifton College (England) with a scholarship, and in 1882 entered Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where he won the open classical scholarship. In 1887 he was awarded his B.A. degree. He was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in the same year and returned to New Zealand.

After serving his apprenticeship in law offices in Nelson and Dunedin, and acting as secretary to his uncle (Mr Justice Richmond) for a year, Atkinson began to practise in Wellington with C. B. Morison, and later on his own account. He sat in the House of Representatives as member for South Wellington (1899-1902). He was an active critic of the Liberal Government and questioned the policy of sending troops to South Africa, thus losing his seat. For some years he served on the Wellington City Council and on the Victoria College council (1912-33). He was a prominent member of the New Zealand Alliance, being president for a term (1920-22). A writer of distinction, Atkinson was also a journalist. He was a regular contributor to the Evening Post for more than 25 years, and to the Round Table, and he was New Zealand correspondent of the Morning Post (1907-11) and of The Times (1911-21). He died on 26 Mar 1935.

Atkinson married first (1900) a daughter of Professor T. Kirk. She died in 1921. In 1923 he married Emma Maud Banfield (1869-1931) who was born in South Wales, educated at a convent in Bruges and trained as a nurse at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London. She was superintendent of the Philadelphia Polyclinic Hospital, U.S.A. (1895-1910), served (1914-15) with a British Red Cross unit in France, was appointed matron of the Lord Derby war hospital at Warrington, and in 1918 matron of the British war hospital at Rouen. (R.R.C. 1919).

N.Z.P.D., 27 Mar 1935; Nelson Coll. O.B. Reg.; Who's Who N.Z., 1908, 1924, 1932; The Dominion, 27 Mar 1935 (p); Evening Post, 24 Sep 1931, 26 Mar 1935.

Reference: Volume 1, page 27

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Arthur Samuel Atkinson

Arthur Samuel Atkinson

ATKINSON, ARTHUR SAMUEL (1833-1902) was born in the north of England and educated at Blackheath. He came to New Zealand with his brother, H. A. Atkinson (q.v.) in 1853 in the Sir Edward Paget and settled in the neighbourhood of New Plymouth. During the war of 1860 he served in the Taranaki volunteers under his brother, and when peace came he became editor and part proprietor of the Taranaki Herald. He was a member of the Provincial Council for Grey and Bell (1864-69) and of Parliament for Omata (1866-68), resigning for private reasons. He had, in fact, decided to prosecute his law studies, and for this purpose went to Nelson as secretary to Mr Justice Richmond. There he finished his legal education, was admitted (1871), and soon after joined the firm of Fell and Atkinson. He practised there until his death (on 10 Dec 1902). Atkinson was a leading member of the Nelson Philosophical Society. (See A. R. ATKINSON).

Taranaki P.C. Proc. and Gaz.; Parltry Record; Cycl. NZ, v; Salls.

Portrait: Parliament House.

Reference: Volume 1, page 27

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Harry Albert Atkinson

Harry Albert Atkinson

ATKINSON, SIR HARRY ALBERT (1831-92) was born at Broxton, Cheshire, on 1 Nov 1831, the son of John Atkinson, an architect and engineer. While he was a child his father removed to Hurworth, Durham, and then to Frindsbury, Kent, where the boy was brought up. He went to the Rochester School and to Blackheath, leaving in 1850 to pursue an intensive course of reading in history, public administration, theology and colonial affairs. An elder brother, William Atkinson (1826-74), had gone earlier to New Zealand and recommended his younger brothers to follow. Their father had independent views on education, and when his boys contemplated emigrating to New Zealand with their friends the Richmonds, he had them taught useful trades, such as carpentry, tinsmithing, bootmaking and blacksmithing. Harry and Arthur sailed with the Richmonds in the Sir Edward Paget, which reached Auckland in May 1853. Chartering a 14-ton cutter, the Three Brothers, they reached New Plymouth in Aug. Atkinson declined an offer of employment with a bootmaker in the town, and joined his relatives, who were farming small sections on the Carrington road. Their eight farms now aggregated 1,000 acres. Atkinson built his homestead, which he called Hurworth, of timber sawn by himself, and spent strenuous years felling and clearing, fencing and ploughing. Though suffering from asthma, he did not spare himself, and had the satisfaction of creating a pleasant home (which is still standing) in picturesque surroundings. In 1856 he married Amelia Jane Skinner, daughter of a banker in Rochester.

Before they had been long in Taranaki the native question began to assume an alarming aspect. From being enthusiastic and industrious farmers, on cordial terms with the pakeha, the Maori became divided over land disputes, in which the pakehas inevitably were involved. Acting on the advice of Major Lloyd (q.v.), who foresaw that sooner or later they must come into conflict with their Maori neighbours, the settlers commenced military training under his orders. Atkinson in May 1857 was elected to the Taranaki Provincial Council (for Grey and Bell), and was already marked out as a leader amongst the men of action in the province. Towards the end of 1858 the Taranaki Rifle Volunteer company was formed, and he was elected to hold a commission. Punctual, resourceful, prudent, and a master of bushcraft, he was given command of No. 2 company as soon as the war began. His volunteers speedily gained the upper hand in numerous skirmishes and running engagements with the natives. They were first under fire at the battle of Waireka (28 Mar 1860) where they behaved with great steadiness and intrepidity, holding the advanced position above the Waireka stream, and withdrawing to Omata at nightfall in good order with their dead and wounded. In Aug, while leading a force of volunteers and militia to bring in the property and livestock from threatened homesteads, Atkinson ran into a sharp engagement with a marauding party of natives. At the attack on Mahoetahi (6 Nov) he demanded a post of honour in the attack for his volunteers, who were smarting under the criticisms of the general. They accordingly formed the first line of the attack with the 65th regiment, and acquitted themselves with great distinction. They were also present at the engagements of Kaihihi and Matarikoriko. During this campaign most of the farms were raided by the Maori and many homesteads were burned. Atkinson's was set on fire but escaped destruction.

In Jun 1861 Atkinson was elected unopposed to represent Grey and Bell in Parliament, and he reached Auckland on the day after the defeat of the Stafford Government. On the outbreak of the new war in 1863 Atkinson's great experience in the field was utilised in command of the Forest Rangers, formed in Jul 1863 with an effective strength of 150. At Allen's Hill, Potokou (10 Oct) the Rangers doubled for a distance of four miles to support the regulars. In Mar 1864 they distinguished themselves at Kaitake. On 6 Apr at Ahuahu they rescued the killed and wounded after the regulars had suffered a reverse, and at the end of the month they took part in the skirmishes at Sentry Hill. In Sep they were present at successful operations at Manutahi and Mataitawa. Atkinson was frequently mentioned in despatches; received the thanks of the Government and was promoted major. Colonel Warre described him as "a first-rate guerilla leader." During these years Atkinson had been thrice deputy-superintendent of the province, but in Feb 1864 he withdrew from provincial politics. While all the volunteers under his command received land grants from the Government, Atkinson alone of the officers received none. When Weld took office, in Nov 1864, pledged to a policy of self-reliance in the conduct of the war, he chose Atkinson as being eminently fitted by character and experience to inaugurate the policy as Defence Minister. During the year Atkinson accompanied the expedition which established Brassey at Pipiriki in the teeth of the Hauhau invasion of the Whanganui district (May 1865). A few months later the Weld ministry resigned office and Atkinson, seeing no hope of keeping Stafford out of office, withdrew at the dissolution (Jan 1866) to devote his attention to his own affairs. His wife died on 22 Jun 1865 (aged 33). When Sir John Richardson resigned the town of New Plymouth seat early in 1867 Atkinson was elected unopposed (29 Apr). He signalised his return to the House by moving a series of resolutions on the militia and volunteer system, and later in the session he brought in a bill to amend the volunteer act of 1865. He considered the British troops should be sent away at once and a militia should be trained for home defence. Atkinson's authority on military matters and native affairs now stood very high. His speech on native affairs in the session of 1868 is noteworthy. As a leader in the field he could not yet be dispensed with, and when the reverse at Te Ngutu-o-te-Manu created a crisis in the conduct of the war against Titokowaru in the west and Te Kooti in the east Haultain (the Defence Minister) considered Atkinson and Whitmore equally qualified for the post of commander-in-chief. The fact that Atkinson intended to pay a visit to Great Britain decided the matter. He left the colony in 1868.

When he returned to New Zealand by the Halcyone in 1871 the colonial troops under Whitmore had suppressed the enemy in the west and driven Te Kooti finally into the bush. Taking advantage of a vacancy for the Egmont seat, Atkinson defeated Moorhouse (5 Oct 1872) and thus regained the floor of the House. He took a new interest also in provincial matters in the early seventies. As a settler in a small province impoverished by war, he realised that it had little hope of a prosperous future, and as early as 1867 he had favoured a permissive measure to allow the small provinces to unite with their larger neighbours. He was even prepared to do away with all the provinces if he could see a practicable scheme of local government. Six years later, with the abolition question well advanced, he contested the superintendency of Taranaki against Carrington and Brown, promising that if elected he would sit in council and administer the office of superintendent without the help of a paid secretary. Carrington was elected on 10 Nov 1873 (Carrington 324 votes; Atkinson 276; Brown 172). A fortnight later Atkinson was elected to the Council at the top of the poll for his old Grey and Bell constituency (25 Nov). In May 1874 he became provincial secretary, but on accepting Vogel's invitation to join the ministry (Sep 1874) he relinquished his provincial post. Vogel departed at once for England, and as Pollen was in the Legislative Council Atkinson became the virtual leader of the Government. He was thus burdened not only with the Treasury but with the very onerous task of piloting through Parliament the bills for the abolition of the provinces and contingent legislation to inaugurate the new centralised system (notably the financial arrangements, the counties, the roads and bridges and the harbours bills). He was in those days at the zenith of his power; his reputation high and his health as yet unimpaired by the strain to which it was subjected. Beginning with no special knowledge of finance, he mastered the subject by sheer energy and determination. In his first financial statement Atkinson astounded the House by his grip of finance and his thorough knowledge of accounts, and during the next 16 years his reputation survived not only the criticism of an astute opposition, but also the vicissitudes of a severe depression and drastic retrenchment. Gisborne comments on the remarkable political development of Atkinson at this period, due mainly to his self-reliance, his great moral courage and unbounded faith in his own powers. He had more than average ability, great tenacity of purpose, audacity and untiring energy. Administering the Treasury with little intermission for 10 years, Atkinson was the mainspring of the Government in its various combinations. When Pollen became Premier (Jul 1875) Atkinson openly assumed the office of Treasurer. He continued under Vogel, and from Sep 1876 to Oct 1877 in his own ministry. From 1876 to 1884 he was (except for a short interval) continuously Colonial Treasurer. Atkinson was still at the Treasury in the Hall ministry (1879) and he continued when the cabinet was reformed under Whitaker (1882). It was in this latter period that he brought forward, in the form of resolutions in the House (10 Jul 1882), a proposal for national insurance based on the scheme of the Rev William Lewery Blackley (of Hampshire). The resolutions, which affirmed that provision should be made by national insurance against sickness and pauperism, were roundly denounced by Sir George Grey as a blow at Christianity, and the House received them coldly. In spite of the condemnation of a political committee in his own electorate and of the warm hostility of the friendly societies, he persevered with his campaign, even after he had again become Premier in 1883. When he returned to office as Premier in 1887 it was to a bleak vista of lean years ahead, with inevitable economies and retrenchments which forbade him entertaining new obligations in social service; and it was left to a Liberal administration a decade later to put old age pensions on the statute book. Though Atkinson was definitely a social reformer, the stern demands of budget-making were paramount; he was forced to the bitter alternative of cutting down expenditure when the country was in its greatest need.

Atkinson's health was now steadily declining. In 1889 he paid a visit to Tasmania, but returned without improvement. At the elections in Dec 1890 his Government was defeated. Unable to bear up longer under the heavy burden of political leadership, even in opposition, he resigned from the House and was appointed Speaker of the Legislative Council. In 1891 he visited Australia as one of the New Zealand delegates to the Federal Conference. He took an active part in the debates and warmly supported Grey in the effort to get introduced into the federation proposals a plebiscite on the one-man-one-vote principle. It was defeated by 21 votes to eight. When he returned to New Zealand it was obviously merely to await the end, which came dramatically at the commencement of the session of 1892. When the Legislative Council adjourned after paying tribute to members who had died (Whitaker one of them), Atkinson retired to his own room with the Hons R. Oliver and G. B. Morris. To a remark about his own health he replied: "I may look well, but I have my marching orders. I may die at any moment." He collapsed shortly afterwards and died peacefully (28 Jun 1892).

There is good warrant for the statement of James Collier that Atkinson was at heart a socialist. Under a stern exterior, and driven by circumstances to scan jealously every shilling of public expenditure, he nevertheless kept himself abreast of modern thought in the social sphere and was amenable to suggestion from advanced thinkers. The influence of James Hinton, if it is really appreciable, was undoubtedly less than that of Henry George, interpreted to him probably by F. W. Frankland (q.v.). Atkinson in his early ministerial days was a staunch freeholder, and in 1879 abolished Ballance's land tax in favour of a property tax.

On the other hand, he was later a strong advocate of Rolleston's perpetual leasing system as regards crown lands in preference to the sale of the freehold. His advocacy of national insurance over a period of three years was admitted even by his

Reference: Volume 1, page 28

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Volume 1, page 28

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Mary Joseph Aubert

Mary Joseph Aubert

AUBERT, MARY JOSEPH (1835-1926) was born near Lyons, France, and was educated at the Benedictine abbey of La Rochette, afterwards studying chemistry and medicine at Lyons. She served as a nursing sister during the Crimean war and with four others came to New Zealand with Bishop Pompallier in 1861. Not being members of any religious order, they stayed at first with the Sisters of Mercy in Auckland, studying the language and attending at the orphanage for Maori girls.

In 1871, the orphanage having been closed, Mother Aubert moved to Hawke's Bay to attend the poor and sick (principally Maori), operating from the mission house at Meanee. There she became noted for her spirit of self-sacrifice and tireless energy and for her researches into the curative properties of native herbs, the effects of which she had many opportunities of testing and observing. In 1883 she moved to Hiruharama, on the Wanganui river, where she established homes for foundlings and incurables in 1890. In 1885 she published a manual of Maori conversation. While there also she founded the order of the Daughters of Our Lady of Compassion. Beginning with six sisters under Mother Aubert, it gradually expanded into a strong order working in distressed by-paths of society, and was formally acknowledged and established by the Pope during Mother Aubert's visit to Rome about 1914.

Moving to Wellington in 1899, Mother Aubert commenced district nursing and in 1900 established the home for incurables in Buckle street, to which was added in 1904 a home for children. In 1908 she opened the Home of Compassion at Island Bay for the care of diseased and afflicted children. A home was also established at Auckland, all being free of debt at the time of her death (1 Oct 1926). Mother Aubert, during an absence from New Zealand of some years (1913-20), served in the nursing service in Italy during the Great War.

Who's Who N.Z., 1924; The Dominion, 19 Jun 1925; Evening Post, 2 Oct 1926 (P).

Reference: Volume 1, page 28

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Harcourt Richard Aubrey

Harcourt Richard Aubrey

AUBREY, HARCOURT RICHARD (1818-96) was the son of Colonel H. Aubrey, of the Life Guards. As a young man he travelled widely in Europe, and in 1840 he came to New Zealand in the London as a survey assistant. He was attached to the party under Carrington which chose the site for the New Plymouth settlement (1841). In 1848 he was appointed sub-collector of customs at Hokianga, and in 1856 magistrate and collector at Whangarei and Kaipara. Retiring in 1880, he died on 30 May 1896. Aubrey wrote some interesting diaries of survey work. (See R. THOMPSON.)

Civil service records; Seffern; Auckland Star, 1 Jun 1896.

Reference: Volume 1, page 29

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Samuel Austin

Samuel Austin

AUSTIN, SAMUEL (1829-1903) was born in Ireland and arrived in New Zealand with the 65th regiment in 1846. After serving through the war he took his discharge as a sergeant in 1859. He was a sergeant serving with the Wanganui native contingent in the West Coast campaign and was present at Weraroa pa and Opotiki (1865). At the capture of the Putahi pa (on 7 Jan 1866) he ran to the rescue of Lieut-colonel McDonnell, who was severely wounded, supported him during most of the action and carried him off the field under heavy fire. His conduct was witnessed by General Chute, and he was thanked publicly and recommended for the New Zealand Cross, which was duly awarded. Again at Keteonetea (17 Oct), when Captain William McDonnell was severely wounded and his men had fallen back on the main body, Austin came to the rescue and carried off McDonnell, who was on the point of being tomahawked. Austin was present also at Otapawa and Pungarehu (1866), Otautu and Porere (1869). He took his discharge (as quartermaster-sergeant) in 1870 and died at Wanganui (on 25 Jan 1903).

N.Z. Army records; Gudgeon; Auckland Weekly News, 27 Oct 1899 (p).

Reference: Volume 1, page 29

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William Josiah Aylmer

William Josiah Aylmer

AYLMER, WILLIAM JOSIAH (1802-83), born at Donadea Castle, County Kildare, Ireland, was the son of Sir Fenton Aylmer, 7th baronet. He was educated at the old college at Armagh and at Durham, and graduated M.A. at Dublin University. He was ordained to the ministry of the United Church of England and Ireland and shortly afterwards appointed to the family living at his native parish, where he was incumbent for 24 years. In 1830 he married Elizabeth Frances, daughter of the Rev. Henry Lambert. During the famine of 1848 he endeared himself to people of all denominations by the fearless and self-sacrificing manner in which he devoted himself to relieving the suffering. His noble service was generously remembered when Aylmer resigned the living to proceed to New Zealand. Arriving in Canterbury by the Lady Nugent at the end of 1851, Aylmer was at once appointed incumbent of Akaroa (where he selected his 50 acres of land). The parish then included the whole of Banks Peninsula. Aylmer was elected to represent Akaroa in the first Provincial Council (1853) but was unable to attend regularly and resigned (Nov 1855). He retired from the ministry in 1872, and thereafter lived quietly as a country gentleman. Aylmer took a keen interest in local matters and rendered great service to the Akaroa library, domain and horticultural society. He died on 9 Aug 1883.

His son, JUSTIN JOHN AYLMER (1832-85), was born at Donadea, Kildare, Ireland, and before coming to New Zealand was a cadet on the public works survey staff in the west of Ireland. In Canterbury he assisted J. C. Boys in surveying lands in Banks Peninsula. In 1853 he took up with S. Perceval the Hororata run and in 1861 took up a run on the Mataura river. In 1864 he was appointed warden on the goldfields, residing at Queenstown. Later he was warden and resident magistrate at Ross, and from 1872 magistrate at Akaroa. There he died on 10 Jan 1885.

Canterbury P.C. Proc; Burke, Peerage; Cycl. N.Z.; Lyttelton Times, 10 Aug 1883, 11 Jan 1885.

Reference: Volume 1, page 29

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Alexander Ayson

Alexander Ayson

AYSON, ALEXANDER (1814-95) was born at Glenshee, Perthshire. As a youth he joined the Gordon Highlanders and received his education in the regimental school. When his father bought him out of the army he entered the Normal school in Edinburgh, working in his spare time to make money for fees. Qualifying as a teacher either in English or in Gaelic, he became master of an English school at Lossiemouth. On the disruption he took the side of the Free Church and was appointed to its school at Urquhart. He was selected in 1856 as one of the first school teachers for the Otago colony and, being appointed to Tokomairiro school, he remained there 10 years. He then farmed at Warepa. When some of the family were able to earn a living he rejoined the teaching service, taking charge of the school at Tuturau (1871). In 1873 he went to Waihola Gorge and in 1879 to Southbridge, where he remained till his retirement (1883). He died on 7 Oct 1895.

Ayson (p); Scholefield, Tokomairiro H.S., 1856-1981 (p); Otago Daily Times, 9 Oct 1895.

Reference: Volume 1, page 30

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