DACRE, HENRY (1840-80) lived for 25 years in the province of Auckland. He started a cattle-station on the Okura river, where he was the only settler for some time. He was a member of the Provincial Council for the Northern Division (1867-68). He was appointed inspector of sheep shortly before his death (on 27 Aug 1880).

NZ Herald, 13 Sep 1880.

Reference: Volume 1, page 111

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DACRE, RANULPH (1795-1882) was born at Marwell Hall, Hampshire, a son of Col. Dacre, of the Hampshire Light Fencibles, high sheriff of the county. He joined the Royal Navy as a midshipman at the age of 12 and served in the American war (1812). Soon afterwards he resigned and joined the mercantile marine, having exciting experiences with privateers in the West Indies.

About 1820 Dacre first visited New Zealand. He was at Whangaroa in 1824 in his own schooner, the Endeavour, which brought the Quaker missionaries Tyerman and Bennett on a visit to many of the South Sea islands. He then traded between London and Sydney in command of ships belonging to Robert Brookes. In one of these, the Surrey, in which he had a part interest, he called at Hokianga, Mercury Bay and Whangaroa in search of spars. Later in his own vessel, the Mary Ann, he established at Mercury Bay an agent (Gordon) to supervise the cutting of spars for fulfilling contracts with the Admiralty. Dacre took his first cargo of spars out of Hokianga in 1827. He was there again in 1832 and gradually opened up a large trade. He left the sea about 1838 and established the firm of Dacre and Wilks, shipping agents, in Sydney. The partnership was soon dissolved and Dacre carried on as agent for Brookes, running a regular line between Sydney and London. He was a director of the Union Bank of Australia and of the Alliance Insurance Co. and was largely interested in whaling ventures, including the voyages of the ships Porteous, Governor Hallett, Lucy Ann and Arabian. He also opened up a large trade in sandalwood between the South Sea islands and the Far East, for which he fitted out the brig Alfred and the schooner Wave. Greenstone for the Chinese market seemed a profitable speculation, and he sent the schooner Royal Mail to Nelson and Milford Sound and obtained about two tons of stone of high quality, but so hard that the tools were not equal to working it. Owing to the imminence of war between Britain and China this cargo remained at Manila and Dacre lost heavily upon it. He had the brig Julian engaged in the trade with Tahiti and Sandwich islands. In 1841 Dacre began an extensive voyage to New Zealand and the islands to liquidate his liabilities. He had taken up land in Victoria at the first sale by the government and he was also deeply involved in a station carrying 50,000 sheep on the Gammon plain. In the slump of 1843 he was glad to cut his losses, and he removed with his family to Hexham, on the Hunter river.

In 1842 he visited New Zealand in the clipper schooner Diana (which he owned) and two years later he visited Tahiti in the Rambler. He now engaged in business in Auckland with J. Macky until 1854, when he went into partnership with Thomas Macky.

Dacre was greatly interested in St Paul's Church, Auckland, and was a member of the Diocesan synod. He was also a benefactor of the orphans' home. He died in 1882.

Cycl. NZ., ii (p); Sherrin and Wallace; Montgomery; Darroch; NZ. Herald, 11 Oct 1884.

Reference: Volume 1, page 112

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DALDY, WILLIAM CRUSH (1816-1903) was born at Rainham, Essex, educated there, and went to sea in one of his father's colliers, the Mayflower. His father died in 1832 and he obtained a post as third mate in the transport Briton, sailing for Ceylon. He then tried a shore post, but found it advisable to return to the sea. For some time he commanded the schooner Shamrock, 85 tons, trading to Newfoundland and the Baltic.

In Dec 1840 he left Liverpool for Tasmania and he arrived in the Waitemata on 1 Jul 1841, the day on which the first customhouse was opened at Auckland. For three years he traded between Auckland and Sydney, varied by a voyage to Tahiti for cattle and an arrest there for using political language. In 1845 Daldy commanded the Bolina, taking home the first cargo of New Zealand produce, in the interest of Brown, Campbell and Co. Two years later he bought land near Auckland and started to work a timber station, for which there was a good market in Auckland. In 1849 the firm of Combes and Daldy, wholesale and shipping agents, was established. His partner died in 1869 and thereafter Daldy carried on alone.

In 1855 he contested the Northern Division seat in the Provincial Council without success, but in the same year he was elected to Parliament for City of Auckland, which he represented until 1860. Shortly after making his appearance in Parliament he was appointed a member of Fox's short-lived government (May-Jun 1856). In 1857 he was elected to the Provincial Council for Suburbs, but he lost his seat a few months later when the Council was dissolved. In 1861 he was again elected, for Auckland West, and he sat until early in 1864. During this time Daldy was an active advocate of the interests of the city, and in Dec 1862 he succeeded Pollen as provincial secretary. He carried through the Council the half million loan bill and the first fencing bill. When he visited England in 1865 he acted as emigration agent for the province, sending out some thousands of settlers, and he also purchased the first railway plant for Auckland and managed the provincial funds in London during the Overend Gurney smash in a most advantageous manner. He was a member of the harbour board (being chairman for the first seven years), captain of the fire brigade and for 30 years a justice of the peace (a post which he resigned in 1886).

Daldy was one of the promoters of the New Zealand Insurance Co., chairman of the South British Insurance Co., an auditor of the Bank of New Zealand and a trustee of the Auckland Savings Bank. He was one of the first volunteers sworn in in New Zealand, being lieutenant of the Coastguards. During the Waikato war they were on duty at Miranda and Drury, and Daldy was under fire in carrying despatches to the head chief at Wairoa. From 1874 to 1876 he was a member of the City Council.

Daldy was a staunch Congregationalist and held many offices in that denomination from 1851 (including those of treasurer and Sunday school superintendent). He took an interest in many philanthropic movements. He married first (1841) the daughter of Captain Pulliam (Launceston). After her death (1877) he married Miss Hamerton (who was a leader in social and feminist movements, being a member of the New Zealand Women's National Council). Daldy died on 5 Oct 1903.

Parltry Record; Auckland P.C. Proc. and Gaz; Darroch; Cycl. N.Z., i, ii (p); Cowan, i; Morton; N.Z. Herald, 2 Jul 1881, 6 Oct 1903; N.Z. Graphic, 23 Jul 1892 (p).

Reference: Volume 1, page 112

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DALRYMPLE, JOHN TAYLOR (1839-1904) came to New Zealand in the sixties and settled on the west coast of the North Island about 1868. He represented Manawatu in the Wellington Provincial Council (1873-75). He died on 12 May 1904.

Reference: Volume 1, page 112

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DALRYMPLE, PETER (1813-1901) was born in Galloway, educated in the parish school and reared on the farm at Newluce. As a young man he went to Manchester, where he engaged in the drapery trade with considerable success until 1853. During this time he was deeply interested in Liberal politics, took a part in the activities of the Anti-Corn Law League and saw something of Bright and Cobden.

In 1853 he purchased 60 portable houses constructed at Liverpool and shipped with them to Melbourne, where he sold them at a good profit. After two years in Australia he shipped a supercargo in the schooner Caledonia, bound for Port Chalmers and the Chatham Islands. Enamoured of Otago, he finished his engagement at Melbourne and came to settle in New Zealand (Nov 1855). From Dunedin he walked to Bluff, taking 19 days on the journey. In Apr 1856 he took up a 100-acre section which he named Appleby after a Wigtownshire village, erected one of his houses upon it and lived and farmed there for the remainder of his life.

A Manchester Liberal by upbringing, Dalrymple was a progressive in politics and as a member of the Southland Provincial Council (Oreti 1867-69, Roslyn 1869-70), he voiced advanced opinions on many subjects. He was a strong advocate of the Seaward Bush railway, and in his later years, incapacitated from work, interested himself in the establishment of a woollen mill in Southland, an object which he saw achieved, though not in his way. Dalrymple died on 17 Sep 1901.

Parlty Record; Kinross; Southland Times, 18 Sep 1901.

Reference: Volume 1, page 112

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DALZIELL, FREDERICK GEORGE (1865-1931) was born at Auckland, the son of William Dalziell (Leith, Scotland), and educated at Ellis's private school, New Plymouth. There he entered the civil service in the Deeds Registry Department. Being transferred to Dunedin, he began to study law, and was admitted to the bar in 1892. Entering the office of Stout and Mondy, he was invited in 1894 by J. G. Findlay (q.v.) to take charge of his practice at Palmerston. Thereafter he practised on his own account in Lawrence. As a young man he was a keen cricketer, footballer and tennis player (being champion of Otago on one occasion).

In 1899, on the appointment of Stout to be chief justice, he joined Findlay in his Wellington practice and continued in that partnership for many years. He was a recognised authority on company law and was a director of the New Zealand Times Co. and managing director of the Taupo-Totara Timber Co.

Dalziell was a serious student of philosophy and social politics, and from 1919 published many pamphlets on current politics and expounding his theory that most of the ills of civilisation would yield to recognition of certain fundamental rules of life and a simplified system of living. In 1919 he published The Truth of Life, as Disclosed in Half a Century of the National Life of New Zealand, and thereafter about 18 pamphlets on various phases of social organisation and Christianity. For some years in succession he petitioned Parliament seeking recognition of his 'truth of life' statement. The petitions were referred to parliamentary committees and were the subject of debates in the House of Representatives. Dalziell married (1906) Pearl, daughter of Dr M. S. Grace (q.v.). He died on 14 Apr 1931.

Hansard, 30 Jul 1926, 11 Sep 1930; Who's Who N.Z., 1924; Evening Post, 15 Apr 1931.

Reference: Volume 1, page 112

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DAMPIER, CHRISTOPHER EDWARD was an English solicitor, of Lincoln's Inn Fields, and arrived in Lyttelton by the Phoebe Dunbar in 1850 with the documents of the Canterbury Association, of which he was the solicitor. He was admitted to the bar in that year. Dampier represented Lyttelton in the Provincial Council (1853-57). In 1859 he took up Esk Head station on the Hurunui, which was managed by his son, C. E. Dampier-Crossley. He died in 1905.

Cant. P.C. Proc. and Gaz. (notably vol. xiii, 13); Acland.

Reference: Volume 1, page 112

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DANIEL, THEOPHILUS (1817-93), A. J. B., was born at Hastings, Sussex, and at the age of 19 landed in Australia from the ship Hercules, of which his brother was captain. After gaining some experience of station life, he was sent by a Sydney firm with 1,200 head of cattle to establish a run in the Riverina. Later, with his brother Sylvanus, he squatted in the same district.

Having sold his interest in the station, he left to visit England, but the ship in which he travelled went ashore at Farewell Spit and was got off and taken to Wellington by Captain Howell. As a result of this meeting Daniel decided to make his home in Southland. He took charge of 500 sheep for Howell from Sydney, and in partnership with Howell and Stevens engaged in whaling and trading. When the agreement was dissolved he ran a store in Riverton and farmed in the neighbourhood. Daniel was mayor of Riverton on several occasions (1879, 1880-81). He acquired considerable property, and was a strong advocate of railway construction in the western district of Southland. He was a member of the Southland Provincial Council (for Longwood) from 1867-69, and after the reunion with Otago sat in the Otago Council for Riverton (1871-75). He also represented the district of Wallace in Parliament (1881-84). Daniel married a sister of Captain Stevens (who had been at Jacob's River since 1842). He died on 22 Mar 1893.

Southland and Otago P.C. Proc.; Riverton Rec (p); Beattie, ii; Cycl. N.Z., iv; Southland Times, 24 Mar 1893. Portrait: Parliament House.

Reference: Volume 1, page 113

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DANIELL, CHARLES EDWARD (1856-1939) was born at Malvern, Worcestershire. Brought up to the building trade, at the age of 18 he was employing 20 men. In 1880 he came to New Zealand and established a business in Masterton as a builder and contractor. Daniell took part in the establishment of the Masterton Technical School, of which he was a governor and chairman for many years; and was a governor of the Wairarapa High School and of Solway Girls' College, and a member and chairman of the Wairarapa secondary education board. For 30 years he was a member (and for 14 years chairman) of the Masterton Trust Lands Trust. He was for some time on the borough council and the licensing committee and was a member of the Wellington harbour board from 1903-23 (including four years as chairman). For 50 years he was superintendent of the Methodist Sunday school, and for some years chairman of the Methodist children's home.

Who's Who N.Z., 1908, 1924, 1932; Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 Jul 1939.

Reference: Volume 1, page 113

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DANIELL, EDWARD (1802-66) was the son of Ralph Allen Daniell, of Cornwall. He served in the army in the 75th (Gordon Highlanders) and having attained the rank of captain and adjutant, sold his commission and invested in the lands of the New Zealand Company. He was one of the first committee of settlers. Arriving by the Adelaide in Mar 1840, he was a member of the provisional committee of government.

He had bought 1,100 acres from the Company, but being unable to gain possession of it he lived in Wellington for 10 years. Meanwhile he found a suitable piece of land for a farm at Ngaio, which he called Trelissick, and he constructed a road up to it which was afterwards widened and continued through to Porirua (1845). At the request of Colonel Wakefield, Daniell and Duppa visited the South Island in 1848 to report on its suitability for the Canterbury settlement. In 1849 he was allowed to select 250 acres for every 100 that he had bought, and he picked 2,500 acres of very good land at Bulls, where (after visiting England in 1855) he erected his Killeymoon homestead. A portion of his land he cut up in 1866 for the town of Bulls.

Daniell bred fine horses at his run at Hikungarara. He represented Wanganui and Rangitikei in the Wellington Provincial Council (1853-55). He died on 5 Aug 1866.

E. J. Wakefield; Ward; J. G. Wilson.

Reference: Volume 1, page 113

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DARGAVILLE, JOSEPH McMULLEN (1837-96) belonged to a Huguenot family and was born at Cork, his father being a physician. Educated at Fermoy College, he left for Australia as a young man and after some experience in Victoria entered the service of the Union Bank in Sydney as a junior clerk. In five years, when only 25 years of age, he was a branch manager; and two years later he came to New Zealand as branch inspector on the West Coast. In 1868 he became manager at Auckland, and in 1869 he resigned from the bank and started in business as a wholesale merchant (under the title of Must and Co.). Later he entered the timber and kauri gum trade in northern Wairoa, where he acquired land and laid out the town which bears his name.

Dargaville was a member of the Auckland City Council (1871-84). While M.P.C. for City East (1873-75) he carried through the Provincial Council a water scheme for the city, but it was reversed during his absence. He contested the Superintendency with John Williamson and H. H. Lusk (1873), and came forward again in 1875, but retired in favour of Sir G. Grey. In 1881 he was elected M.H.R. for Auckland City West, and in 1884 was re-elected as a supporter of the Stout-Vogel government. In 1887 he was defeated for Marsden; in 1890 for Bay of Islands (by Houston), and in 1893 for Eden (by Mitchelson). He was a promoter of the Kaihu railway, a member of the Auckland harbour board and chairman of the Parnell road board; captain of the Auckland City engineers and of the Dargaville rifles and president of the rifle club; grand master of the Orange Lodge of New Zealand; a prominent freemason, and consul for the United States. Dargaville died on 27 Oct 1896.

Cycl. N.Z., ii (p); N.Z. Herald, 28 Oct 1896. Portrait: Parliament House.

Reference: Volume 1, page 113

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DART, JOHN RAYNOR (1855-1935). Born at Toorak, Melbourne, he came to New Zealand in 1865 and was educated at the public school at Picton. He joined the service of the Post and Telegraph Department as a cadet in 1874, became telegraphist at Blenheim in 1881 and senior clerk in 1882, from which position he retired in 1883. He then spent seven years in a legal office and three in a mercantile office. Meanwhile he took a very active part in Anglican Church matters, first in 1884 as vicar's churchwarden at the Church of the Nativity in Blenheim; as lay member of the synod (1885) and lay secretary for several years. Following the parochial mission of the Rev G. C. Grubb (1890) he decided to read for holy orders, and after the necessary term of study at Bishopdale, Nelson, was ordained by Bishop Mules (28 Dec 1894) and appointed curate of Brunnerton and Grey Valley. Next year he became vicar of Reefton. A man of splendid physique, he threw himself with great energy into the difficult work of his parish and distinguished himself at the disaster at the Brunner mine (26 Mar 1896), to which he hastened on foot and by bicycle. In 1895 he became clerical secretary to the synod, a position he held until his retirement in 1931. In 1901 he became vicar of Westport and in 1913 of Wakefield. On the formation of the cathedral chapter in 1916 he was appointed one of the first canons. At the outbreak of the Great War he offered his services to the government as a telegraphist as being more useful than in the capacity of a chaplain. Following the death in action of the diocesan secretary (A. E. Hedges), Dart carried on the diocesan office in addition to his great burden of parochial and cathedral work. He was for many years a military chaplain and received the military decoration. In 1925 he became vicar of All Saints, Nelson, and in 1926 Archdeacon of Waimea. His retirement in 1931 was necessitated by failing health, largely due to unceasing church work over a period of nearly fifty years. He had been vicar-general, lay and clerical secretary to the synod, diocesan secretary and registrar, member of the standing committee, and of the diocesan trust board; chairman of St Andrew's Orphanage, clerical secretary of the N.Z. Church Missionary Society and a member of the executive of the N.Z. board of missions; and a director of the Y.M.C.A. His social work was noteworthy. He died on 27 May 1935. Dart married (1901) a daughter of W. H. Boase, Greymouth.

Nelson Evening Mail, 5 Oct 1926, 27 May 1935; The Witness (Nelson diocesan journal), Jun 1935; Cycl. NZ, v., 174.

Reference: Volume 1, page 113

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DAVEY, THOMAS HENRY (1856-1934) was born at Liskeard, Cornwall, and educated at Uxbridge, Middlesex. He came to New Zealand in the Douglas in 1874 and settled at Feilding, where he obtained employment in the Star office. He afterwards moved to Christchurch and was employed by the Lyttelton Times as printer. There he took an interest in trade unionism, being president of the typographical union and vice-president of the Trades and Labour Council. He was mayor of St Albans in 1897.

In 1902 Davey was elected as one of the members of Parliament for Christchurch City, which he represented till 1905. Thereafter he sat for Christchurch East, defeating successively Collins, McCombs and Thacker, and retiring in 1914. He was at different times a member of the hospital and charitable aid board, the drainage board, the boards of governors of Canterbury College and the Technical College, and of the licensing committee. For many years before his death (on 5 Apr 1934) he was chief stipendiary steward of the New Zealand Trotting Conference.

Hansard, 29 Jun 1934; Star-Sun, 5 Apr 1934 (p). Portrait: Parliament House.

Reference: Volume 1, page 113

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DAVIDSON, JAMES (1829-98) was born at Aberdeen. He went to sea, and after serving his time in ships running to Baltic ports, he joined the expedition sent by Lady Franklin in search of her husband (Sir John Franklin). He was a member of the crew of the Lady Franklin, which was accompanied by the Sophia. Dr Peter C. Sutherland, surgeon to the expedition and doctor of the Sophia, published a narrative of the expedition. Davidson reached Melbourne in 1852 and spent some years on the Victorian goldfields, subsequently returning to the sea and coming to New Zealand in 1857 in the schooner Maraquetta (owned and sailed by Captain George Gray, and later chartered by George Hunter, q.v., of Wellington). Davidson took charge of the schooner Randolph, which he subsequently purchased and ran in the coastal trade between Kaikoura, Wellington, Lyttelton and Napier. After selling her he purchased (1860) the schooner Caroline, which was the second armed vessel owned by the New Zealand government. In Davidson's service she was called the Ruby (her original name), and she included Salt-water creek and the Heathcote river among the ports of call. Davidson settled in Kaikoura in 1867 and opened a general store, which he carried on successfully until his death (on 15 Apr 1898). He was a member of the Kaikoura road board (subsequently merged in the county council) and of the school committee. He represented Clarence in the Marlborough Provincial Council (1871-74). The journey to and from the sessions in Blenheim was an arduous one with many dangerous rivers to ford. Davidson was a justice of the peace for many years.

Family information from James Davidson, J.P.; Marlborough P.C. minutes; Press Association, 15 Apr 1898.

Reference: Volume 1, page 114

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DAVIDSON, JAMES (b. 1836), a native of Canonbie, Dumfriesshire, was educated in the parish school. He came to New Zealand by the Mallard (1865) and was for six years in the store of Franklyn and Hirst, at Turakina. He then started for himself in Hawera and sold out in 1897. Davidson was first chairman of the Hawera town board (1875-79) and four years mayor of the borough (1889-92). He served also on the Patea county council, the Taranaki charitable aid board, the Hawera licensing committee (chairman for several years), the Hawera county council and the Patea harbour board. As sportsman he was chairman of the Egmont Racing Club and the Hawera Trotting Club. He was president of the Hawera branch of the Farmers' Union, of the Agricultural and Pastoral association (1896) and the Caledonian society.

Cycl. N.Z., vi (p).

Reference: Volume 1, page 114

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DAVIE, JOHN (1827-1916) was in Victoria until 1861, when he crossed to the Otago goldfields. He had had little colonial experience and soon took employment with a mercantile firm in Dunedin. He afterwards practised as an accountant, being auditor for many companies in Otago and secretary of the Roxburgh Amalgamated Mining and other companies. He represented Dunedin City in the Otago Provincial Council (1873-75), and was in the executive in the latter year. He died on 4 Mar 1916.

Otago P.C. Proc.; Otago Daily Times, 6 Mar 1916.

Reference: Volume 2, page 273

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DAVIES, ARTHUR WILLIAM OSWALD (1875-1928), one of a family of 22, was a son of D. P. Davies, of Carmarthenshire, Wales. He learned the game of chess when he was 21, belonging to the London Polytechnic Club before coming to New Zealand (in 1902). An accountant by profession, Davies settled in Wellington, where he became a prominent member of the Wellington Chess Club. He won the New Zealand championship four times—in 1905, 1908, 1927—and on the last occasion a fortnight before his death (which occurred on 16 Jan 1928). He was runner-up three times, and was the only New Zealander to defeat the European champion, Kositch. Davies was one of the best players the Dominion has produced. He wrote chess columns in the Wellington newspapers.

N.Z. Chess Book, 1922 (p); Evening Post and The Dominion, 17 Jan 1928.

Reference: Volume 1, page 114

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DAVIES, RICHARD HUTTON (1862-1918) was born in London and came to New Zealand in early life. Trained as a surveyor, he took an interest in volunteering, and joined the Hawera mounted rifles, in which he became captain.

He went to the South African war as captain in the North Island company (1899); served there in five contingents and commanded the 3rd, 4th and 8th and a composite column.

(C.B. 1900; brevet lieut-colonel 1902).

Davies commanded the Auckland district in 1901 and was appointed Inspector-general of the Forces in 1906 and third member of the Military Council. He passed the staff college in England and was attached to the British army for training, with the command of an infantry brigade. When the war of 1914-18 broke out he went to France in command of the 6th brigade, with which he served with distinction in the retreat from Mons. Promoted major-general, he commanded the 20th division in training and in France (1916), but was again invalided and eventually retired from the service. He died on 9 May 1918. Davies married a sister of Commander N. Cornwall, R.N.R.

Who's Who N.Z., 1908; The Times (London), 16 May 1918.

Reference: Volume 1, page 114

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DAVIES, WILLIAM (1824-82) arrived in New Zealand in the early forties and settled at Manukau. In 1863, in partnership with Thomas Williamson, he contracted for the carriage of commissariat stores during the Waikato war. He was afterwards for some years in business at Onehunga as a ship chandler and commission agent, also owning several small coasting vessels. On the opening of the Thames goldfield he established himself as a storekeeper at Grahamstown. He was chairman of the road board and afterwards mayor of Thames. In 1875 he defeated Rowe for the Provincial Council seat, which he held until the abolition. He was afterwards harbourmaster until his death on 29 Dec 1882.

Auckland P.C. Proc.; Thames Advertiser, 30 Dec 1882.

Reference: Volume 1, page 114

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DAVIS, CHARLES OLIVER BOND (1817-87) was born in Sydney, the son of an Irish stonecutter with strong national sympathies. He was educated in Sydney and, having come into contact with Maori who were visiting there, he became interested in New Zealand. About 1830 he arrived in north Auckland, and while acting as tutor to the Wesleyan missionary children he taught himself Maori and gained a deep knowledge of the people, their traditions and customs. Davis attended the meeting held at Hokianga in connection with the Treaty of Waitangi (1840) and attracted attention by his competent interpretation. When the native office was established he was appointed an interpreter, and he later became chief translator to the government. For many years he acted in this capacity in delicate relations between the government and the Maori chiefs.

After he left the government service (1857) native chiefs continued to come to him for advice and at the time of the King movement he came under suspicion of having instigated it by some remarks he was reported to have made to Wiremu Tamihana te Waharoa (q.v.). Giving evidence before a select committee in 1860, Davis admitted having suggested, in answer to propositions put forward by them, that they should have a species of 'assembly' to manage native affairs. He attended the meeting at Ihumata to solicit subscriptions for the purchase of a printing press with which to produce books and a newspaper. It was to him also that Wi Tamihana came to ask advice when his application for money for a flourmill was rejected. Amongst Davis's friends were Taiporutu, Putini, Rewi, Ngapora and Te Wherowhero. In 1865 he was prosecuted by the government for publishing a seditious libel in the Maori language, the charge being based on the fact that he had been implicated in the printing of a Ngaiterangi satire upon the capture of Tupaea by Arawa. Amongst the witnesses were Archdeacon Maunsell and Bishop Selwyn. Davis was unanimously acquitted.

He was subsequently for some years in the employ of the Native Land Purchase Office (particularly in connection with the Arawa lands). His great ability as a Maori scholar is evidenced by his publications, which include: Maori Mementoes (1855), The Renowned Chief Kawiti and other New Zealand Warriors (1855), Temperance Songs for the Maori (1873), Maori Lesson Book (1874), The Life and Times of Patuone (1876). Davis contributed much to the Maori Messenger, of which he was for a time editor. In his later years he continued to act as a licensed interpreter, but was much occupied with work amongst the poor of Auckland and was attracted to the Salvation Army on this account. Davis died on 28 Jun 1887.

App. H.R. 1860; Davis, op. cit.; Southern Cross, 17 Apr 1865; N.Z. Herald, 30 Jun 1887.

Reference: Volume 1, page 114

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DAVIS, MOSS (1847-1933) was born in London. After some years in Australia with his parents he returned to England (1855), where he entered Dr Vickers' school in Lombard Street. In 1861 he came to New Zealand and entered business first with his uncle in Lyttelton and later with his father, a merchant in Nelson. He married (1867) Leah Jacobs (of Melbourne). In 1871 he took over the business, from which he was soon able to retire, and in 1885 he joined the firm of Hancock and Co., brewers, Auckland, of which he became the sole owner on the death of his partner, Samuel Jagger. Davis retired and took up his residence in London in 1908. He made valuable gifts to the Auckland Art Gallery and Public Library, and served as commissioner in London for the Auckland Art Exhibition (1913-14). He was a member of the New Zealand War Contingent Association (1915-20). His death occurred on 1 Jan 1933. A son, ERNEST HYAM DAVIS (1872-), became mayor of Auckland (1935) and was knighted (1937).

Cycl. NZ., ii; Who's Who N.Z., 1932; The Dominion and N.Z. Herald, 2 Jan 1933 (P).

Reference: Volume 1, page 114

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DAVIS, RICHARD (1790-1863) was born in the village of Piddletrenthide, Dorsetshire. As a boy he assisted his father on the family farm at Sturminster-Newton and he received the poor education which was usual with the sons of tenant farmers. This he gradually remedied by reading and study which extended to the Scriptures in Hebrew, geology, mechanics, mathematics and surveying. At the age of 20 Davis was led to consider his way of life and by the time of his marriage to Mary Crocker (in 1812) he was thoroughly established in religious observance. He became an overseer of the poor in the parish of Stourton Candle, Dorset. In association with the Rev John Noble Coleman, M.A., he spent some years teaching the parish school and in other activities of a semi-religious character. The Church Missionary Society wished to find a pious agriculturist to send to the mission in New Zealand. The regulations precluding his appointment, Coleman organised a missionary association at Bridgewater for the express purpose of getting him recommended. He was eventually accepted and with his family left for New Zealand in The Brothers on 26 Nov 1823. After spending a few weeks at Parramatta with Marsden, the family crossed to New Zealand in the Governor Macquarie (Aug 1824). After spending a week with the Williams family at Paihia, Davis proceeded to Gloucester Town, Kerikeri, where he found Kemp growing wheat, barley and oats on land that had been broken up seven years. He fixed on a spot 20 miles inland that would be suitable for farming, but for the first few years he remained at Paihia. In 1827 he was sent to Sydney to confer with the committee and to see through the press portion of the Scriptures which had been translated into Maori. At Paihia Davis created a valuable garden in which he grew most vegetables and English trees. He shared in the alarms and dangers of the mission from warring tribes, especially after the death of Hongi, which removed the greatest restraint that had existed in favour of the missions. At length in 1831 Davis moved to Waimate, where he established a farm which was the admiration of Darwin and other visitors.

After the arrival of Bishop Selwyn (1842) Davis was recommended for ordination (which occurred in 1843). He was now appointed to the charge of Kaikohe, which involved a good deal of travelling. In 1852 Davis was ordained priest. His death occurred on 28 May 1863. Davis was married three times. Several of his daughters married missionaries. (See JOSEPH Matthews, W. Puckey, Henry Burr, E. M. WILLIAMS and JAMES KEMP). Charles Davis, who accompanied Davis to New Zealand and remained for two or three years, was not a relative. He returned to England and, having married, came back to New Zealand but, with his wife, was lost in the brig Haweis, in which they sailed from New South Wales late in 1829.

Carleton; Marsden, L. and J. and Lieuts; J. N. Coleman, A Memoir of the Rev Richard Davis, 1865; Ramsden; Stock; Sherrin and Wallace.

Reference: Volume 1, page 115

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DAVIS, ROWLAND (1809-79) was working at his trade in London in 1829 and took a keen interest in social politics. He was president of the engineers, smiths and machinists of the western district of London and a member of the national union formed to promote the reform bill, anti-slavery and Catholic emancipation. As a member of the Bridge Ward inquest, he defeated an attempt to hand over certain poor families to the court of aldermen for prosecution on charges of unlawfully selling milk. Davis came to Port Nicholson in the Aurora (1840) and erected the Aurora tavern with the theatre attached and the Britannia saloon. With John Wade he collected evidence of the ill-treatment of emigrants. He was a member of the Constitutional Association, a founder of the first lodge of Oddfellows and was on the committee of the Working Men's Association. Davis afterwards settled in Canterbury. He contested the Lyttelton seat in the Canterbury Provincial Council, in which he represented Akaroa (1856-57) and Lyttelton (1857-64). He died on 27 Feb 1879.

Ward; Evening Press, 26 Aug 1886; N.Z. Mail, 3 Sep 1886; N.Z. Times, 28 Mar 1879; Lyttelton Times, 4 Jun 1853.

Reference: Volume 1, page 115

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DAVY, GEORGE BOUTFLOWER (1836-1929) was born in London, the son of Dr Edward Davy (1806-85), the inventor of the Davy blowpipe and of the relay or electrical renewer, and a pioneer in the development of electric telegraphy. G. B. Davy came to South Australia with his father (1839), finished his education there and began life on a sugar plantation and cattle station in Jamaica. He then returned to England, qualified for law and came to New Zealand in the Indian Empire (1862).

After acquiring land at Whangarei he was admitted a solicitor (1863) and practised his profession for some years there and in Auckland. He represented Auckland West in the Auckland Provincial Council (1867-68) and was for a short time in the executive. In 1869 he was appointed warden and resident magistrate for Hauraki and in 1871 was selected to inaugurate the land transfer system in Auckland province. In 1875 he succeeded J. S. Williams (q.v.) as Registrar-general, which position he held until his retirement in 1904. Davy was also for a time judge of the district court in Wellington and Wairarapa, New Zealand Company's land claims commissioner and a judge of the native land court. He married (1863) Margaret Liddell. Davy died on 31 Aug 1929.

D.N.B.; Parltry Record; Who's Who N.Z., 1924.

Reference: Volume 1, page 115

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DAWSON, JOHN (1859-1925) was born at Keighley, Yorkshire. Being left fatherless he went to work at an early age, and was thus denied scholastic advantages. He attached himself to the Primitive Methodist church and at 17 years of age he became a local preacher and at 21 years a lay evangelist. In this capacity he served for five years. He married (1883) Miss Nancy Hoyle (Keighley).

Seeking better equipment for his work he, as a married student, entered the Grattan Guinness Missionary Institute, now known as Cliff College, near Calver, Derbyshire. In 1888, under the direction of the Primitive Methodist conference of Great Britain, he came to New Zealand as a probationer for its ministry. His first charge was at the Thames, after which he served in Christchurch and in 1897 was appointed to Wellington, where he served for twelve years. For 10 years he was chairman of the executive committee of the New Zealand Alliance. He had an encyclopaedic knowledge of temperance matters and of licensing legislation. He represented New Zealand on two occasions in America and once in Switzerland at the world congress dealing with alcohol. Few men have done so much as he in seeking to promote the prohibition cause in the Dominion. In 1909 he was chosen to succeed Isitt as general secretary of the Alliance, and for 16 years he laboured strenuously in his advocacy of total abstinence for the individual and prohibition of liquor for the state. He held many important offices in the Primitive Methodist church and was president in 1898. He was an ardent advocate for Methodist union in New Zealand and was elected president of the united church in 1915. He was a practical preacher, a sympathetic pastor, a tactful advocate and a capable organiser. He was superannuated in Apr 1925 and died on 13 Sep.

M.A.R.P.

Reference: Volume 1, page 115

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DAWSON, WILLIAM (1852-1923) was born in Aberdeen and educated at Montrose. His father was a brewer in Aberdeen and afterwards moved to Bishop Middleham, Durham. There the son learned the trade and in 1892 went to Burton-on-Trent to complete his studies. He was for some time with W. Younger and Co. in Edinburgh. Dawson was a member of the Dunedin City Council in 1885. In 1887 he was elected mayor and he again became a councillor in 1892. He represented the suburbs of Dunedin in Parliament (1890-93). He was a member of the hospital board and of the harbour board. He died on 27 Jul 1923.

N.Z.P.D.; Cycl. N.Z., iv (p)

Reference: Volume 1, page 115

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DAY, RICHARD (1805-79) was born in County Cork, of an Irish Methodist family. He qualified as a doctor, but his health was not robust and he came on a voyage to New Zealand. During his stay at Mangungu with the Rev N Turner (q.v.) he was so impressed by the New Zealand climate that he decided to remain, and he became an unofficial member of the mission staff, rendering medical service to both missionaries and natives on the Hokianga.

Day persuaded other Irish families to emigrate, and with Turner selected land for them in the Kaihu valley, which they purchased through the chief Parore. Four families (the Salters, Wilkinsons, Stannards and Stewarts) arrived in Auckland and chartered the schooner Sophia Pate to take them to Kaipara. Stewart and Stannard left the ship at Bay of Islands to travel overland. When the Sophia Pate reached Kaipara heads she was totally wrecked and only one child (Wilkinson) was saved (Sep 1841). Day was much attached to the Rev John Hobbs and acted as tutor to his family. He moved to Auckland with them and there took up the practice of his profession. He died in 1879.

Buller; Morley; A. Strachan, Life of Samuel Leigh; W. J. Williams; M. A. R. Pratt (information)

Reference: Volume 1, page 115

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DE CASTRO, CHARLES DANIELL (1832-98) was born in London and educated in England and France and at the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester. In 1853 he came to New Zealand in the Cornwall and after teaching a school took up a farm at Porirua. He represented Wellington Country in the Provincial Council (1863-65). In 1867 he was secretary to the colonial commissioner of Imperial claims and in 1868 he joined the civil service, serving in the Treasury and the Public Trust office to 1892. In 1875 de Castro took holy orders as a deacon and he officiated in Wellington and Nelson as required. He died on 23 Jun 1898.

Cycl. N.Z., i; N.Z. Times, 24 Jun 1898.

Reference: Volume 1, page 116

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DE LA PERRELLE, PHILIP ALDBOROUGH (1872-1935) was born at Arrowtown, a son of E. de la Perrelle. Educated at the Arrowtown school, he served his apprenticeship in the office of the Lake County Press (Queenstown), which he purchased in 1895 and conducted till 1912, when he bought the Mataura Record. He was for some years on the Southland hospital board and education board (of which he was chairman); a member of the Queenstown borough council and the Awarua licensing committee and a justice of the peace (1899). He was captain of the Wakatipu and the Southland Mounted Rifles.

De la Perrelle married (1902) Annie Louisa, daughter of F. Grant (Milton). He was member of Parliament for Awarua (1922-25, 1928-35) and was Minister of Internal Affairs in the Ward and Forbes cabinets (1928-31). His death occurred on 7 Dec 1935.

Who's Who N.Z., 1932; Cycl. N.Z., iv (p); Otago Daily Times, 9 Dec 1935. Portrait: Parliament House.

Reference: Volume 1, page 117

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DE LAUTOUR, CECIL ALBERT (1845-1930) was a son of a judge of the high court in Calcutta, where he was born. Educated at Cheltenham College, he was intended for the army and was nominated for the East India Company's military college (Addiscombe). When the Company's forces were amalgamated with the British army he decided to come to New Zealand, to which he was attracted by Hursthouse's book, The Britain of the South. Landing at Auckland from the War Spirit in 1863, he found no openings there and moved to Otago. There he was engaged for some years in pastoral pursuits at Mount Ida, where he took a great interest in the youth work of the Presbyterian church. Having been disabled by an accident he purchased a part interest in the Mt Ida Chronicle, of which he was editor for some years. He contested the Mt Ida seat in the Provincial Council and was elected (1873). After the abolition of the provinces he was elected M.H.R. for Mt Ida and represented the district 1876-84. About 1879, on the advice of Wilson Gray (q.v.), de Lautour decided to qualify for the bar, and he moved to Napier and was articled to W. L. Rees (q.v.). When, three years later, he applied for admission to the bar he was refused on the ground that attendance to parliamentary duties was inconsistent with the work of an articled clerk.

Partly in consequence of this incident the law practitioners act of 1882 was passed, its retrospective action admitting de Lautour to the bar. He practised at Gisborne in partnership with William Sievwright, retiring in 1910. Having been several years away from Otago he retired from the representation of Mt Ida, and at the request of the Liberal party contested the Newton (Auckland) seat. In 1893 he contested Waiapu against Carroll. He was one of the small coterie in Parliament who formed the Young New Zealand party in 1879. De Lautour was always prominent in public affairs. He was a member of the first education board in Otago (1878) and was mayor of Naseby. In Gisborne he was a member of the borough council for many years and twice mayor, besides being on the harbour board and other public bodies, and a member of the Anglican synod. He was 25 years on the Gisborne High School board (some time chairman); was chairman of the Gisborne Farmers' Meat Co. (1902-23), and president of the North Island Freezing Companies' Association.

De Lautour married (1872) Sarah Ann, daughter of Robert Bust (Melbourne). He died on 15 Dec 1930.

Cycl. N.Z., ii; Who's Who N.Z.; Hansard, 30 Jun 1930.

Reference: Volume 1, page 117

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DE QUINCEY, PAUL FREDERICK (1828-94), the son of Thomas de Quincey, the English writer, was born at Grasmere, Westmoreland, and educated at the High School, Edinburgh, and at Lasswade School. In 1845 he gained his ensigncy in the 70th Regiment, with which he served in India (1846-60), being present at Sobraon and other battles as captain and major of brigade. He was on the permanent staff of the Bengal presidency, but rejoined his regiment for New Zealand (arriving here in May 1861). He commanded the 1st company of the Transport Corps.

When the regiment was about to return to India de Quincey sold out and commenced farming. On the outbreak of the Waikato war he was appointed to command the left wing of the 3rd battalion artillery, with which he served without pay. He was afterwards military secretary to Major-general Galloway (commanding the colonial forces) with the rank of major, being promoted later lieut-colonel. This appointment he held also under Haultain. After the war he lived in this country and represented Pensioner Settlements in Parliament (1866-67), and in the Provincial Council (1865-69). In 1889 he was appointed sergeant-at-arms of the House of Representatives. He was a justice of the peace and a visiting justice at the Auckland asylum. De Quincey died on 15 Apr 1894.

Parltry Record; J. Hogg, De Quincey and His Friends, 1895; N.Z. Herald, 20 Apr 1894. Portrait: Parliament House.

Reference: Volume 1, page 118

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DE THIERRY, CHARLES PHILIP HIPPOLYTUS (1793-1864) was born in England, the son of a French émigré. Teaching music as a profession, and being engaged to teach the children of Archdeacon Rudge, he fell in love with a daughter, with whom he eloped. Though their marriage was condoned they were unprovided for and it was decided that de Thierry should prepare himself for ordination, but he was unable to qualify to the satisfaction of the Bishop of Norwich. Friends obtained for him an appointment to a Portuguese embassy and he attended the congress of Vienna, where he distinguished himself as an amateur musician. De Thierry is said to have been for some time an officer in a British cavalry regiment.

Meeting at Cambridge the chiefs Hongi and Waikato, he negotiated with them through Kendall (q.v.) for the purchase of an estate of 40,000 acres in New Zealand. He claimed that this land was purchased for him on 7 Aug 1822, copies of the deed being sent to England through the Church Missionary Society and to the foreign offices of Britain and France. About 1834 de Thierry sailed for New South Wales with his family, writing en route to apprise Busby, the British Resident, of his intention to establish an independent sovereignty in New Zealand in his own person. In this document, dated from Tahiti, de Thierry described himself as 'sovereign chief of New Zealand, King of Nukuheva,' and said that he was awaiting an armed ship from Panama to escort him to his domain. Alarmed at this intimation, Busby advised the Maori and pakeha residents to take steps to assert their independence of France.

Governor Bourke refused to recognise his claims on 23 Oct 1837. De Thierry proceeded to New Zealand in the Nimrod with 93 retainers. On landing at Hokianga he announced to the assembled people of both races his intention to establish a proper form of government with himself as sovereign if he should be acceptable to them. It would be a productive government, with open ports, free trade and no taxation, and he anticipated earning £50,000 per annum from the government farm of 5,000 acres. He expended what money he had in building houses and the beginning of a carriage road to Bay of Islands. When the money was exhausted the scheme collapsed and de Thierry was glad to accept the compassionate offer of Tamati Waka Nene and Taonui of 300 acres of land, on which he lived with his family, making a livelihood from a sawpit. They afterwards removed to Auckland, where he made a living by teaching music, diversified by an unsuccessful visit to the goldfields of California. For years he prosecuted his claims against the government. He experimented in later years in the preparation of flax, and in 1857 attempted to float a flax company. De Thierry died in Auckland on 8 Jul 1864. The significance of de Thierry in the history of New Zealand is due to the impetus his scheme gave to Busby, to the government of New South Wales and to the missionary body in New Zealand to organise British interests in the country towards the declaration of sovereignty. His scheme in itself was without importance.

Hist. Rec. Aust.; Polack; Martin; Joubert; Marsden, L. and J. and Lieuts; Sherrin and Wallace (p); Ramsden; Rusden; Thomson; Buller; Hocken; Taylor, Past and Present; Turner; Webster; Busby's statement at bar of House of Representatives, 30 Jul 1869; N.Z. Herald, 1 Feb 1890, 30 Nov 1933; Taranaki News, 18 Jan 1872.

Reference: Volume 1, page 118

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DEANS, WILLIAM (1817-51) was the son of John Deans, of Kirkstyle, in the parish of Riccarton, Ayrshire, and was educated at the Kilmarnock Academy and at Mr Jamieson's school at Colmonell. He and his brother JOHN (1820-54) were intended for the law and had already entered their father's office when they became interested in New Zealand. Both accordingly were placed as cadets on good Scots farms to prepare for their colonial life.

William purchased his land orders from the New Zealand Company as soon as they were available (1839) and sailed in the Aurora on 18 Sep to take up his land in the Wellington settlement. He brought several agricultural labourers under engagement to work for him. The Aurora reached Wellington on 21 Jan 1840, beating into the harbour in company with the Sydney schooner Eleanor (Captain W. B. Rhodes). Deans's sections in the town were in St Hill street and in Wharepouri street, but to his mortification he found that the country sections could not be allotted owing to the land purchases not having been completed. Unwilling to waste time in waiting for the removal of doubts of this kind, Deans first joined Jerningham Wakefield and Heaphy in the official exploration overland to Taranaki. He also visited the Wairarapa, but finding no land yet available took contracts for cutting survey lines. Disappointed in this direction, he went with Captain Daniell and others in a small schooner to prospect the South Island. After proceeding as far south as the Bluff, Deans came back determined, if his brother would join him, to establish himself on the plains at the back of Port Cooper.

John arrived at Nelson in the Thomas Harrison on 25 Oct 1842 and, having seen his section there, readily fell in with William's suggestion, trusting to be able later to exchange their Wellington and Nelson land orders for a similar area in Canterbury. William left Wellington 11 Feb 1843 (having obtained the consent of the Governor to his plan) in Sinclair's schooner Richmond. He was accompanied by Samuel Manson and John Gebbie with their families, some livestock and provisions, and timbers prepared for a house. Most of the company disembarked at Port Levy, while Deans, with Manson and a few others, took a whaleboat up the river Avon to a spot where later settlers landed their bricks. In a small canoe they penetrated some distance farther up the river and its tributaries. They landed near the point where the gully crosses Riccarton road, and completed the journey to Riccarton, or Pataringamotu, on foot. There the party made their own bricks and sawed the timber for a house of three rooms, one for the Gebbies, one for the Mansons, and the sitting-room for the Deans brothers. The house was finished in May and the rest of the party were brought across from Port Levy. John meanwhile took passage to Sydney to purchase stock, and on 17 Jun came into Port Cooper in the Princess Royal with 61 head of cattle, three mares, and 43 sheep, which with great difficulty were driven to Riccarton.

Within the year the Deans brothers erected two other houses on their property. Other shipments of stock were imported (1847 and 1850). For the rest of the forties the brothers steadily improved their holding. In 1844 they were milking a score of cows and making cheese and butter for a good market in Sydney. They had also vegetable gardens and an orchard, raised oats, barley and wheat, threshed with flails, and ground wheat into flour for their own needs in a small hand flourmill purchased in Wellington. In 1845 they clipped 130 pounds of wool, which brought 10d a pound. In 1846 Riccarton produced a crop of wheat, 60 to 70 bushels to the acre, and over 30 tons of potatoes from two and a half acres of ground. In 1846 the brothers got leave from the government to lease land from the natives. Year by year the estate was consolidated.

In 1848 the New Zealand Company having purchased most of the surrounding land from the natives for the Canterbury settlement, the Deanses were able to exchange their land orders for land in their own district, and thus obtained a total of 400 acres in Riccarton. In 1849 Sir George and Lady Grey spent a few days with them. By 1850 the brothers were selling 14 bales of wool in London. At the end of the year the first four ships arrived with Canterbury settlers. Meanwhile the Deans brothers were troubled by a misunderstanding with Godley as to their title and they had to dispose of part of their property to obtain money to defend themselves in the courts. Fortunately the Governor used his influence and the dispute was settled.

In Apr 1851 Grey offered William a seat in the Legislative Council, but he declined it as being 'quite out of the way.' In 1851 William Deans left for Sydney in the schooner Maria to obtain more stock. She was wrecked on Terawhiti and he was drowned. In consequence John hurried his visit to his father in Scotland leaving early in 1852. While there he married Jane, daughter of James McIlraith, of Auchenflower, Ayrshire, and they sailed on their return to New Zealand in the Minerva, arriving in Feb 1853.

John now took the lead in the settlement. He, too, was pressed in 1853 to stand for Parliament, but preferred to devote his whole attention to his affairs. He died on 23 Jun 1854, leaving a widow and one son. For many years the estate was worked in trust, until the boy came of age, when he was able to take it over intact.

NZ Archives; NZ C; Cant. O.N.; Deans (p); Acland; Wigram; Godley, Letters; Shortland, 262; E. J. Wakefield; Guthrie Hay; The Press, 20 Jun 1902, 20 Jan 1911, 18 Jan 1900.

Reference: Volume 1, page 116

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JOHN DEANS (1853-1902), son of William Deans, was born at Riccarton and educated at the Lincoln Road High School (now West Christchurch). He served his articles with Duncan and Williams, solicitors, but did not go on with law. On attaining his majority he took over the management of the estate. Deans was president of the Canterbury A. and P. Association, chairman of the Christchurch Drainage Board and the Riccarton Road Board, and a governor of Canterbury College. He was a progressive farmer and stock owner, and constantly improved his flocks and herds by importations. His Shorthorn cattle had a very high reputation. Deans married (1879) Catherine Edith, daughter of Robert Park (q.v.).

Deans (p); The Press, 20 Jun 1902.

Reference: Volume 1, page 116

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DEIGHTON, SAMUEL (1822-1900) was born in England and came to New Zealand in the Aurora (Jan 1840). Soon acquiring a knowledge of Maori, he was clerk and interpreter to the resident magistrate at Wanganui in 1846 and was elected captain of the first Wanganui company of volunteers (1860). He soon retired and, being fond of sport and horse-racing, spent much time with Maj. Trafford in Rangitikei.

During the war he was an inspector in the Colonial Defence Force and captain in the Militia. He saw service on both coasts and notably against Te Kooti in Poverty Bay and Wairoa. Afterwards he was in the Native Land Purchase department and magistrate at Wairoa (1865) and finally at Chatham Islands (1883). He compiled a Moriori vocabulary which was published in 1889. Retiring in 1898, he died on 9 Nov 1900.

His elder brother RICHARD DEIGHTON (b. 1819) arrived in Wellington in the Cuba on 22 Jan 1840, and was engaged on the survey. After the Wairau affray he had a stormy encounter with Te Rangihaeata (1843). Being at Wanganui in 1846 when a war party was about to start to join the disaffected natives at the Hutt, he volunteered to carry a letter to the Governor. This he achieved at great risk by joining the war party and eluding it on the journey. Grey was thus enabled to see Wi Kingi te Rangitake and Tamihana te Rauparaha and to prevent the recruits joining Rangihaeata. Deighton served in several engagements in the later Maori wars.

App. H.R. 1883 J4; 1889 G5; Gascoyne; Ward; J. G. Wilson; Cowan; McKillop; Lyttelton Times, 1 Nov 1900.

Reference: Volume 1, page 116

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DELAMAIN, FREDERICK WILLIAM (1835-1910) was born at Heavitree, Exeter, a son of Colonel Delamain, C.B. He came to Canterbury in 1854 and squatted on the Alford run, with the Kennaways. He was a successful racing owner. Delamain represented Riccarton in the Canterbury Provincial Council (1866-74). He died in 1910.

Canterbury P.C. Proc; Acland.

Reference: Volume 1, page 116

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DENNISTON, GEORGE LYON (1846-1934), a brother of Sir John Denniston, was born in Glasgow, and educated at the Glasgow, Greenock and Blair Lodge Academies. In 1862 he arrived in New Zealand, where he was engaged in farming till 1867, when he entered business in Dunedin. After being for 11 years managing director of Neill and Co. (1882-93), he established a business of his own. In 1884 he became Lloyd's agent in Dunedin, and in 1899 consul for Belgium in Otago, for which he was created a chevalier of the Order of the Crown of Belgium. He was a member of the Dunedin City Council (1897-1900) and mayor during the Royal visit (1901-02).

Denniston was several times president of the chamber of commerce, a director of the Westport Coal Co. and of the Otago Daily Times Co., president of the Dunedin Savings Bank, and commissioner of the Dunedin sinking funds. In sport he was a member of the first Otago interprovincial football team, and for a time president of the Dunedin athletic club. He married (1878) the eldest daughter of W. H. Reynolds (q.v.). Denniston died on 12 Jul 1934.

Cycl. N.Z., iv (p); Who's Who N.Z., 1908, 1924, 1932; The Dominion and Otago Daily Times, 13 Jul 1934.

Reference: Volume 1, page 117

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DENNISTON, SIR JOHN EDWARD (1845-1919) was born at Bishopton, Renfrewshire, Scotland, the son of Thomas Denniston (q.v.), and received the usual public school education at Greenock Academy and Blair Lodge. Matriculating at Glasgow University and winning an entrance scholarship, he came to Otago with his parents in 1862 and followed various occupations, including those of civil servant and a clerk in the Bank of New South Wales. He then became a law clerk with W. Downie Stewart in Dunedin, and in 1874 was admitted to the bar. After practising for a few months in Wanganui he became a partner with Stewart, and for many years conducted the court work of the firm of Stewart, Holmes and Denniston. In 1889 Denniston was appointed to the Supreme Court bench. In 1919 he was chairman of the epidemic commission. He married (1877) Mary Helen, daughter of John Bathgate. He was knighted in 1917 and was senior judge at the time of his death. He was associated with the Canterbury Caledonian Society, the Society of Arts, and the Savage Club. Denniston died on 22 Jul 1919.

Cycl. NZ, iii (p); The Press, 22, 23 Jul 1919.

Reference: Volume 1, page 117

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DENNISTON, THOMAS (1821-97) was born at Greenock, Scotland, and educated at Greenock Academy and Glasgow University. He spent some time travelling in Europe and then became a partner with a sugar merchant. He was much influenced by the religious movement in 1843 and gave his full support to the Free Church. He married early and his wife died in 1855.

In 1862 Denniston came to New Zealand in the Nelson and took up a run at Hillend, to which he walked with his sons. It did not pay, and he exchanged it for a smaller run in the Oteramika district, Southland. A man of deep culture, with a graceful literary style, he drifted naturally away from country life towards journalism. For many years he was literary editor of the Southland Times, of which he was editor (1879-85) and a director. He contested the Oteramika seat in the Provincial Council against F. D. Bell (1871), but made no later advance towards political life. He was for many years a justice of the peace both in Renfrewshire and in New Zealand, and was a member of the Southland land board, the Otago school commissioners and the Southland education board. He founded the paper mill at Mataura. A conservative Christian, he was an elder-elect of the Free Church of Scotland (of Dr Buchanan's congregation) but declined ordination. He was, however, a deacon of First Church, Invercargill. Denniston lived for a short time at Duvauchelles, Banks Peninsula, returning to Southland, where he died on 14 Sep 1897. (See J. E. Denniston, R. F. CUTHBERTSON).

Ross; Southland Times, 15 Sep 1897, 12 Nov 1912; Weekly Press, 22 Sep 1897.

Reference: Volume 1, page 117

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DERROM, JAMES (1818-98) was born at Corfu while his father was serving with the army of occupation in the board of ordnance. In 1824 he went to England. He was educated at a private school at Plymouth and the Grammar School at Glasgow and eventually at Deal, where he studied military engineering.

His father having been appointed barrackmaster at Auckland, Derrom came with him in the Tyne (1841) and entered into business as an architect and builder. He was clerk of works for the building of the district hospital and the Avondale asylum. In 1853 Derrom was selected, at a meeting of the operative and working classes held at the White Hart hotel, as a suitable candidate for the Provincial Council, and he was duly elected to represent the City of Auckland (1853-55). In 1860 Derrom raised the Victoria Company of the Auckland Volunteer Rifles, of which he was lieutenant (1860) and captain (1862). He afterwards commanded the first rifle battalion. He was also captain of the first volunteer fire brigade. Derrom died on 26 Dec 1898.

N.Z. Herald, 28 Dec 1898.

Reference: Volume 1, page 118

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DEVENISH, WILLIAM (1819-66) was born at Sydling St Nicholas, Dorset, and came to New Zealand in the Timandra (1842) with his brother-in-law, Josiah Flight (q.v.). They farmed at Mangaoraka until they had to move by order of Governor FitzRoy, and then took up land at Mangorei. They brought some valuable Southdown sheep from England and at a later date introduced stock from England and Australia. Devenish married (1855) Mary (1830-1917), daughter of Thomas Hirst (q.v.). He was member of the Provincial Council for Grey and Bell for a few months before his death, which took place on 13 Nov 1866.

Taranaki P.C. minutes and Gaz; Taranaki Herald, 17 Nov 1866. Portrait: Taranaki Hist. Coll.

Reference: Volume 1, page 118

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DEVORE, ALBERT EDWARD TYRRELL (1843-1916) was born at Devizes, Wiltshire, and educated at Marlborough College. Arriving in Melbourne in 1859, he commenced the study of law. In 1862 he came to Dunedin, where after a few months on the diggings he entered the office of Howorth and Graham. In 1866 he was associated with W. L. Rees in Hokitika, where he was afterwards manager for Rees and Tyler. He was admitted to practise in 1871 and moved to Auckland a few years later. He entered into partnership with J. B. Russell and later was associated with T. Cooper (q.v.). Devore was a member of the City Council (1882-86) and mayor of Auckland (1886-89). During his term of office the public library and the art gallery were opened officially. He was for many years a member of the harbour board, chairman of the Ponsonby school committee and a trustee of the Auckland Savings Bank. In Otago he was a prominent freemason.

N.Z. Herald, 29 Jan 1890 (p).

Reference: Volume 1, page 118

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DEWE, JOHN (1818-80) was born at Alston Field vicarage, England, and was educated for the Church of England but not ordained. He was a stationer before coming to Otago with his wife and family in the Blundell (1848). He farmed his country section at Pelichet Bay and then at Tokomairiro. While there he represented the district in the Provincial Council (1858-64). He was resident magistrate and coroner at Tokomairiro (1863-70) and then took holy orders, being ordained by Bishop Nevill and appointed successively to the parishes of Roxburgh, Clyde (1872) and Gladstone. He died on 6 Sep 1880.

Otago P.C. Proc; Otago Daily Times, 23 Aug 1871, 10 Mar 1873, 8 Oct 1880.

Reference: Volume 1, page 118

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DEWSBURY, HENRY ROHAN (1849-1926) was born at Alloa, Scotland, educated at Alloa school, and came to New Zealand in 1863 with his parents.

While he was serving his articles to Bury and Mountfort, architects, Christchurch, he attended a mission conducted by Bishop Taylor, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and decided to dedicate his life to Christian service. As a local preacher he showed evidence of oratorical gifts which in later years gave him preeminence as a preacher. In 1869 he was accepted as a candidate for the Methodist ministry and studied under the Revs A. R. Fitchett and Alexander Reid. A wide reader with a retentive memory, he made himself familiar with the masters of English prose and verse. He enjoyed the reputation of being the most eloquent preacher in a strong preaching denomination. Dewsbury began his ministry at Hokitika (1871), and subsequently served as superintendent minister of circuits in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Wanganui, Oamaru and Cambridge.

In 1876 he married Elizabeth Boyd Parnell. In 1888 he visited England, where his broad views, catholic spirit and social aptitudes made him welcome in wide circles. He was for many years a military chaplain, and served his Church in secretarial positions and as chairman of several synods. In 1891 he was elected president. He was superannuated in 1911, and died on 8 Jun 1926.

M.A.R.P.

Reference: Volume 1, page 118

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DICK, THOMAS (1823-1900) was born at Edinburgh. A few years later his parents removed to London, but as soon as he was old enough Dick returned to his native city, where he remained until the age of 15. He then entered the office of John Roberts, merchant, of London. When he had been 12 years with this firm he was sent to St Helena as agent for the Fenchurch Street firm of James Morrison and Co. There he married (1850) Miss Darling. Throughout life Dick revelled in religious movements and work amongst the poor. In London he worked earnestly in the slums, especially in connection with the ragged schools in Stepney and in Sunday school work. At St Helena, where he spent seven years, he joined the Baptist congregation and he remained a Baptist throughout, though for many years he was a pillar of the Presbyterian Church in Dunedin. In the little island also he took a great interest in evangelical work and in the Sunday school movement, and in later years in Dunedin he spent many a Sunday afternoon in company with Dr Stuart, distributing tracts amongst miners.

In 1857, with his wife and young children, Dick arrived in Dunedin by the ship Bosworth, primarily as the agent for Morrisons. Before long he established himself as an auctioneer in Dunedin and when the goldfields opened the business expanded into a general agency. Although he arrived in Dunedin late in 1857 he was elected unopposed only a year later to a seat in the Provincial Council for Dunedin City. In 1859 he became a member of Reynolds's executive. At the general election in 1860 he was returned at the head of the poll for Dunedin, and he was again in the executive for a few months that year. One of his first acts in the Provincial Council was to secure a vote of £1,000 for the Athenaeum and Mechanics Institute. In Apr 1862 he moved a vote of no-confidence in the Cutten-Walker administration, and took office himself as provincial secretary. At the general election in 1863 he was again at the head of the poll, but he resigned his portfolio shortly after the meeting of the Council. He was again in the executive in 1863-64 and in 1865. In Aug 1865 Harris resigned the superintendency and Dick stood against E. McGlashan, whom he defeated by 990 to 565. It was not altogether a happy experience. There was lack of harmony between Superintendent and Council, and a good deal of friction between the central and provincial authorities.

Meanwhile Dick also represented his fellow citizens in the General Assembly. Reluctant to enter Parliament, he had a habit of resigning his seat on the slightest indication of lack of confidence, but he was almost invariably re-elected. First elected for Dunedin at the end of 1860, he resigned in 1862; was elected again and resigned in 1863. Elected for Port Chalmers (Mar 1866) he took a strong stand in Parliament against the attempt to filch certain license fees from the municipality of Dunedin. When the members representing Otago returned from Wellington (Oct 1866) there was a strong feeling that they had not done what they might have done to protect the interests of the province. A public meeting in Dunedin called upon them to resign. Two of the fifteen did so-Dick and Reynolds. Dick was returned unopposed, but resigned a few months later. In the meantime his term as Superintendent had come to a close, and in Feb 1867 he was defeated by Macandrew by 2259 votes to 1392.

Retiring from Parliament in Jul, he remained out of political life for a few years. Mrs Dick having died in 1869, Dick married the widow of Frederick Walker (q.v.) who had been a fellow passenger in the Bosworth. In 1879 he again went into Parliament (as a member for Dunedin City, with R. Oliver and W. Downie Stewart as colleagues). In Mar 1880 he joined the Hall ministry as Colonial Secretary, and later assumed also the portfolios of Education and Justice. At the general election (Dec 1881) he was elected for Dunedin West (defeating Downie Stewart by 459 to 451 votes). He continued to administer his old departments in the Whitaker ministry, taking in addition the Postmaster-generalship (1882). When Atkinson came into office (Sep 1883) he retained the services of Dick as Colonial Secretary and Minister of Education until the general election in 1884, when Dick was defeated by Stewart by 504 votes to 480. At the election of 1887 he was again defeated by Stewart (by 708 votes to 695).

There he chose to terminate his political life, declining a seat in the upper house, and confining his attention to local affairs. He was for some years a member of the Otago education board, and from 1860 of the waste land board. From 1858-60 he was on the Dunedin town board. He was secretary of the Dunedin Waterworks Co. from its formation, and for many years was treasurer of the Dempsey Trust.

When Dick came to Dunedin there was no Baptist congregation, so he became an active member of First Church and a teacher in the Sunday school. He was a promoter of Knox Church, and a member of the first board of trustees, but (not being a Presbyterian) declined to take office. In 1863 the Baptist Church in Hanover street was opened by the Rev J. L. Parsons as first pastor. Dick was a trustee. He began a Sunday school in the Planet sawmill, and was its superintendent until his death. He was one of the founders, and the first secretary, of the Otago Bible Society (1864), and he was vice-president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals when it was founded (1882). From 1860 he was on the visiting committee of the hospital.

Dick for some years lived a retired life owing to persistent ill-health. He died on 5 Feb 1900.

Otago P.C. Proc.; Cycl. NZ, iv. (p); Hocken; McIndoe; Cox, Men of Mark; Otago Daily Times, 6 Feb 1900, 23 May 1930 (p). Portrait: Parliament House.

Reference: Volume 1, page 119

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DICKIE, WILLIAM JAMES (1870-1921) was born at Cobden and educated on the Coast. For some time he was employed in Greymouth and thereafter in business with his father. Owing to ill-health he turned to farming and after some years experience in Westland bought a property near Rakaia. He farmed also at Methven. Dickie took a great interest in public affairs, being for many years a member of the Ashburton county council and hospital board and of the Ashburton and Methven A. and P. association. Defeating C. A. C. Hardy in 1911, he represented Selwyn in Parliament till 1919, when he was defeated by Sir William Nosworthy. Dickie died on 24 Jun 1921. He married a niece of James Peryman (Greymouth).

Hansard, 23 Jun 1921; Grey River Argus, 25 Jun 1921. Portrait: Parliament House.

Reference: Volume 1, page 119

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DICKSON, JAMES McCOLL (1854-1937) was born in Victoria and came to New Zealand with his parents in 1863. After finishing his education at public schools in Otago he commenced sawmilling with his brothers at Catlins, but shortly relinquished this to farm at Portobello. Here he spent 40 years, having considerable success in raising stock.

He was a member (and chairman 1904-16) of the Portobello road board; of the school committee (also chairman); and of the Otago harbour board: 1911-35 (chairman 1915-16, 1926-27, 1927-28). In early manhood he was a keen cricketer and for many years he was a leading rifle shot, being president of the Peninsula Rifle Association, captain of the Peninsula Club and a member of the New Zealand rifle team at the Melbourne Exhibition. Dickson contested a seat in Parliament in the Reform interest in 1911, being defeated by E. H. Clark (q.v.); was elected in 1914 and represented Chalmers continuously until his retirement in 1928. He was some time chairman of the public petitions committee (M to Z). Dickson died on 16 Mar 1937.

Who's Who N.Z., 1932; Evening Star, 17 Mar 1937. Portrait: Parliament House.

Reference: Volume 1, page 119

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DICKSON, JAMES SAMUEL (1870-1939) was born at Belfast, and came to New Zealand at the age of 17. He was employed for some years by Smith and Caughey; was afterwards manager for G. Fowlds, Ltd., and then went into business in Auckland as a mercer and men's outfitter. He was keenly interested in league football and was president of the Auckland Rugby League. In 1911 Dickson won the Parnell seat in Parliament by defeating Sir J. G. Findlay, and he represented that constituency till 1928, when he was defeated by H. R. Jenkins. He was for some years chairman of the railways committee and of the labour bills committee, and from 1919 to 1928 senior Reform whip. Dickson died on 18 Oct 1939.

Who's Who N.Z., 1932; N.Z. Herald and The Dominion, 19 Oct 1939. Portrait: Parliament House.

Reference: Volume 2, page 273

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DIDSBURY, GEORGE (1839-93) was born at Windsor, New South Wales, and came to Kororareka with his father, who held an official position. Leaving the Bay during Heke's war, they settled in Auckland, where Didsbury was educated and apprenticed to the New Zealander office. There he was soon employed in the printing of official documents. In 1861 the Southern Cross received the contract for printing and Didsbury went over to that employ. When the Government Printing Office was established he was second in control and on the removal of the government to Wellington he became Government Printer (at the age of 26). He held that position until his death on 20 Apr 1893. Didsbury was a director of the Palmerston North Gas Co. and the Gear Meat Co. He was a vestryman and churchwarden of St Peter's, Wellington.

Cycl. N.Z., i (p); Evening Post, 21 Apr 1893

Reference: Volume 1, page 119

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DIEFFENBACH, ERNST (1811-55) was the son of a Lutheran clergyman and professor, and was born at Giessen in Germany. Educated there, he entered upon a medical course but became involved in students' political demonstrations and fled to Zurich, in Switzerland. There he graduated M.D. in 1835. Shortly afterwards, owing to pressure from the Austrian government, he had to leave Switzerland and take refuge in London. He made a rather precarious living for some years, contributing to medical and scientific journals, teaching German and acting as a prosector in Guy's Hospital, and for a while as doctor to a factory in London. In 1837, through the instrumentality of Liebig, Dieffenbach's prosecution was struck out. Licensed to return to Germany for a limited period, he maintained himself by translating English works into German for publication. In 1839 he was appointed surgeon and naturalist to the New Zealand Company, and sailed in the Tory for this country. Dieffenbach made some important journeys into the interior, including one to Tongariro, Taupo, Waikato and Whaingaroa, and he made the first ascent of Mount Egmont. He also visited the Chatham islands. With his reports to the New Zealand Company he sent full collections in all branches of natural history. His work for the Company being completed in 1840, he offered his services to the Government to make a scientific exploration of both islands, receiving only his travelling expenses. Governor Gipps was unable to sanction the expenditure from the revenues of New South Wales, and Dieffenbach returned in Oct 1841 to England, where he published his report on the Chatham islands in the New Zealand Journal. His report on natural history and the natives appeared in John Ward's supplementary information; and his book Travels in New Zealand was published in 1843. He also contributed to the British Association in 1845 a report on New Zealand geology. In 1843 he returned to Giessen, and two years later he was sent to England by Liebig to advertise the use of artificial manure. On this occasion he had an interview with Lord Stanley in the hope of getting further employment in New Zealand. He was offered a scientific exploration on the west coast of South America, but declined for family reasons.

After the revolution of 1848 Dieffenbach edited a Liberal newspaper and was offered a seat in the German parliament, but declined. In 1849 he was licensed to teach at Giessen and in the following year appointed supernumerary professor of geology. He died at Giessen in Oct 1855.

G.B.O.P. 1842/569; N.Z.C. reports; E. J. Wakefield; Dieffenbach, op. cit; N.Z. Gazette (newspaper), Aug 1840; Ausland 1874, No. 4 (Ernst Dieffenbach der Erforscher Neu-Seelands); Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, vol v, 120.

Reference: Volume 1, page 120

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DIGNAN, PATRICK (1814-94) was born at Loughrea, County Galway, Ireland. In 1839 he emigrated to New South Wales, and two years later came to New Zealand in the Sophia Pate (Jun 1841). Settling in Auckland he kept one of the leading hotels in the city.

Dignan's high standing in the community was evidenced by his election as one of the first aldermen of the city (Nov 1851). Courteous, generous and warm-hearted, he was a strong Liberal in the early days of politics. In 1852 he was elected by the Pensioner Settlements to the Legislative Council of New Ulster (which never met). In 1853 he was returned to the first Provincial Council, and he was almost continuously a member (for Northern division 1853-57; City of Auckland 1857-61; Auckland West 1865-75). For four years (1865-69) and again in 1873 he was a member of the provincial executive under the superintendency of Whitaker and Williamson, and finally under Grey. He suffered defeat in 1855 in the contest for the City seat in Parliament. Dignan first entered Parliament in 1867 for City West, which he represented from that date until 1870 and again from 1875-79. In early years he was an active member of the Constitutional Association which brought Whitaker out for the Superintendency (1855). Later he was an ardent supporter of the provincial system and took a leading part in inducing Grey to re-enter the arena in its defence. In 1879 he was called to the Legislative Council, of which he was a painstaking and conscientious member until his death.

Dignan was a member of the Auckland harbour commissioners for many years, a trustee of the Auckland Savings Bank, one of the largest original shareholders of the Bank of New Zealand, and a director of the Auckland Gas Co. He died on 20 Oct 1894.

His eldest son, PETER DIGNAN, was born in Auckland (1847) and educated at St Peter's school and afterwards under the Franciscan monks. After serving his articles to L. O'Brien he was admitted to the bar (1868). He was for 12 years a member of the City Council and was twice mayor (1897-99). He was also a member of the harbour board, chairman of the hospital board, a governor of the Auckland University College and Grammar School, and a commissioner of the Auckland Exhibition. He was for 23 years president of the Christian Doctrine Society and a leading member of the Catholic Literary Institute. As a volunteer he was colonel of the 2nd Auckland battalion.

Hansard, 20 Oct 1894; Cycl. NZ., ii (p); N.Z. Herald, 22 Oct 1894. Portrait: Parliament House.

Reference: Volume 1, page 120

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DILLON, ALFRED (1847-1915) was born in Wales and came to Hawke's Bay in the Southern Cross in 1857. He was first employed as a cowboy by H. S. Tiffen at Homewood, and then went to Tamumu. He became a bullock driver, and in partnership with C. Clark, carried between Napier and Waipawa, Patangata and Tamumu for 14 years. He then commenced sheepfarming at Homewood and afterwards moved to Patangata. Dillon devoted much time to local body work, being chairman of the Waipawa county council, the Patangata road board, the Waipawa river board and the Waipukurau hospital board, and a member of the Napier harbour board, and six years a governor of the Napier High Schools. He defeated Sir W. Russell for Hawke's Bay in 1905 and 1908 (offering the seat on the latter occasion to R. McNab, q.v.); and retired in 1911. He married a daughter of S. Collins and died on 14 Nov 1915.

N.Z.P.D., 10 May 1916; Cycl. N.Z., vi (p); H.B. Herald, 15 Nov 1915. Portrait: Parliament House.

Reference: Volume 1, page 120

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DILLON, CONSTANTINE AUGUSTUS (1813-53), fourth son of the 13th Viscount Dillon, served in the Royal Navy, the 7th Dragoon Guards and the 17th Lancers. He was aide-de-camp to Lord Durham in Canada and to Lord Ebrington, lord-lieutenant of Ireland. He married on 10 Feb 1842 Fanny, daughter of P. L. Story.

Dillon arrived in Wellington in the George Fyfe on 7 Nov 1842 on his way to Nelson. In 1843 he became a magistrate of the territory, and he drilled the Nelson volunteers after Wairau and was a recognised leader in the affairs of the province. It was he who proposed the resolution demanding the recall of Governor FitzRoy (1845). Dillon's land holdings were in the Waimea and more extensively in the Wairau, where he owned the Delta Dairy, the first farm of its kind in Marlborough. He was one of the first sheep owners (in partnership with W. O. Cautley). In May 1848 he was appointed military and civil secretary to the Governor (Sir George Grey) and removed to Auckland. Early in 1851 he returned to Nelson on his appointment as commissioner of crown lands there and later in the year he was appointed also a commissioner for land claims. On 3 Jun he was called to the Legislative Council of New Zealand and he took the oath and his seat that day.

Dillon was drowned while crossing the Wairau river on 16 Apr 1853.

Burke, Peerage, 1935; Dillon Letters, 1848-51; Nelson Examiner, Apr 1852.

Reference: Volume 1, page 121

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DILLON, PETER (1785-1847) went to sea as a young man. Tall and strong, he saw a great deal of life in the South Sea islands in the early years of the nineteenth century. He seems to have visited the Friendly Islands (Tonga) as early as 1809 and in the next 20 years was almost constantly trading to the East and the Pacific Islands, forming friendships which were of great service to his employers.

In 1813 he was chief officer of the barque Hunter, of Calcutta, and had a narrow escape at Fiji in attempting to seize sandalwood which he claimed to have paid for. Calling at Tikopia later, the Hunter landed a Prussian, Martin Buchert, and his Fiji wife. In 1814 Dillon commanded the Active on her voyage to land Marsden's first missionaries at Bay of Islands. He claimed during these years to have lived 14 months at Tahiti and a considerable time at Bau (Fiji), and his friendship with the chief Mafanga, of Tongatabu, was a long-standing one. In 1823 when he was commanding the brig Calder, he reported to Marsden at Hokianga having discovered stowaway convicts on board and suggested greater strictness in the inspection of vessels at Port Jackson in order to protect New Zealand from the influx of such characters.

In 1825 Dillon lost the Calder at Valparaiso, but acquired instead the St Patrick, 450 tons, a Paraguay-built ship which had taken part in the Chilean wars and had already visited New Zealand for spars. Arriving off Cape Colville on 31 Dec, the vessel was boarded by Hinaki, who reported that the local tribe had retreated to the interior to evade Hongi. Pomare also visited Dillon, who suspected that he premeditated attacking the ship. When about to leave New Zealand after a stay of three months bartering muskets for spars, Dillon took on board two sons of the Thames chief Tukurua. At Tikopia Buchert showed Dillon a sword guard and other articles which had been brought from Vanikoro (Santa Cruz) and which were believed to have belonged to La Perouse, whose ships were reported to have been cast away in a storm.

On reaching Calcutta (Aug 1826) Dillon introduced the young chiefs to Lord Combermere and exhibited to the Asiatic Society of Bengal the relics of La Perouse. The East India Company consented to prosecute the search, and gave Dillon command of the Research, which left Calcutta in Jan 1827. Reaching New Zealand in Jul, Dillon declined to land the young chiefs at Bay of Islands for fear of the vengeance of Pomare, but they and their father were all killed in a battle with Hongi shortly after they reached their home.

Disappointed in his hope of meeting D'Urville in New Zealand or Tonga, Dillon proceeded to Vanikoro (7 Sep) and gathered conclusive evidence of the fate of La Perouse, with which he returned to Calcutta (Apr 1828). When he reached Paris in 1829, his services were liberally rewarded. He was made a chevalier of the Legion of Honour and a member of the Geographical Society of Paris, and was voted an annuity of 4,000 francs a year. His Narrative of the Successful Result of a Voyage in the South Seas was published in 1829.

Dillon at this time saw much of the rector of the Irish College in Paris. At his instigation he wrote to the Vicar-general of the diocese of Pamiers (the Ven H. de Solages) who had just been appointed prefect-apostolic of the Isle of Bourbon, urging that the Catholic Church should establish a mission with the help of the naval ship which went annually to Valparaiso with supplies for French naval units in the Pacific. The Ministry of Marine having acceded to this request, the scheme was submitted to the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith and approved. In 1830 a decree was made creating a prefecture apostolic, and in 1833 two vicariates were created in the Pacific, New Zealand being included in that of Western Oceania. News having meanwhile arrived of the death of de Solages (on 8 Dec 1832), it became necessary to seek for a successor, and the choice fell on Jean B. F. Pompallier (q.v., 23 Dec 1835).

In 1832 Dillon's letter to an influential person in London setting forth the advantages of settling New Zealand was published. He was appointed French consul in the South Seas, and lived for a few years there, but resigned in 1838 and resided in Ireland until his death on 9 Feb 1847.

Dillon, op. cit.; Marsden; Bayly; Thierry, Reminiscences; D. D'Urville, Voyage Pittoresque autour du Monde, 1834; Zealandia, 24 Feb 1938.

Reference: Volume 1, page 121

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DILWORTH, JAMES (1815-94) was born at Dungannon, County Tyrone, Ireland, and educated at the Royal School there under Dr Darley (afterwards bishop of Kilmore). For some years he assisted on his father's farm, and about 1839 emigrated to Australia. He lived for some time at Parramatta, New South Wales, but finding the heat excessive he came to New Zealand about 1841.

In Auckland he was interested first in the New Zealand Banking Company and acquired considerable property at Mount Hobson. During the war he contracted (in partnership with Williams, of Bay of Islands) to supply meat to the troops. He represented Southern Division in the Auckland Provincial Council (1853-60). Dilworth was a strong supporter of the Church of England and a member of the diocesan trust board. To the Young Men's Christian Association and the Auckland Jubilee Kindergarten he made annual contributions of £100 each. He was for some years on the Auckland University College council. Dilworth was largely interested in the Thames Valley Land Co. and was a trustee of the Auckland Savings Bank. He left a large estate out of which a handsome endowment was bequeathed for educational purposes (notably the Dilworth Ulster Institute). He died on 23 Dec 1894.

Cycl. N.Z., ii (p); N.Z. Herald, 24, 27 Dec 1894.

Reference: Volume 1, page 121

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DINGLE, JAMES (1818-96) was born in England. Engaging for service on the survey staff of the New Zealand Company, he arrived in Wellington by the Slains Castle early in 1841 and was one of the first party sent under Carrington to lay out the Taranaki settlement. He settled in Taranaki, took up land at Omata and married Hannah, daughter of T. Vede, senior. He was a member of the Provincial Council for Grey and Bell (1869-73) and of the New Plymouth harbour board. He died on 23 Oct 1896.

Taranaki P.C. minutes and Gaz; Taranaki Herald, 20 Nov 1886, 24 Oct 1896. Portrait: Taranaki Hist. Coll.

Reference: Volume 1, page 121

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DINWIDDIE, WILLIAM (1863-1937) was born in London, the son of the Rev W. Dinwiddie, and was educated at the University College School. He afterwards studied law, and on coming to New Zealand was admitted a barrister and solicitor (1889) and commenced to practise in Napier. In 1901 he became editor of the Hawkes Bay Herald, which he controlled till shortly before his death (on 3 Jun 1937). Dinwiddie was a profound scholar and was deeply interested in education and cultural movements. He was a member of the Napier High School board (1918-25 and 1929-31), and chairman of this and the combined high school and technical schools board (1931-36). He was for 26 years a trustee of the Hawkes Bay children's home and was a vice-president of the Royal Society and of the Hawkes Bay Arts and Crafts Society. Dinwiddie published a short history of early Hawkes Bay in two parts (1916, 1921).

Who's Who NZ, 1932; Daily Telegraph (Napier), 3 Jun 1937.

Reference: Volume 1, page 121

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DIVE, WILLIAM EVANS (1831-1928) was born at Rye, Sussex, England, and came to New Zealand in the Sir Edward Paget (1850). He was for many years farming and sawmilling in Marlborough and Taranaki. In 1874-75 he represented Queen Charlotte Sound in the Marlborough Provincial Council, and was a member of the executive. Dive lived for 20 years in Auckland, where his death occurred on 13 Jul 1928.

A son, BRADSHAW DIVE (1865-), was mayor of Eltham and of Tauranga (1919-25), and M.H.R. for Egmont (1908-11).

Marlborough P.C. Proc; Who's Who N.Z., 1932.

Reference: Volume 1, page 121

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DIXON, MARMADUKE (1828-95) was born at Caistor, Lincolnshire, the third son of James Green Dixon, and grandson of Thomas Dixon, a well-known sheep-breeder of Holton Park. Educated at Caistor Grammar School, Dixon was rather delicate. He was apprenticed at the age of 14 to the shipping firm of Robert Brooks and Co., and he sailed in their ships the whole of the time he was at sea. On one of his early voyages he was wrecked on the coast of Brazil, and spent six weeks at Pernambuco before getting a passage to England in the ship Swordfish.

Dixon made several voyages to Australia in the Senator, and about 1844 or 1845 he visited New Zealand. When he was first mate his ship arrived in Port Phillip to find 400 vessels lying idle, their crews having deserted to try the goldfields. Dixon managed to keep his men together to discharge the cargo and get to sea. He was due for command of a ship and had been offered by Bishop Selwyn command of the mission yacht, but on the advice of John Murphy, an Australian squatter, who had taken up a run near Cust, he decided to settle in New Zealand. He accordingly left the sea (1851) and took his passage in the Samarang (in which Sir John Hall was a fellow-passenger), landing in Canterbury early in 1852.

Dixon took up 6,000 acres on the Waimakariri river and for the first five years lived in a hut in the manuka. In 1854 The Hermitage was running 3,000 sheep. Other runs were added from time to time until in 1889 the land was granted to the Midland Railway Co. in consideration of the construction of the line. The company gave the tenants the first right of acquiring the freehold, and Dixon purchased for 15s an acre his own run and two others. Of a practical turn of mind, Dixon resorted to ingenious means of getting the work done, and in later years led the settlers in the adoption of modern appliances. His property being poorly supplied with water, he moved his camp to the site of the present homestead, where water was abundant. By 1860 there was a good well, and bullock teams from the stations to the westward and timber wagons from Mount Oxford made it a stopping-place. Dixon had great confidence in manuka land. He spent much money in crushing the scrub with rollers and burning off preparatory to sowing tussock seed on the bare soil, as a protection for the finer varieties of grass which were to follow. He was one of the first to use three-furrow ploughs, of which he imported a dozen (1866). He was an advocate of the Australian soil scoop for roadmaking and imported some to demonstrate their efficacy. In 1868 he imported a threshing machine and used straw elevators and slipgates for drafting sheep. Dixon is believed to have been the first to ship wheat in bags from Canterbury to England. Perhaps he served the province best by his courageous fight for irrigation. In 1887 he started an irrigation farm near the Waimakariri, and when he died he had 1,200 acres watered. He and his son engineered the intake from the Waimakariri for the Ashley-Waimakariri system. A flood after the hard winter of 1895 carried it away, but a year after Dixon's death Seddon officially opened the system which he devised.

Dixon was first chairman of the Mandeville and Rangiora, Cust, and East and West Eyreton road boards. For five years he was a member of all these boards. Dixon was elected to the Provincial Council for Mandeville, which he represented from 1865 until the abolition. He was an earnest supporter of education, and a promoter of the North Canterbury A. and P. association, of which he was a vice-president. When the Canterbury Frozen Meat Co. was formed he sent to London 25 carcases of lamb, of which the Duke of Edinburgh accepted five and London editors smaller lots. A great reader and thinker, Dixon devoted much study to natural science. He believed that the atmosphere of the earth was affected by spots on the sun.

In 1859 Dixon married Eliza Agnes, daughter of the Rev Dr James Suttell Wood, of Wensleydale, Yorkshire, and sometime rector of Cranfield, Bedfordshire. He died on 15 Nov 1895.

Canterbury P.C. Proc.; Acland; Col. Gent.; The Press, 4 Oct 1930 (p).

Reference: Volume 1, page 122

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DIXON, MARMADUKE JOHN (1832-1918) was a son of Marmaduke Dixon (q.v.), and was educated at Christ's College, Christchurch. He was a successful farmer and a firm advocate of irrigation, being for some years chairman of the Waimakariri-Ashley water supply board. Between 1885 and 1890, in response to the stimulus given to mountaineering in New Zealand by the visit of the Rev W. S. Green, Dixon accompanied G. E. Mannering on adventurous work in the Southern Alps, including several attempts on the virgin Mount Cook, which he ascended to within 100 feet of the summit. In 1890 they canoed down the Tasman river and Lake Pukaki into the Waitaki. He was one of the founders of the New Zealand Alpine Club in 1891. Dixon married in 1897 Mabel Courage (Amberley). He died on 31 Jul 1918.

J.D.P.

G. E. Mannering, With Axe and Rope in the New Zealand Alps (1891); Christ's Coll. List; Lyttelton Times, 1 Aug 1918.

Reference: Volume 1, page 122

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DIXON, WILLIAM GRAY (1854-1928) was born at Paisley, Scotland, the son of a Free Kirk minister. Educated at the Neilson Institution there and at Ayr Academy (dux 1871), he graduated M.A. at Glasgow after a distinguished career (1876) and was appointed professor of English at the Imperial College of Engineering, Tokyo, Japan. He was the first secretary of the original Christian Association there and recording secretary and life member of the Asiatic Society of Japan.

Returning to Scotland in 1880, he entered New College to study for the ministry of the Free Church. Gaining his exit with first-class honours (1884) he was licensed as a minister and appointed an assistant at Scotch College, Melbourne, and a year later minister at Fitzroy. He was in charge of St John's, Warrnambool (1887-89), and in 1894 (having been admitted M.A. ad eundem at Melbourne University) he was appointed examiner in apologetics at Ormond Theological College.

In 1900 Dixon came to New Zealand, where he had charge of St David's, Auckland, for 10 years. He was president in that time of the ministers' association and editor of The Burning Bush. He was minister of Roslyn (Dunedin) 1910-21. In 1919 he was moderator of the General Assembly. Retiring in 1921 owing to ill-health, he was appointed minister emeritus. Dixon was held in high esteem for his zeal, fidelity and spiritual discernment, his ability as preacher and writer, and his championship of civic righteousness. Two months before his death he received the honour of doctor of divinity of Edinburgh University. He published The Land of the Morning, Romance of the Catholic Presbyterian Church, John Calvin and the Modern World, and The Church for our Day.

Dixon married (1900) Elizabeth Aitken, daughter of John Glen (Glasgow). He died on 4 Sep 1928.

Who's Who N.Z., 1924; Otago Daily Times, 5 Sep 1928 (p).

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DOBSON, EDWARD (1816-1908) was born in London, the son of a Mediterranean merchant. He was educated in London and articled to a well-known architect and surveyor (Herring) from whom he learned the practical side of his profession as a civil engineer. He studied also at University College, London, under Professor Vignoles, and spent several months in a continental tour studying architecture. In 1842-43 he won his first certificate in architecture as a fine art, and in architecture as a science. For two years in succession his drawings were exhibited in the Royal Academy.

In 1844 Dobson joined the firm of John Rastrick, railway engineers, and he had several years' experience in railway construction throughout England. Dobson was one of the original purchasers of land under the Canterbury Association and left for New Zealand by the Cressy in 1850 with his two eldest sons. He selected 50 acres of land at Sumner, and built there and in Christchurch. Mrs Dobson followed a year afterwards with the remainder of the family in the Fatima. In 1854, when the provincial government was fully established, Fitzgerald appointed Dobson provincial engineer, a position which he occupied for the next fourteen years. He not only designed and carried out many of the more important public works in the province, but undertook explorations, especially in the effort to establish communications with the western seaboard, which on the discovery of gold was being visited by ships direct from oversea. First was the track from the plains to Purau, at the head of Akaroa harbour. The tunnel through the hills, and the railway to Lyttelton were impressive works for a colony at such an early stage of its development. At Lyttelton Dobson constructed the breakwater from Officer's Point, which made the inner harbour safe for shipping. He planned the system of railways for the province and before he retired the Lyttelton line was completed, and the southern line had advanced 29 miles (to the Selwyn river). Another important work was the draining of the low-lying land about Rangiora, of which he reclaimed 10,000 acres. His advice was sought also by the province of Otago, which appointed him to make a report on the harbours of Moeraki, Waikouaiti and Oamaru (1865).

In Sep 1857 Dobson investigated a Maori track through the pass of the Hurunui river at Mount Noble, and cut a track for horses to a higher plateau, where they found flat land of superior quality with several lakes through which the Hurunui flowed. Along this track (nowhere more than 1600 feet in height) he laid out the road which eight years later was the first thoroughfare to the west. When the diggings broke out in 1865 Dobson (accompanied by Hall) laid out the road through the Otira, and set gangs to work in the severest weather in order to open a road for the diggers to get through. He named the pass after his son Arthur (q.v.). Another son, George, was murdered by the Burgess and Kelly gang in 1866.

Dobson was afterwards city engineer in Christchurch. In 1869 he became engineer to the Melbourne and Hobson's Bay United Railway Co. Two years later the company's lines were purchased by the Victorian government, under which Dobson took service and (until 1876) carried through the water supply scheme and built the Anakies dam and the Malmesbury reservoir. He was resident engineer at Geelong, and for a while acting-chief engineer of the department.

In 1876 Dobson returned to Canterbury and in private practice with his son constructed the Timaru waterworks; surveyed the railway line from Waikari through the Hurunui pass to Lake Brunner, erected many bridges, and constructed irrigation races and river protection works. Dobson was lecturer in engineering at Canterbury College (1887-92), and was for some years on the board of governors of Christ's College. He was in 1887 one of the electoral boundaries commissioners. In 1842 Dobson was elected a life member of the Oxford Architectural Society, and an associate member of the Institute of Civil Engineers (of which he became a full member in 1881). The institute awarded him the Telford Medal for a paper on the engineering works of the Canterbury provincial government. In 1843 he was elected an A.R.I.B.A. He wrote many other professional papers, notably those on Foundation and Concrete, The Railways of Belgium, Pioneer Engineering, The Art of Building, Museums and Stonecutting, and Bricks and Tiles. He was a member of the Canterbury Philosophical Institute, and president in 1866. Dobson was the first man enrolled in the Heathcote Volunteers in 1861, and subsequently transferred to the engineers. He died on 19 Apr 1908.

Canterbury P.C. Proc; Cycl. N.Z., iii (p); Cant. O.N.; Cox; Dobson; Lyttelton Times, 14 Oct 1857; The Press, 19 Apr 1908, 8 Feb 1930 (P); N.Z. Surveyor, Jun 1908.

Reference: Volume 1, page 123

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DOBSON, SIR ARTHUR DUDLEY (1841-1934). The son of Edward Dobson (q.v.), Arthur was born in London. His education, commenced in Nottingham and London, was interrupted when the family migrated to New Zealand in the Cressy (1850). In 1851 Arthur and his brother were sent to Tasmania in the brig Gazelle to the care of an uncle, the Rev C. Dobson, vicar of Buckland. Two years later, their mother having arrived in New Zealand, the boys returned and continued their education as boarders under the Rev G. Cotterill at Lyttelton and Christ's College.

As a youth Arthur commenced surveying and engineering under his father. In 1860 they surveyed Lyttelton harbour and measured the depth of the mud. The laying out of roads to Kaiapoi and Rangiora, draining the Rangiora swamp, surveying the upper Hurunui and Lake Sumner and marking out the road from Riccarton to the Rangitata kept him employed for a few years. Under the provincial government from 1861 he prospected for coal at Kowai and Mt Torlesse and explored the range as far as the Rakaia; carried out topographical surveys (under von Haast) in the Port Hills and the Mackenzie country (1862) and worked quarries to supply stone for provincial buildings. In 1863 Dobson accepted a contract for the survey of a block of land in west Canterbury from the Grey river to Abut head (including Lake Brunner and the Teremakau to the main ridge). Chartering the schooner Gipsy in Nelson, he took his party south and penetrated as far overland as the Hokitika river, which he crossed on 1 Jan 1864. The white surveyors being discouraged by frequent fatal accidents in the rivers, Dobson relied upon Maori help and used native huts for shelters.

Returning to Christchurch overland he started for the coast again, hoping to bring horses across the Alps. In Mar he discovered Arthur's Pass (named after him some months later) but had to use the Hurunui saddle to get his animals across. Owing to the advent of the diggers, the tracks had to be widened into roads and Arthur's Pass became the main route from Christchurch to the west. His work in Westland being completed (1864), Dobson was associated with Travers (q.v.) in opening up a goldfield in the Appo gully, Collingwood, but after some months it was found to have been worked over previously. He then undertook survey work for Nelson province, trying to find routes over the ranges to the goldfields. While he was thus engaged his brother George was murdered (24 May 1866). Arthur was appointed in 1869 district engineer for the Nelson West Coast goldfields, with headquarters at Westport, and later also chief surveyor. He resigned from the provincial service to become district engineer under the General Government, in charge of railway construction, where he remained until 1878, when he rejoined his father in Christchurch. In 1880 they took the contract for the Timaru harbour works, which they completed in two years.

Dobson made surveys of various railway routes over the Alps, mainly Arthur's Pass and Hurunui. In 1884 the former was decided upon, a preliminary company was formed to obtain capital, and Dobson as engineer went to London (with Alan Scott and Charles Fell). As a result the Midland Railway Co. was formed. During his visit to England Dobson made many interesting contacts with botanists, geologists and other scientists, attended meetings of learned societies and heard much music, in which he was greatly interested. He took flute lessons from a prominent master. On his return to New Zealand (Sep 1885) he found conditions so depressed that he went to Melbourne in search of employment. In partnership with John Bowen Mackenzie and Robert Reed he tendered for the Warrnambool harbour works (£150,000), which they carried out successfully. He then undertook alone the building of a suspension bridge (span 500 feet) over the Merri river and other engineering works which he serviced from his workshops in Warrnambool. Suffering severe losses in the financial crisis in Victoria, Dobson returned to New Zealand (Apr 1898) and took over the business from which his father was about to retire. He carried out important irrigation works in the Rakaia district and reported on the Waimakariri power scheme. As city engineer in Christchurch (1901-21) he carried out the Sydenham waterworks, the city waterworks with reservoir in Cashmere hills and many important street works.

Dobson was knighted in 1931 and died on 5 Mar 1934. He married (1866) Eleanor (d. 1933), daughter of Henry Lewis, Nelson.

Cycl. N.Z., iii; A. D. Dobson, Reminiscences, 1930 (p); The Press, 13 Jul 1909.

Reference: Volume 1, page 123

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DOCHERTY, WILLIAM (1846-96) was born in Glasgow. Coming to New Zealand as a young man, he spent much of his time prospecting and exploring in the western districts and fiords of Otago. For some years he lived at Dusky Sound where in 1878 he discovered a copper lode which he hoped to develop. He found coal on Coal Island in Preservation Inlet, but not a considerable reef, and he brought specimens of asbestos from the fiords, but again the quantity was not sufficient. In company with George Hassing (schoolmaster, of Heddon Bush), Docherty once crossed the Southern Alps in northern Otago to the West Coast. He received some government assistance as the result of a recommendation by the goldfields committee of Parliament. He died on 20 Mar 1896 at Cromarty, Preservation Inlet.

Hansard, 28 Oct 1884; Southland Times, 23 Mar 1896; Otago Daily Times, 3 Jun 1878, 10 Jan 1885.

Reference: Volume 1, page 123

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DODSON, GEORGE (1821-1905) was born at Malmesbury, Wiltshire. As a youth he went to Nova Scotia but, disliking the cold, he returned to England, and in 1842 landed in Nelson from the Fifeshire. He joined the New Zealand Company's survey staff under Budge, and after working in the Nelson district went in 1844 with F. Tuckett to explore Otago. The operations of the New Zealand Company being suspended, Dodson remained at Otakou in charge of the survey material. He returned to farm in Nelson, and in 1854 bought land in the Spring Creek district of Marlborough. As chairman of the Spring Creek river board for 25 years and a member of the Marlborough Provincial Council (in which he sat for Tuamarina, 1869-74), he exerted every effort to cope with the flooding of the rivers. He first had a dairy farm and then went in for agriculture, keeping abreast of the times with the latest machinery. He was one of the foremost advocates of separation from Nelson. Dodson was also on the Nelson land board for six years.

Cycl. N.Z., v (p).

Reference: Volume 1, page 123

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DODSON, HENRY (1830-92) was born in England, his father being an army officer. As a young man he went to Canada. He then spent some years on the Ballarat goldfields and in the fifties came to Marlborough, settling at Blenheim, where he established a brewery.

Dodson was in the Provincial Council (for Lower Wairau 1860-62; Pelorus 1862-63; Blenheim 1866-70, and Lower Wairau 1874-75). He led the Blenheim faction for some years. Having been a member of the Blenheim town board, he moved to have a borough created and was in the first borough council. In the following year (1869) he was elected mayor by popular vote and held office on four occasions (1870-72, 1883, 1884). Holding Liberal views, he represented Blenheim in Parliament (1881-90), defeating A. P. Seymour (1881), and J. Ward (1884). He retired in 1890 and died on 7 May 1892.

Marlborough P.C. minutes; Cycl. NZ, v; Buick, Marlborough (p). Portrait: Parliament House.

Reference: Volume 1, page 123

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DODSON, JOSEPH REID (1813-90) came to Nelson from Australia in the brig Return (1854) and purchased an interest in a brewery, which he operated until his death. In 1858 he was elected to the board of works. He lived in England 1860-66. In 1874 he was elected first mayor of Nelson and he held that position again in 1877-81. He was a liberal supporter of all charities. Dodson died on 12 Oct 1890.

Cycl. NZ, v; The Colonist, 13 Oct 1890.

Reference: Volume 1, page 123

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DODSON, THOMAS (1807-98) arrived in Nelson by the Will Watch (1841), spent some years in the town and then took up land at Whakapuaka, where he farmed for the rest of his life. He represented Suburbs North in the Nelson Provincial Council (1857-67). Dodson was one of the first members of the Nelson lodge of Oddfellows. He died on 26 Aug 1898.

Nelson P.C. Proc; The Colonist, 27 Aug 1898.

Reference: Volume 1, page 123

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DOLBEL, PHILIP (1827-1901) was born in Jersey, Channel Islands, and brought up to the sea. He owned a small vessel (the Hearty) trading on the English coast. In 1855 he came to New Zealand from Melbourne in the brig Onkaparinga, and for 12 months was engaged on bridge building and other public works at the Hutt. Then he went to Clive, Hawke's Bay, where he lived for 12 years. In 1865 he bought 900 acres at Springfield and later a run of 24,000 acres at Petane. He represented Mohaka in the Hawke's Bay Provincial Council (1861-75), was on the Hawke's Bay county council for some years and the Napier harbour board and a director of the Hawke's Bay Farmers' Cooperative Association. Dolbel was twice burned out by Hauhau when running a sheep station at Mangaharuru, and had several narrow escapes. He died on 28 Oct 1901.

Hawkes Bay P.C. Proc; Cycl. NZ, vi (p); Hawkes Bay Herald, 29 Oct 1901.

Reference: Volume 1, page 124

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DOMETT, ALFRED (1811-87) was born at Camberwell Grove, Surrey, the son of Nathaniel Domett, a naval officer. He received his education at a public school at Stockwell and proceeded to St John's College, Cambridge (1829). Much interested in literature, he made many literary friends, wrote verse and prose, travelled a good deal and left the University in 1833 without taking a degree. In the same year he published his first small volume of verse. Domett spent the next two years travelling in North America and the West Indies, and on returning to England entered at the Middle Temple (Nov 1835). His law studies did not hold him very closely and he passed most of this period of his life in a dilettante manner, literary interests being predominant. He had many poems in Blackwood's in the period 1837-39, of which A Christmas Hymn attracted attention. His life for the most part was one of aimless leisure, diversified by tours on the continent, in the course of which he did a certain amount of sketching. In 1839 his second volume of verse appeared, a long poem on Venice. In 1840, if not before, he met Robert Browning, to whom he became closely attached and with whom he made some of his tours. Having been called at the Middle Temple on 13 Nov 1841, he shared chambers for a while with Joseph Arnould (afterwards chief justice of Bombay), but he never took seriously to law. In May 1842 Domett purchased land in the Nelson settlement of the New Zealand Company, and sailed in the Sir Charles Forbes, arriving in Nelson in Aug 1842. He soon took a leading position in the settlement. Within a year of his arrival a fatal clash occurred with the Maori owners of the Wairau plain (Jun 1843). Every man in the settlement was involved either in the tragedy itself or in the measures taken immediately after it to protect the settlement. Domett shouldered a rifle in the mobilisation of the Nelson militia. Almost from the time of his arrival in the colony he was a contributor to the Nelson Examiner. He wrote vigorously in defence of the colonists, demanding that the government should take firm measures to punish the natives and ensure that there should be no recurrence of such incidents. He compiled from the depositions taken a careful and effective narrative of the Wairau tragedy and was deputed (with Dr Monro) to proceed to Auckland to lay the case of the settlers before the government. He had the principal part in the correspondence with the Administrator (Shortland) and found himself in strong opposition to the policy of both Shortland and FitzRoy, which he considered pusillanimous in the extreme.

In Feb 1845 he was chosen by the leaders of the settlement, and strongly importuned by C. A. Dillon and E. W. Stafford, to accept a seat in the Legislative Council, but declined firmly on public grounds. As editor of the Examiner (1844-46) Domett was now the recognised protagonist of the settlers and the Company's land purchasers and of the demand for self-government. He was practically the sole author of the petition drawn up in Nov 1845 demanding the recall of the Governor. This masterful document gained the warm approval of the directors of the New Zealand Company, who recommended Colonel Wakefield to find Domett employment, possibly as resident agent at New Plymouth (20 May 1846). Domett's "utter and perfect straightforwardness and fearlessness" appealed to his fellow settlers, who at a public dinner on 11 Dec 1845 thanked him for his services to the settlements. He acted as arbitrator on behalf of the Company in deciding the claims of the disappointed land purchasers, a duty in which he showed firmness and discretion. In 1846 he accepted from Governor Grey a seat in the Legislative Council, and on the inauguration of Grey's constitution he was appointed Colonial Secretary for New Munster (14 Feb 1848). Three months later (11 Nov 1851) he was made Civil Secretary for the colony, holding these two posts together. Grey was much impressed by his zealous administration, which included the correspondence with the Otago and Canterbury Associations in connection with the new settlements at Otago and Canterbury.

In 1850 Domett published a useful classified compilation of the ordinances of New Zealand and New Munster. Having assisted in devising the new constitution and fixing the proposed boundaries of Nelson, Canterbury and Otago, he resigned to make way for the inauguration of the new machinery of government (Jan 1854). He accepted the office of commissioner of crown lands for Hawkes Bay, with which were combined the duties of resident magistrate. From that date, till the middle of 1856 he was the sole official of any standing in the Ahuriri district. He established the machinery of government, which he worked himself, controlling the surveys, the making of roads and the laying out of towns. The street names of Napier bear witness to his devotion to the muse of poetry. In Hawkes Bay Domett had no difficulty with the Maori, possibly because white settlers were not yet clamouring for the acquisition of land.

While there he was elected to represent Nelson in Parliament (1855). He returned to Nelson as commissioner of crown lands in 1856 and he was chairman of the waste lands committee for the period 1856-71. In 1857 he was elected to the Provincial Council for Nelson, which he represented till 1863. During the whole of that time he was provincial secretary and a member of the executive. He reformed the survey maps of the province and devoted much attention to public works and to education. He was one of the governors of Nelson College under the act of 1858. At the parliamentary election of 1860 Domett was again returned for Nelson City (defeating J. P. Robinson). During this Parliament native affairs came to a crisis. Sir George Grey, who had succeeded Browne as governor, was working in reasonable harmony with Fox (who became premier in 1861), when a no-confidence motion was carried against the government by the casting vote of the Speaker (Monro). Stafford was sent for, but declined to form a government and in turn proposed FitzGerald, as one with a strong sympathy for the natives and not too prominently associated with recent party disputes. FitzGerald also declined, but took the liberty of proposing Domett in the belief, he said, that it would not be difficult to form a ministry which would include both Domett and Fox. Domett accepted the task without consulting Fox, who declined thereafter to accept office.

Thus Domett became on 6 Aug 1862 the leader of a government comprising T. B. Gillies (Attorney-general), Bell (Native Minister), Mantell (Lands), and Tancred and T. Russell (both without portfolio). The prospect for peace became somewhat gloomy. As Thomas Arnold divined, Domett looked upon the natives of New Zealand with Roman rather than with Christian eyes. With Russell as a colleague his attitude was not likely to be any less Roman. Gillies retired a week or two later and Domett invited into his team Reader Wood (as Treasurer), Crosbie Ward (Postmaster-general) and Sewell (Attorney-general). It was soon clear that the ministry was still not well disposed towards the natives. It cold-shouldered FitzGerald's suggestion that the Maori should have representation in Parliament, and only with the greatest reluctance accepted Grey's proposal that the Waitara purchase should be abandoned. The necessary proclamation (gazetted on 11 May 1863) was unfortunately preceded by the occupation of the Tataraimaka block, thereby making the renewal of war in Taranaki and Waikato certain. Domett's premiership was never very real. Compelled by certain sinister influences to take Russell into his cabinet, he had not the strength to accept Grey's suggestion and assume full responsibility for native affairs, which the Home government now insisted should be borne by the colonial ministers. The government, obviously tottering to its fall, insisted that Grey should entirely manage native affairs. War being inevitable, Russell became Minister of Defence (22 Jul 1863). On the meeting of Parliament in Oct Domett did at length recommend the assumption of responsibility by the cabinet, and put forward a policy which was generally attributed to Russell and Whitaker, of hard war and confiscation. Without waiting to be defeated the ministry adjourned Parliament for a short time and then resigned office (30 Oct 1863).

Grey consulted Fox and a species of coalition was formed under Whitaker, with Fox as Colonial Secretary, Wood as Treasurer, Gillies as Postmaster-general and Secretary for Crown Lands, and Russell again as Minister of Defence. Though Domett's premiership was little more than nominal, he did during his term of office make proposals of a constructive character which originated entirely with himself. In the schemes of Vogel some years later are evident the broad outlines of Domett's programme of settlement and self-defence, involving the introduction of 20,000 immigrants and the borrowing of £4,000,000 to settle them in frontier districts and provide access. He also proposed the establishment of land courts to fulfil the promises that had been made of grants of land for the natives.

On the resignation of his ministry Domett, having retired from provincial politics (Feb 1863), was appointed Secretary for Lands (24 Dec). On 13 Jan 1864, when the post was provided for in the civil service estimates, he was confirmed in it. He acted as a commissioner of land claims (1863-70); was appointed in addition Registrar-general of lands (1865), and in 1870 undertook the administration of the confiscated lands. He retired on pension on 1 Sep 1871. Meanwhile he had been for some years a member of the Legislative Council, to which he was called on 19 Jun 1866. Owing to his unique qualifications for official duty he was specially excepted in the disqualification act of 1870, which allowed him to remain in Parliament, and he was a member of the Council till 1874.

In 1871 Domett returned to live in England, where for the remainder of his life he quietly devoted himself to his interrupted muse. In 1872 he published his classic, Ranolf and Amohia; in 1873 Flotsam and Jetsam: Rhymes Old and New; and in 1877 Roots, a plea for Tolerance. His interests were always literary, and he had throughout life a definite disinclination for public affairs. Gisborne's appraisement of Domett is searching and discriminating: "He abounded in imaginative and creative power, in tender sensibility, in fine taste, in great aims and in affluence of expression.... He was a hero-worshipper and admired splendid autocracy.... The seamy side of political life was not congenial to his taste, and he was not fitted to work out what he regarded as a lower level of public service.... Left to himself he did great and good work.... As prime minister in 1863 he devised and embodied, alone and unassisted, a large scheme for the settlement and self-defence of New Zealand. Its statesmanlike character is unimpeachable." His mind was one of great intellectual capacity and high culture, and imbued with poetic genius. His nature was thoroughly genuine and had a refreshing ring which proclaimed the sterling coin. But in political life Domett was never a leader of men. "He conceived great ideas but loved to brood over them in poetic solitude until his mind bodied them forth and launched them living into the world, but he had not the faculty of equally inspiring other men. He was in, but not of, the world of politics." Gisborne's contribution on Domett to The Poets and The Poetry of the Century (edited by A. N. Miles) is also noteworthy. Longfellow used some of Domett's verse in his Poems of Places and regretted that it was too late to make use of others. Domett translated into excellent verse some Maori songs which appear in Grey's Polynesian Mythology.

One of Domett's monuments in New Zealand is the General Assembly Library. He was on the committee which established it in 1858 and took a delight in laying the foundations of the fine classical collection which that institution possesses. For some years he acted as librarian (1866) and he was chairman in (1868-69). He refers to that episode as "an amusement and an occupation which I relinquished with great regret." Domett received the C.M.G. in 1880. He died on 2 Nov 1887. He married (1856) Mrs Mary George, a widow, who with her husband had kept a small school in Wellington. (See F. N. GEORGE and JOHN C. ST GEORGE)

Parlty Record, Nelson P.C. Proc. and Gaz; N.Z. Gaz; New Munster Gaz; N.Z. Archives; N.Z.C.; G.B.O.P. 1844; N.Z.P.D., 1864-70 and 8 Nov 1887; Sinclair papers; D.N.B.; thesis by V. M. Thomson, M.A.; unpublished MS by C. Stuart Perry; Arnold; Hocken; Ward; Macmorran; Gisborne (p); Saunders; Rusden; Domett, op. cit.; Nelson Examiner, pass; N.Z. Times, 7 Nov 1887; N.Z. Herald do; The Times (London), 28 Jul 1934; Otago Daily Times, 11 Jan 1900, 28 May 1931. Portrait: Parliament House.

Reference: Volume 1, page 125

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DON, ALEXANDER (1857-1934) was born at Ballarat, Victoria, the son of John Don. Educated at public schools, he left at the age of 10 (having passed the sixth standard) and took odd jobs in the mining industry at Bendigo (1866-72). His Bible class teacher advised him to qualify for teaching, and at 15 he passed the entrance examination and commenced as a pupil teacher. During his employment in that profession (1873-79) he devoted himself to entomology, taught in the Sunday school and was precentor in the church, a member of the board of management of the Y.M.C.A. and later corresponding secretary.

Hearing Dr John G. Paton speaking on the New Hebrides mission (1877), Don offered his services and was advised to come to Otago. After some correspondence he was appointed second assistant at the Port Chalmers school (1879). He took part in cricket and football, sprinting and other field sports, taught music at school, and wrote regular articles on New Zealand for the Australian press. A young man being required for the Presbyterian mission at Canton, Don studied Chinese as well as he could in New Zealand and left for China. In 46 months he had fully mastered the language. Having suffered a severe attack of yellow fever, he returned to New Zealand, entered Theological Hall and was sent to labour at Riverton (1882). In 1883 he married Amelia, daughter of Francis Warne (Bendigo) and in 1886 moved to Lawrence, where there was a larger Chinese community scattered between Waiahuna, Glenore and Waipori. He toured the goldfields regularly, mainly on foot or driving. In 18 tours he walked 16,000 miles.

In 1889 the missionary centre was changed to Dunedin, a Chinese church was opened and Don contemplated the Otago church establishing its own mission among the villages and market towns north of Canton. He visited that field in 1898, and in 1901 the mission was opened, G. H. McNeur being the first missionary. In his address as moderator of the Assembly in 1907 Don proposed opening a mission in India. He launched an appeal for relief for sufferers from the famine in China, and as a token of gratitude received from the Chinese government the seventh council insignia of the Excellent Crop. In 1913 he moved his headquarters to Palmerston North, but a year later returned to Dunedin to become organising secretary of foreign missions. In 1922 he again visited the mission field and in 1923 he retired to live at Ophir.

Don continued his interest in the Sunday school and the P.W.M.U., and for the jubilee of the Otago presbytery compiled a volume of recollections, Memoirs of the Golden Road (1931). He wrote regularly to the Outlook and published a number of books, including Under Six Flags, Light in Dark Isles, and Peter Milne of Nguna. He died on 2 Nov 1934.

Proc. General Assembly of New Zealand, 1871-1934; The Outlook, pass; Don, op. cit. (p); Otago Daily Times, 3 Nov 1934.

Reference: Volume 1, page 125

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DON, JOHN ROBERT (1860-1919) was born in Gisborne, Victoria, the son of John Don, and educated in Victoria. He came to New Zealand in 1880 and received an appointment on the staff of the Oamaru South School, from which he moved in turn to Forbury, the Normal School (Dunedin) and as first assistant to Macandrew Road (1884). At Otago University he graduated B.A. (1886) and M.A. (1887), with honours in chemistry. In 1887 he became first assistant at the Normal School. In 1889 he graduated B.Sc., and in 1896 D.Sc.; in 1898 he was elected a fellow of the Chemical Society and in 1900 of the Geological Society. He was demonstrator in chemistry and lecturer in geology at the University. In 1895 Don was appointed vice-principal of the Training College, and two years later rector of the Waitaki Boys' High School. His influence there was very marked, changing the character of the school from ultra-classical to ultra-scientific. As in previous appointments, he had considerable success in examination and scholarship results. He paid great attention to school sports and in 1906 opened a preparatory department. Following the death of his wife in 1906 his health broke down, and he resigned. On returning to New Zealand from a trip abroad (1909) he was appointed inspector of schools under the Otago board. Don died on 23 Mar 1919.

K. C. McDonald (p); Otago Daily Times, 24 Mar 1919.

Reference: Volume 1, page 125

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DONALD, WILLIAM (1815-84) was born in London of Scottish origin, and after receiving his medical training and some years of practical experience at Southwark and in France, he became surgeon to a railway construction company, first in France and later in Wales. Arriving in New Zealand in 1849, he was appointed medical officer in Canterbury. For 20 years (1861-81) he was resident magistrate at the port of Lyttelton. He represented Lyttelton in the Canterbury Provincial Council (1855-57), and for three years (1862-65) was chairman of the municipal council. A prominent freemason, Donald was one of the founders in 1857 of the Lyttelton lodge, and from 1868 until a few weeks before his death on 29 Jun 1884, he was provincial grand master.

Barclay; Cox; Lyttelton Times, 1 Jul 1884.

Reference: Volume 1, page 126

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DONNELLY, GEORGE PRIOR (1847-1917) was born in County Tipperary, the son of a landed proprietor, and educated at Doon, County Limerick. His father having died in 1861, he came to New Zealand with his mother (1863). While living at Wairoa South, he was a member of the Auckland Cavalry (1864) and he rode his first race at Tamaki in the garrison hunt steeplechase. In 1867 Donnelly moved to Hawke's Bay, where he became manager for Major Carlyon. He soon took up land for himself and was very successful, becoming the owner of Crissoge, Waimarama, Mangaohane and Okurukuru. He took his part in local government, and was a successful racing owner and a breeder of blood horses and cattle. He died in June 1917.

Donnelly married (1877) AIRINI, daughter of the Ngati-Kahungunu chief Karauria Pupu (who was killed fighting for the Queen at Makaretu, Nov 1868), and a descendant of Tiakitai. She died on 6 June 1909.

Privy Council reports, Donnelly v. Broughton, 4 Jul 1891; Cycl. NZ, vi; Who's Who N.Z., 1908; Cowan; The Press, 7 Jun 1909; O.D. Times, 21 Jun 1909.

Reference: Volume 1, page 126

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DONOVAN, PATRICK (1812-98) was born in Ireland, and came to New Zealand in 1838, settling at Bay of Islands, and at Auckland in 1840. He was engaged in business for many years and was prominent in public life, being a member of the Provincial Council for Northern Division (1853-55). Owing to injuries sustained in an accident he was many years in retirement. Donovan died on 30 Oct 1898.

Auckland P.C. Proc.; N.Z. Herald, 31 Oct 1898.

Reference: Volume 1, page 126

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DORSET, JOHN (1807-56) was born in London and completed his medical education at Westminster Hospital. He then enlisted as an assistant surgeon in the British Auxiliary Legion in Portugal, defending the constitutional government of Dom Pedro. He was present at most of the engagements and the siege of Oporto. After recovering from typhus, he took the field under Bernardo da Sa (who had served under Wellington). At the battle of Sao Bartolomeo, when the Constitutional forces had broken, da Sa and Dorset retrieved the day by leading a cavalry charge, and Dorset, the only officer unhurt, commanded the rearguard operations of the cavalry. He was promoted cavalry commander in recognition of his gallantry. Dorset went to England at the end of this campaign and at once enlisted as surgeon in the Legion for Spain. He was placed in charge of the hospital at Vittoria during a severe winter marked by outbreaks of disease in the army and then joined the staff of de Lacy Evans. On the disbandment of the Legion he immediately enlisted for another term of service in the auxiliary brigade.

Returning to England in 1839 he met his fellow legionnaire, Colonel Wakefield, by whose influence he was appointed principal surgeon to the New Zealand Company. He came to New Zealand in the Tory. In Wellington Dorset took a leading part in the constitutional movement. In 1853-56 he represented Wellington City in the Provincial Council, and in 1854 he was appointed provincial surgeon. He died on 2 Oct 1856, and was succeeded as M.P.C. by his brother, WILLIAM DORSET (1802-77, arrived in Wellington 1841), who sat till the following year.

NZ.C.; Cycl. NZ. i, 271; Ward; Grimstone; E. J. Wakefield; Wakelin; Wellington Independent, 22, 25 Oct 1856.

Reference: Volume 1, page 126

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DOUGLAS, JOHN (1829-1903) was born in Perthshire, the son of a Strathmore farmer. He gained some knowledge of business and estate management in a lawyer's and factor's office and after a short experience in a commercial office came to New Zealand in 1862 as managing partner for certain investors and agent for others. In partnership with F. G. Alderson he acquired Mount Royal and Waihao Downs and many other estates, including Clydevale, Edendale, Kurow, Kawarau, Deep Dell and Hakataramea. Several of these were taken over in 1867 by the New Zealand and Australian Land Co., of which he was agent and manager till 1870, after which he carried on his own estates. In 1874 he took up land between Carnarvon and Oroua, in the North Island.

Douglas was a progressive farmer who introduced machinery whenever possible and paid great attention to his stock and pastures. He was a pioneer of the frozen meat industry. In 1871 he contested the Waihemo seat in the Provincial Council against J. McKenzie (q.v.), but he took no further part in politics. In 1863 Douglas married a daughter (d. 1864) of Thomas Rattray, of Brewlands, Perthshire, and later a daughter of David Stark, of Dunedin. He died on 12 Aug 1903.

Cycl. NZ., iv (p); Od G Wilson; Otago Daily Times, 17 Aug 1903.

Reference: Volume 1, page 126

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DOUGLAS, SIR ROBERT ANDREWS MACKENZIE (1837-84), 3rd baronet, son of the second baronet, was educated in Jersey and Hampshire and gazetted ensign in the 57th Regiment (1854), with which he served at the storming of Sebastopol and the capture of Kinburn. He later served against the Arabs at Aden (being present at the capture of Sheikh Othman), and in the Indian Mutiny. Coming with the 57th to New Zealand, he served through the West Coast campaign under General Cameron, and was present at several skirmishes, including Nukumaru.

Douglas commanded a company for 10 years before selling out to settle at Whangarei. There he took a keen interest in public affairs. He was a member of the Provincial Council for Whangarei (1873 to abolition) and represented Marsden in Parliament (1876-79). In 1880 he was a member of the civil service commission. Douglas married in 1866 Eleanor Louisa (d. 1919), daughter of T. H. Liffiton. He died on 28 Feb 1884.

Parlt'y. Record; Burke, Peerage, 1935; Gudgeon; Auckland P.C. Proc.

Reference: Volume 1, page 126

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DOUSLIN, WILLIAM, was an architect by profession and a man of some inventive genius. He came to New Zealand from Tasmania at the time of the Wakamarina rush and settled in Marlborough, first at Havelock and later in Blenheim, where he was mayor in 1887. He represented Pelorus in the Marlborough Provincial Council (1865-75) and was in the executive in 1865-66. Douslin afterwards went to South Africa, and was employed by the Chartered Company in Rhodesia.

Cycl. NZ, v; Buick, Marlborough, 452.

Reference: Volume 1, page 126

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DOWNES, THOMAS WILLIAM (1868-1938) was born in Wellington (his father being a surveyor), and brought up in Bulls, where he became interested in the history of the Ngati Apa tribe. In 1898 he entered into business in Wanganui and in 1913 became superintendent for the Wanganui River Trust. He was a deep student of Maori history, on which he wrote many papers for the Polynesian Society. He published Old Whanganui (1915) and a history and guide to the river (1921, 1923). Downes made many gifts to the Wanganui Museum. He married (1890) Margaret, daughter of Andrew Thomson. His death occurred on 6 Aug 1938.

Polynesian Journal, Sep 1938; Wanganui Chronicle, 8 Aug 1938.

Reference: Volume 1, page 126

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DOWNEY, JOHN CUTHBERT (1832-95) was born in Liverpool and in 1848 entered the Benedictine order. Ordained priest at Rome in 1855, he returned to England and in conjunction with Lord Abbot Alcock (who came with the Benedictines to New Zealand) he founded a branch of the order at Ramsgate. In 1868 he was appointed prior of the monastery of Tenterden, at Ashford, Kent. After filling the position of Vicar-apostolic at Dacca, Bengal, for three years he came to New Zealand with Bishop Steins in 1879 and established a Benedictine mission at Newton. Downey died on 21 May 1895.

Cycl. NZ, ii (p); NZ Tablet, 31 May 1895.

Reference: Volume 1, page 126

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DRANSFIELD, JOSEPH (1827-1906) was born at Huddersfield, Yorkshire, where his father owned a woollen mill. He was educated at the local school; as a young man sailed for Australia in the Falcon, and spent five years in and around Sydney. In 1857 he crossed to Wellington, where his brother, C. E. Dransfield, had established a merchant's business. They worked together for a while and did well. In 1860 Dransfield was a coal merchant, carrying out considerable contracts for the New Zealand Steam Navigation Co. and McMeckan Blackwoods. He widened his interests and in 1888 sold to the United Importers Co.

Dransfield was a member of the Provincial Council (representing Wellington City 1863-67, and 1869-73). Twice during that time he was a member of the executive. He was chairman of the town board which preceded the City Council, and was mayor of the City (1870-74). Dransfield took the first steps towards the reclamation of land from the harbour. He was again mayor in 1878, and had been re-elected when financial embarrassment led to his resignation. He was chairman of the Wellington chamber of commerce (1878-79) and a director of the New Zealand Steam Navigation Co. Dransfield died on 21 Sep 1906.

Wellington P.C. Proc.; Cycl. N.Z., i; Ward; Evening Post, 3 Oct 1929 (p).

Reference: Volume 1, page 127

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DREYER, ALEXANDER SVEND (1820-1905) was the son of an officer in the Danish army. Owing to political troubles he came to New Zealand in the sixties. In 1866 he bought land in the Mount Patriarch run (Marlborough), but was refused a crown grant on the grounds of failure to improve. Dreyer then moved to the West Coast, where he represented Grey in the Nelson Provincial Council (1867-69). On the inauguration of Scandinavian immigration he was appointed by the Wellington provincial government as interpreter and storekeeper at the camp north of Masterton, on the edge of the Forty-Mile Bush (1871). He was responsible also for reception of the immigrants from Scandinavia, and accompanied many of them to their destinations. Dreyer settled near Kopuaranga, the township being named after him 'Dreyer's Rock' and later 'Dreyerton'. He died on 4 Aug 1905.

Kopuaranga School Jubilee Souvenir, 1935; Wellington Independent, 6 Nov 1871; Wairarapa Observer, 5 Aug 1905.

Reference: Volume 1, page 127

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DRIVER, HENRY (1831-93) was born in the United States, came to the Victorian goldfields when a young man, and went into business in Melbourne, where he was a partner in Lord and Co., importers. A few years later he became a partner in a station on the Murray. In 1861 he came to Dunedin following the discoveries at Gabriel's Gully, and established himself as a merchant and stock agent under the style of Driver, McLean and Co. When this business was merged in the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Co. he became manager of that firm and later of the Mutual Agency Co. He interested himself early in the telegraph line from Dunedin to Port Chalmers, for which he had the contract, in the New Zealand Agricultural Co. and the Waimea Plains railway.

Driver had a run at Horseshoe Bush, near Clarendon. He first entered public life as a member of the Dunedin City Council (1865-69), being elected at the head of the poll. In 1866 he entered the Otago Provincial Council, in which he sat for many years (for Taieri 1866-67; Wakari 1867-71, 1872-75). He was elected to Parliament for Roslyn, which he represented for one year, and in 1881 he was returned for Hokonui. At the general election in 1884 he stood for Bruce but was defeated by Gillies, and he refused to stand again when a vacancy occurred. He died on 23 Jan 1893. For some time Driver was consul for the United States. He was a prominent member of the Dunedin Jockey Club, and was responsible for laying out the course at Forbury (1877). In 1879-80 he was president and subsequently starter.

Cycl. N.Z., iv; Barclay; Otago Daily Times, 24 Jan 1893

Portrait: Parliament House.

Reference: Volume 1, page 127

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DUDLEY, BENJAMIN THORNTON (1838-1901) was born at Ticehurst, Sussex, the son of the Very Rev Benjamin Woolley Dudley (q.v.). Educated first at Marlborough College, England, he came to New Zealand with his parents in the Cressy (1850) and finished at Christ's College (1852-56), where he was head of the school and Rowley scholar. He joined the Melanesian Mission under Bishop J. R. Selwyn (1857), was ordained by Bishop Patteson (1861) but owing to ill-health had to retire from the mission (of which he was secretary from 1883). He was appointed curate of St Mary's, Parnell (1864) and vicar of Holy Sepulchre, Auckland (1865-97). In 1883 he was appointed archdeacon of Auckland and secretary to the Melanesian Mission, and in 1887 and 1897 he acted as commissary for the bishop. He was a member of the general synod for many years, and a governor of St John's College and was interested in the establishment of a college for Maori girls. He received the honorary degree of LL.D. from the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Dudley married (1862) Marion, daughter of the Rev J. F. Churton (q.v.). He died on 24 Apr 1901.

Cycl. N.Z., ii (p); Christ's Coll. List; Auckland Star, 24 Apr 1901.

Reference: Volume 1, page 127

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DUDLEY, BENJAMIN WOOLLEY (1805-92) was born at Dudley, Staffordshire, the son of a merchant, whose evangelical leanings prompted the son to turn from business to the Church. He entered at St Catherine's Hall, Cambridge, where he graduated (B.A. 1837; M.A. 1840). Ordained priest, he was appointed curate of Earthly, Chichester, and in 1838 of Ticehurst, Sussex.

In 1850 he came to Canterbury in the Cressy and was appointed incumbent of Lyttelton. In 1859 he moved to Auckland, where he had charge of St John's College and Panmure. In 1860 he was appointed incumbent of Rangiora, becoming a rural dean and canon (1866) and archdeacon 1876. He retired in 1888 and died on 28 Aug 1892. Dudley was a fellow of Christ's College, Christchurch (1864-88), where he established a scholarship. He endowed the church at West Lyttelton. He was a coadjutor of Fox in the Temperance Movement and president of the Blue Ribbon Society and the North Canterbury Political Temperance Union.

Cycl. N.Z., iii (p); Lyttelton Times, 29 Aug 1892.

Reference: Volume 1, page 127

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DUMONT D'URVILLE, JULES SEBASTIEN CESAR (1790-1842) was born at Condé-sur-Noireau, Normandy, the son of a pre-revolutionary official. He was brought up by his mother and his uncle, the Abbé de Croisilles, and, having failed to pass the entrance examination for the Polytechnique, he went to sea in the Aquilon. Apart from his professional education he studied deeply both languages and science, and received steady promotion. In 1820, while serving in the hydrographic vessel Chevrette, he recognised the Venus de Milo when it was excavated, and his report led to its acquisition by the French Government for the Louvre. Appointed second in command of the corvette Coquille, he took an active part in the circumnavigation of the world in 1822-25, in the course of which the vessel took G. Clarke to New Zealand and spent a fortnight at the Bay of Islands (Apr 1824). Promoted frigate captain, he was given command of an expedition which sailed from Toulon in the Coquille, now renamed Astrolabe, in 1826 to search the Pacific ocean for relics of La Perouse. It was on this voyage that d'Urville did the greater part of the work that made him, after Cook, the most important scientific explorer of the New Zealand coast before the systematic surveys of Stokes and Drury. He left Sydney on 19 Dec 1826. Unable by reason of adverse winds (Jan 1827) to visit the southern portions of the islands passed over summarily by Cook he made for Tasman Bay, the southern shores of which he carefully investigated and charted, bestowing many names which have survived, and discovered French Pass. His passage of the Pass into Admiralty Bay, after a five days' struggle (28 Jan 1827) consummated one of the most dangerous feats of navigation in New Zealand history. His own name was given to D'Urville Island by his officers. He now sailed through Cook Strait; wishing to explore the Cloudy Bay area, but driven off again by wind and current, passed along part of the northern coast of the strait and up the east coast of the North Island, calling at Tolaga Bay (5 Feb) and having much amicable converse with the natives. Bad weather off the East Cape and in the Bay of Plenty made it impossible for him to add rectifications to Cook's chart, as he had wished, and he narrowly escaped going on a reef in the Bay (16 Feb). Further north conditions were more favourable; d'Urville named the D'Haussez islands, off Mercury Bay, was driven north to Whangarei, and then made a careful investigation of the western side of the Hauraki gulf, exploring the Waitemata harbour, sending a party overland to Manukau, and sailing down the Waiheke channel. He assumed that here he was the first discoverer; the honour, however, belongs to Marsden. Leaving the gulf, d'Urville sailed north again, and after a week at the Bay of Islands spent in native and botanical researches sailed for the Pacific islands on his La Perouse mission. His charts of the New Zealand coast are most detailed and admirable, though chance deprived him of filling in all the gaps left by Cook. His account of New Zealand is charming and sympathetic; and the published account of the voyage (Voyage de la corvette l'Astrolabe, 1830-35) provides not only a volume of narrative and description devoted to the country, but one of illustrative documents drawn from the most valuable sources.

In the Pacific he carried out a very successful scientific cruise and recovered at Vanikoro further relics which were deposited (with those brought by Peter Dillon) in the Musée de Marine. Promoted on his return in 1829, d'Urville conducted to England the French King (Charles X) and his family seeking refuge from the revolution of July 1830. His plans for another voyage to the south were frustrated by the criticisms of Arago and others until 1837 when, with the approval of Louis Philippe, he sailed in command of the Astrolabe and Zélée. After a long investigation of the Antarctic continent, in which he discovered and named Joinville Island and Louis Philippe Land, d'Urville sought refreshment in Chile. Proceeding then westward by way of Fiji, the Pelew islands and Borneo, they left their sick at Hobart and, returning to the Antarctic, discovered Adelie Land (named after his wife) and Claire Land. In April 1840 d'Urville was in New Zealand waters again. He visited Otago harbour and Akaroa and charted carefully the greater part of the east coast of the South Island, but did no further scientific work on the North Island. At the Bay of Islands he was, as a Frenchman, received somewhat suspiciously by the English and, though not unamused, found much to censure in their activities. Strongly interested in the native race, he bitterly regretted the degradation brought by western habits. On his return to France he was promoted rear-admiral and received the gold medal of the Society of Geography. Shortly after his return in 1840 appeared the first volume of d'Urville's Voyage au Pole Sud et dans l'Océanie. He was killed in a railway accident on 8 May 1842 and the completion of this 10 volume work was entrusted to his subordinate Vincendon Dumoulin. D'Urville also published his Voyage Pittoresque autour du Monde, into which he weaves the narratives of many of his predecessors with his own (two vols, 1839, 1846).

L. I. Duperrey, Voyage Autour du Monde ... 1822-25; d'Urville, op. cit.; Hocken, Bibliog.; Beaglehole, Discovery of New Zealand (p); S. Percy Smith, translations in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xl, 416-47, xli, 130-9, xlii, 412-33; R. P. Lesson, Notice historique sur l'Amiral Dumont d'Urville (1846); Larousse.

Reference: Volume 2, page 273

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DUNCAN, ANDREW (1834-80) was born in the west of Scotland and came to Canterbury with his parents in 1858. After working for a while he established himself in business as a nurseryman and seedsman. He represented Heathcote in the Provincial Council (1867-70 and 1871-73) and was on the executive in 1869 and 1872. In 1870 he was mayor of Christchurch. He once contested a Parliamentary seat against E. J. Wakefield. Duncan was a member of the education board (sometime chairman), the waste lands board, and the South Waimakariri board of conservators. He acted for a while as emigration agent in London for the province. He died on 10 Dec 1880.

N.Z. Country Jour. vol 5; Cox, Men of Mark; Cycl. N.Z., iii (p); Lyttelton Times, 11 Dec 1880.

Reference: Volume 1, page 127

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DUNCAN, GEORGE (1826-79) was born in Scotland and educated there. He arrived in Otago by the Mooltan (1849) and was a progressive and successful farmer and businessman. He erected a flourmill at Water of Leith (1859) and brought out modern machinery for it in 1866. He also at that time established a successful brewery in Dunedin. Duncan was a member of the town board (1860). He was elected to represent North Harbour in the Provincial Council in 1863 and was a member of the executive in that year. He retired early the following year to visit Scotland. Returning in 1866, Duncan was elected in 1867 to represent the City of Dunedin and he was in the executive in 1867-68, 1869-71 and 1871. Part of the time he was secretary for public works and part provincial treasurer. He was for six years a member of the administration and was the leading spirit in the exploration of the West Coast of Otago.

In 1873 he resigned to live in California, where his death occurred on 13 Jan 1879.

Otago P.C. Proc.; Otago Daily Times, 12 Jul 1873, 19 Feb 1879.

Reference: Volume 1, page 127

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DUNCAN, JOHN (1848-1924) was born at Dundee, the son of Alexander Scott Duncan (d. 1886), an early settler of Marlborough, who established a sawmill at the Grove (1861), had a sheep run and represented Queen Charlotte Sound in the Provincial Council (1869-70). He introduced the first steam sawmilling plant in Marlborough. John Duncan came to Australia with his parents in 1851 and to Nelson in 1858, where he completed his education at Nelson College (1863-64). He worked at the Grove for some years, but later established a sash and door factory in Wanganui. Returning to the Grove on his father's retirement, he finished milling the bush and then started sheep farming. Duncan was chairman of the Pelorus road board, the Marlborough land board, the Picton hospital and charitable aid board, the Marlborough Land and Railway League and the Cook memorial committee. He was chairman also of the Marlborough education board and an original governor of the Marlborough College. In 1905 he contested the Wairau seat against C. H. Mills. He was elected in 1908, but defeated by R. McCallum at the following election. Duncan was a fine oarsman and president of the Marlborough Rowing Association. He died on 2 Feb 1924.

N.Z.P.D., 1 Jul 1924; Marlborough Express, 4 Feb 1924.

Reference: Volume 1, page 127

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DUNCAN, RICHARD JOHN (1823-94), an early colonist of Wellington, was many years in business as a merchant there, and had land interests in Hawkes Bay. A Liberal in politics and an impulsive advocate of the rights of the working class, he sat in the Provincial Council of Wellington for Wairarapa and Hawkes Bay (1856-57), and for Wellington City (1861-65). He was sometime clerk of the Council and was managing director of the New Zealand Steam Navigation Co. Duncan died on 21 Sep 1894.

Wellington P.C. Proc.; Ward.

Reference: Volume 1, page 128

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DUNCAN, THOMAS SMITH (1821-84) was born in Perth, Scotland, the son of the procurator-fiscal. He was educated for law and practised for a short time in Scotland. In 1850 he arrived in Canterbury in the Randolph and took up land at Decanter Bay, where he spent five years. His strength being unequal to farming, he began to practise law in Lyttelton, and shortly afterwards moved into Christchurch. For some years J. S. Williams (q.v.) was his partner.

Duncan was a member of the Provincial Council of Canterbury (for Akaroa 1857-59; City of Christchurch 1860-61; Avon 1861-66; Papanui 1866-70). In 1858 he was appointed to the executive as provincial solicitor, a position he held twice (1858-63 and 1866-67). He was then appointed crown prosecutor and held that position until his death on 22 Dec 1884. He was president of the Canterbury Law Society from its formation in 1868. Duncan married Miss Hunter.

Cox, Men of Mark; Guthrie Hay; Lyttelton Times, 23 Dec 1884.

Reference: Volume 1, page 128

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DUNCAN, THOMAS YOUNG (1836-1914) was born at Plumbridge, County Tyrone, Ireland, educated at the Castledamph national school, and brought up to farming. In 1858 he arrived in Victoria, where he worked on the goldfields successively at Bendigo, Back Creek, Daisy Hill, Lamplough, Charlton and Fiery Creek. With a party of northern English, Welsh and Scots he started a deep claim with an engine. In 1862 the Dunstan rush attracted him to Otago, and after working on the fields for two years without marked success he took up a farm at Pukeuri (1864) where he remained for the rest of his life.

Duncan was a member of the school committee and the first road board, was on the Waitaki county council for nine years from its formation and on the Oamaru harbour board. He was returned to the House of Representatives for Waitaki in 1881, 1884 and 1887, and thereafter for Oamaru, which he represented till 1911. He was a staunch Liberal and in 1900 became a member of the Seddon ministry (as Minister for Lands and Agriculture). He was not included in the Ward reconstruction in 1906, and retired from the elective house in 1911. In the following year he was called to the Legislative Council, of which he was a member till his death (on 18 Aug 1914). Duncan married a daughter of J. Begg, of Ballater, near Balmoral.

N.Z.P.D. (notably 26 Aug 1914); Who's Who N.Z., 1908; Otago Daily Times, 19 Aug 1914. Portrait: Parliament House.

Reference: Volume 1, page 128

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DUPPA, GEORGE, was a younger brother of Bryan Duppa of Hollingbourne, Kent, who originally suggested the formation of the Nelson Company, and was descended from Bishop Duppa. He came to New Zealand in 1840 and was a member of the provisional committee in Wellington. Then he settled in Nelson, and brought cattle from Australia for his places at Waimea and upper Motueka. Duppa was one of the most enterprising explorers in New Zealand, with a remarkable eye for country. It was he who advised the McRaes to take up land in Marlborough, and he took up the vast St Leonards run, which he sold to Rhodes and Wilkin.

At the request of Colonel Wakefield he reported on the suitability of Nelson for the second settlement and with Captain Daniell he reported on Canterbury before Captain Thomas was sent down to prepare the way for the settlement. Duppa warmly recommended the Canterbury plains. In 1856 he made an important exploration for a practicable route between Nelson and Canterbury. In 1843 he resided in Wellington, where he had a residence at Oriental Bay. Duppa is said to have been the first man to make a fortune in New Zealand. He returned to England and married (1870) Alice, daughter of P. J. Miles, of Leigh Court, Somerset.

N.Z.C., 31; John Wood, Twelve Months in Wellington, Port Nicholson, 1843; Acland; Woodhouse; Cox; Ward; Roberts, Southland; Arnold; N.Z. Spectator, 18 Jun 1856.

Reference: Volume 1, page 128

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DURIE, DAVID STARK (1804-74) was born in England and held a commission as ensign in the Scottish Fusiliers. He served under Sir Charles Shaw at the siege of Oporto in Portugal and was severely wounded while charging the heights of Antes in 1833. He later joined the British Legion for service in Spain (under Sir de Lacy Evans) and was again wounded at the battle of San Sebastian (1836). He gained his company in an infantry regiment commanded by the German Baron Rollenbach and was present at the storming of Irun in 1837. Durie received the order of Ferdinand (1st class).

Owing to his intimacy with other officers of the Legion, notably Colonel Wakefield and Dr Dorset, he joined the New Zealand Company and came to Wellington in the Adelaide (which arrived on 7 Mar 1840). Durie was appointed a captain in the Wellington militia in 1845, and served against Rangihaeata in 1846, being stationed afterwards at Waikanae. In 1851 he was appointed resident magistrate and sub-collector of customs at Wanganui and commissioner of crown lands for the Wanganui hundred. He retired from his official positions in 1868, and died on 26 Sep 1874.

Grimstone; E. J. Wakefield; Ward; Wellington Independent, 11 Jul 1868; N.Z. Times, 2 Nov 1868.

Reference: Volume 1, page 128

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DUTHIE, JOHN (1841-1915) was born at Kintore, Aberdeenshire, and educated at the Aberdeen Grammar School. He was apprenticed to the ironmongery trade and travelled for some years for a Sheffield house. In 1863 he came to New Zealand by the Helvellyn and, after acting for a short time as traveller for an Auckland firm, he started in business in New Plymouth. Opening a branch in Wanganui two years later, he moved there and built up a good business. In 1879 he established the firm of John Duthie and Co. in Wellington. Duthie took a prominent part in public affairs. In Wanganui he was chairman of the harbour board. He was a member of the Wellington harbour board (1883-89) and chairman (1887-88); and in 1889 he was mayor of the city. He was president of the chamber of commerce and sometime chairman of directors of the Gear Meat and other companies. He represented the City of Wellington in Parliament (1890-96, 1898-99 and 1903-05). Being defeated in 1905 by C. H. Izard, he did not again contest a seat. In 1913 he was called to the Legislative Council by the Massey government, and he remained a member till his death (on 14 Oct 1915). Duthie in his early public life had Liberal leanings, which were evident in the debates on the arbitration and conciliation bill, but in later years he was a staunch Conservative.

N.Z.P.D., 19 May 1916; Cycl. N.Z., i (p); Beauchamp; Taranaki News, 9 Dec 1890; Wanganui Weekly Herald, 29 Jun 1872.

Reference: Volume 1, page 128

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DUTHIE, JOHN ALEXANDER (1853-1933) was the first white child born in the Tokomairiro district of Otago. He was educated at the Tokomairiro Grammar School, at Nelson College (1863-64) and Otago Boys' High School (1865-66). He entered the service of the Bank of Otago, transferred to the National Bank of New Zealand and at the age of 19 (in partnership with R. W. Capstick) established a land, stock and auctioneering business in Milton. On the dissolution of the partnership (1878) he continued in his own name. In 1917 he leased his premises to the National Mortgage and Agency Co., to which he afterwards sold. Duthie was a member of the Milton borough council for some years and mayor (1883-86 and 1908-10). He assisted to promote and was a director of the Fortification Coal Co., the Bruce Woollen Co. (1896), and the South Otago Freezing Co., and was for 30 years president of the Bruce Property Investment and Building Society. He was president of the Tokomairiro Farmers' Club (1876-77). Duthie died on 5 May 1933.

Bruce Herald, 13 Apr 1931, 8 May 1933.

Reference: Volume 1, page 128

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DYER, ROBERT COATES (1834-1912) was born in India, his father being in the service of the H.E.I.C.S., and was educated at Cheltenham College, England. He came to Auckland by the Joseph Fletcher in 1853 and farmed for some years in the Mahurangi district. Dyer represented Northern Division in the Provincial Council (1870-73). Later he was teaching under the Auckland education board, at Maungatawhiri (1880), Coromandel (1881), Ponsonby (1883) and head teacher at Cambridge (1889). Retiring in 1901, he was afterwards in charge at Kaitaia (1904-06). Dyer died on 1 Aug 1912.

Auckland P.C. Proc.; Cycl. NZ, ii; Secretary, Auckland Education Board (information).

Reference: Volume 1, page 129

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DYER, WILLIAM JOHN, was in Sydney before coming to New Zealand in 1857, when he opened a store at the Bluff. He lived in Tokomairiro for many years and during that time he was several times mayor of Milton and represented the district in the Otago Provincial Council (1864-66). He contested the parliamentary seat without success.

Otago P.C. Proc.; Roberts, Southland; Cycl. N.Z., iv, 845, 965, 1014.

Reference: Volume 1, page 129

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