Dictionary of NZ Biography — Surname Index S

NameBiographyReference

William Charles Sadlier

William Charles Sadlier

SADLIER, WILLIAM CHARLES (1867-1935), born at Bandon, County Cork, Ireland, was the son of a journalist and came to Australia in the eighties. He entered Trinity College, Melbourne, and in 1892 was ordained in the Church of England. (B.A., 1894; M.A., 1896.) Sadlier was curate of Pyramid Hill and Bendigo, and principal of Perry Hall theological college in Bendigo (1897-99). In 1899 he was appointed co-editor of the Church of England Messenger, and in the same year took over the parish of Christ Church, St Kilda. In 1904 he was created canon of St Paul's Cathedral, and from 1907 to 1910 was lecturer in theology at St John's College and examining chaplain to the bishops of Bendigo and Gippsland. (B.D., London, 1909; D.D., 1918.) In 1912 he succeeded Dr Mules as Bishop of Nelson. Sadlier was chaplain to the Australian forces (1896-1912), and during the war of 1914-18 was senior chaplain to the New Zealand forces. He died on 1 Feb 1935. His wife was Edith E., daughter of William Lievesley of Victoria.

Who's Who N.Z., 1924, 1932; Nelson Evening Mail, 2 Feb 1935.

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George Samuel Sale

George Samuel Sale

SALE, GEORGE SAMUEL (1831-1922) was born at Rugby, England, his father being a master at Rugby School, where he was educated (under the headship of Arnold). In 1850 he proceeded to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated (B.A., 1854; M.A., 1857). He took first-class honours in classics. Being elected a fellow of Trinity (1856), he was next year appointed a lecturer in classics.

In 1860, owing to ill-health, Sale came to New Zealand in the Minerva, and was for a short time manager for Ross and Harper at Lake Coleridge station, Canterbury. On the establishment of The Press (May 1861), he became its first editor, but after holding that position for six months went to the Otago goldfields, where he spent nine months goldmining. He then returned to Canterbury and received the appointment of provincial treasurer and receiver of land revenue (Jun 1864). On the discovery of gold in Westland it was considered wise to send a man to organise a well ordered society there and Sale, who was in charge of the provincial treasury at Christchurch, proceeded there at the request of the provincial government as agent and commissioner for the goldfields. In this capacity he had wide powers to inaugurate every department of the government, and he enjoyed among the miners the title of "King Sale." His appointments included those of warden and judge (1 Apr 1865), commissioner (3 Apr), provincial sub-treasurer and resident magistrate (7 Apr), resident commissioner (13 Aug 1867); under-secretary for the goldfields and commissioner for waste lands (22 Feb 1868). On the separation of Westland from Canterbury Sale resigned his post (4 May 1869) and proceeded to England, entering at Lincoln's Inn with the intention of being called to the bar. The new University of Otago, however, offered him in 1870 the chair of English and classics, which he took up willingly and held until 1908 (being relieved in 1877 of the teaching in English). As one of the three first professors Sale had a powerful influence upon the academic life of the University. A man of wide and deep culture, a stern demeanour and great force of character, he held lofty ideals and insisted on a high standard of efficiency. He drafted the first code of regulations. He took an interest in all branches of sport and warmly championed the demand of the School of Mines to be allowed to grant diplomas. As a member of the council, he did much to persuade the University of Otago to merge itself in the University of New Zealand, on the senate of which he sat from 1877 to 1908. He was a member of the royal commission on the University of 1879. He was also a member of the committee on unemployment in Dunedin (1870), which expressed the opinion that the depression arose in no small degree from the excessive rates of wages and the unwillingness of the men to accept a reduction. On his retirement Sale was appointed a professor emeritus and went to live in England, where he died on 26 Dec 1922. He married (1874) Margaret, daughter of James Boswell Fortune (Canada).

Thompson; Beaglehole; Otago Univ. Calendar; N.Z. Univ. Calendar; Who's Who N.Z., 1908; Canterbury P.C. Proc.; Westland P.C. Proc.; Harrop, Westland (p); Hindmarsh; The Times, 27 Dec 1922; The Press, 16 Feb 1903 (on Rolleston), 25 May 1911, 29 Dec 1922.

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John Salmon

John Salmon

SALMON, JOHN (1808-73) was born in Aberdeen. At the age of 14 he was apprenticed to the sea and became master of some of Dunbar's ships. His brother, who was a merchant at Kororareka, having died, he came to New Zealand about 1842 and took over the business. After being interested in whaling on the East Coast, he established himself as a merchant in Auckland, where he prospered for the next twenty years, retiring in 1867. Salmon owned the schooner Kate and other ships. He was elected by the City of Auckland in 1852 to the Legislative Council of New Ulster, which, however, did not meet. On the promulgation of the new constitution he was called to the Legislative Council, of which he was a member from 1853 to 1868. He was a trustee of the Auckland Savings Bank and of the orphan home at Parnell. Salmon died on 26 Mar 1873.

Cycl. N.Z., ii (p); N.Z. Herald, 28 Mar 1873.

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Francis Salmond

Francis Salmond

FRANCIS SALMOND (1870-1933), professor of mental and moral science of Canterbury University College.

Thompson, Hist. Otago Univ.; Cycl. N.Z., iv; Who's Who N.Z., 1908; Hight and Candy; Otago Daily Times, 21 Jan 1886, 7 Mar 1917; The Press, 7 Dec 1964

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John William Salmond

John William Salmond

SALMOND, SIR JOHN WILLIAM (1862-1924) was born at North Shields, the son of William Salmond (q.v.), with whom he came to New Zealand in 1876. He completed his schooling at the Otago Boys' High School (1876-7) and proceeded to Otago University, where he graduated (B.A., 1882; M.A., 1883; junior scholar). He then studied law at University College, London, where he graduated LL.B. and LL.D. and was Gilchrist scholar.

Admitted a barrister of the Supreme Court of New Zealand, he practised in Temuka for about 10 years and was then appointed professor of law at Adelaide University. During his occupancy of this post (1897-1906) Salmond made a reputation as a jurist. In 1901 he published Essays in Jurisprudence and Legal History, and in the following year a textbook on Jurisprudence which became one of the classical works on the subject (9th ed. 1937). He was appointed to the chair of law at Victoria College, Wellington, in 1906. In the following year appeared his book on Torts, which was speedily recognised as a work of high authority (8th ed. 1934). His knowledge of law was profound. The same close scrutiny and lucid expression which made his legal textbooks standard works placed him in the front rank also of authorities on constitutional and international law. He was appointed in 1907 counsel to the law drafting office, and three years later became Solicitor-general. In this capacity he cooperated with Sir Francis Bell in devising the intricate and novel legislation and regulations called for by the needs of the war of 1914-18. Bell entertained a high opinion of his ability and standing in the legal world and deferred to him in many instances of difficulty. In 1920 Salmond was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court, and in the following year he represented New Zealand at the disarmament conference at Washington. There his authority amongst lawyers of international standing was at once recognised, and he was awarded the Ames medal of Harvard University. He was knighted in 1918. Salmond married Anne Bryham, daughter of James Guthrie, of Newcastle-on-Tyne. He died on 19 Sep 1924. A volume on Contracts appeared posthumously in 1927.

W. D. Stewart; Otago B.H's. List; Otago Univ. Calendar; Who's Who N.Z., 1908, 1924; Evening Post, Otago Daily Times, The Dominion, 20 Sep 1924 (pp); The Spike, June 1906 (p), Sep 1924; Law Quarterly Review, vol. xl (1924).

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William Salmond

William Salmond

SALMOND, WILLIAM (1835-1917) was born in Edinburgh, and educated at Heriot's Hospital, the High School and the University in his native city. Graduating B.A. in 1853, he spent four years studying theology in Scotland and Germany and, ordained by the Presbyterian Church, served as minister at North Shields, Northumberland, from 1858-75. In 1876 he arrived at Port Chalmers by the Corona. After 10 years as professor of theology in the Presbyterian Church of Otago and Southland he was appointed in 1886 professor of mental and moral science at Otago University. He was created D.D. of Glasgow University in 1882 and of Edinburgh University in 1885. From 1888 to 1912 he was on the New Zealand University senate. Resigning his chair in 1915, Salmond was made professor emeritus. He died two years later (on 6 Mar 1917).

Salmond published a number of sermons and lectures, and was a frequent contributor to periodicals. He married a daughter of the Rev James Young, of Dunfermline, and was the father of Sir J. W. Salmond (q.v.), and Charles.

Cycl. NZ, iv.

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Seth Sam

Seth Sam

SAM, SETH, was medical officer to the 3rd Waikato Regiment (Jun 1865) and saw some service. He was in the confidence of some of the King chiefs and attended Wiremu Tamihana te Waharoa till his death (Dec 1866). Sam afterwards practised at Thames, where he founded the Masonic Lodge of Light (I.C.). He represented Thames in the Provincial Council (1870).

Auckland P.C. Proc. and Gaz.; Buick.

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Oliver Samuel

Oliver Samuel

SAMUEL, OLIVER (1849-1925) was born at St Heliers, Jersey, the son of the Rev Dr Jacob Samuel, D.D., LL.D. (1800-82) (who was a student at Wilna, Poland, in 1812) and with whom he came to New Zealand in 1855. He was educated at Nelson College, where he gained several scholarships. On leaving he was appointed to the Crown Lands department (1866), from which he was transferred in 1869 to the deeds registry office at Auckland. On the Thames goldfield he was in the office of receiver of goldfields revenue, from which he resigned and had some success on the Thames and Coromandel fields. In 1870 he rejoined the government service in Wellington.

In 1873 Samuel was articled to W. Sefton Moorhouse (q.v.). Admitted as a barrister and solicitor in 1878, he was about to start practice in Christchurch when Moorhouse died. Samuel commenced practice in New Plymouth (1879), where he had a distinguished career at the bar and as counsel to public bodies, notably the harbour board in their action against the sinking fund commissioners. In 1881 he conducted the prosecution of Te Whiti, Tohu and Hiroki. In 1884 Samuel entered Parliament, defeating T. Kelly for the New Plymouth seat, which he represented until he retired in 1890. About 1903 he withdrew from general practice. He was called to the Legislative Council in 1907, and sat until his death on 11 Jan 1925, being chairman of committees for the last seven years. (K.C., 1919) Samuel married a daughter of Octavius Carrington (q.v.). He was a staunch patron of the turf, president of the Taranaki Jockey Club and for many years a member of the New Zealand racing conference.

Cycl. N.Z., vi (p); N.Z.P.D., 26, 30 Jun 1925; Chadwick (p); Nelson Coll. Reg.; Taranaki Herald, 12 Jan 1925. Portrait: Parliament House.

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William Edward Sanders

William Edward Sanders

SANDERS, WILLIAM EDWARD (1882-1917) was born in Auckland, and educated at the Nelson Street school there. He then went to sea in the steamer Karapuni in the coastal trade, and transferred to the Government steamer Hinemoa. He was later first mate in the Joseph Craig, which was wrecked at Kaipara in 1914. Sanders had gained his extra master's certificate and joined the Union Steam Ship Co. before the outbreak of the war of 1914-18, for which he volunteered forthwith. Not being accepted for eighteen months, he proceeded to England and was commissioned as a sub-lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve. He was promoted to lieutenant-commander and in command of a patrol launch saw much anti-submarine service. In May 1917 he was awarded the Victoria Cross for conspicuous bravery and consummate coolness and skill while in command of a vessel which was attacked by a submarine. On 12 June he was again commended, and awarded the D.S.O. for similar service. He was killed in action on 14 Aug 1917, when his ship was blown up.

London Gaz., May-Aug 1917; N.Z. Herald, 18 Aug 1917.

Portrait: National Gallery, Wellington.

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Ebenezer Sandford

Ebenezer Sandford

SANDFORD, EBENEZER (1846-97) was born in England and trained as a compositor on the London Echo, of which his father was foreman. He came to Otago in 1872, worked on the Guardian as compositor, and was part owner of the Arrow Observer (Arrowtown) until it was burnt out (1883), when he moved to Invercargill and thence to Christchurch. There he was a compositor on the staff of the Lyttelton Times. A strong Labour advocate, he was one of the delegates sent to Wellington during the strikes of 1890-91, and at the end of 1891 he was elected to Parliament for the City of Christchurch (when Sir Westby Perceval retired). He was one of the first batch of Labour members elected. He was defeated at the general election of 1893 and did not stand again, being afterwards appointed to the office of the public works department in Christchurch. Sandford was a founder of the Christchurch typographical association, and a president of the Canterbury trades and labour council. He died on 17 Dec 1897.

Parltry Record; Drummond; Otago Daily Times, 2 Nov 1891; Lyttelton Times, 18 Dec 1897. Portrait: Parliament House

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Alfred Saunders

Alfred Saunders

SAUNDERS, ALFRED (1820-1905) was born at Market Lavington, Wiltshire; educated at Dr Day's Academy at Bristol and left at the age of 14 to follow the calling of his father as a farmer and miller. He was from his youth a total abstainer; at the age of 16 he was secretary of the Lavington Temperance Society, and in 1840 a delegate for the Bath society at the conference in Bridgwater. In Sep 1841 Saunders sailed in the Fifeshire for Nelson. He founded the first New Zealand temperance society on board, and carried it on in the colony. Soon after his arrival he was appointed secretary of the land purchasers' society, but he resigned after the Wairau affair in the belief that the society had exceeded its functions. He lived in Australia (1845-49), returning in time to be active in the demand for self-government.

Shortly after the constitution was brought into force, Saunders was elected M.P.C. for Waimea South (1855). In 1859, on account of a letter he wrote in the Examiner criticising the district judge (Travers), he was tried and sentenced to six months' imprisonment and a fine of £150. An influential public demonstration and his re-election to the Provincial Council while he was in prison caused the government to release him, and Travers resigned from the bench. Saunders was also elected M.H.R. for Waimea and restored to the commission of the peace, from which he had been removed. Fox offered him the post of Colonial Treasurer, but he declined. In 1864, owing to pressure of work as provincial secretary (1863-65), he resigned from Parliament, and a few months later was elected Superintendent of Nelson following the death of J. P. Robinson (q.v.). He was re-elected later in the year. Saunders took a strong attitude in arresting, without legal evidence, the four men suspected of the Maungatapu murders.

Early in 1867 he resigned the superintendency to visit England, where he spent five years (1867-72). While there he was elected president of the Bath temperance society and he did much work in this cause and in the press in defence of New Zealand settlers. On returning to New Zealand he made his home in Canterbury. In 1877 he was elected to Parliament for Cheviot, and again in 1879. He was a strong supporter of Sir George Grey throughout. In 1880 the Hall government appointed him chairman of the royal commission on the civil service. The report of the commission brought a good deal of disfavour on the members, and Saunders lost his seat. Uncompromising in his political views, which followed closely those of the English radicals, he was out of favour with the electors for some years. Five times he contested seats without success. At length in 1889 he defeated Ollivier for Lincoln, which he represented for that Parliament only. In 1890 he was returned for Selwyn, where in 1896 he suffered defeat by Wason (by 1,676 votes to 1,494).

Meanwhile he was indefatigably busy in his country and literary pursuits. In 1883 he published Our Domestic Birds and in 1888 Our Horses. He was keenly interested in horse breeding, and paid much attention also to his studs of English Leicester and Southdown sheep and Berkshire pigs. Saunders was always devoted to the cause of education. He helped to get the Nelson education act passed, he was a governor of Nelson College and a member of the board of education there, and in Canterbury was chairman of the education board and a governor of the Ashburton high school. He was also on the Ashburton county council. Saunders published in two volumes (1896 and 1899) his history of New Zealand, which is a notable contribution to the personal history of his own period. He first married (1846) a daughter (d. 1898) of William Flower (Nelson); and, secondly, a daughter (d. 1904) of Richard Box (Southampton). He died on 28 Oct 1905.

N.Z.P.D., pass (notably 30 Oct 1905); Saunders, op. cit.; Parltry Record; Nelson P.C. Proc.; Cycl. N.Z., ii, v (p); Broad; Gisborne; Lyttelton Times, 18 Jan 1889, 30 Oct 1905; The Press, 30 Oct 1905. Portrait: Parliament House.

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William Saunders

William Saunders

SAUNDERS, WILLIAM (1851-1935), born in Pembroke, Wales, was educated at the county school, Bedford, and studied for the ministry at Hackney College, London. Ordained in 1884, he had charge of Bromley-by-Bow till 1890, when he came to New Zealand as minister of the Moray Place Congregational Church, Dunedin, from which he retired in 1928. Saunders was chairman of the Ross Home committee and of the local branch of the London Missionary Society; vice-president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and a member of the Bible-in-schools committee and of the Dunedin crematorium society. For a number of years he was chaplain to the forces, and he was largely responsible for the organisation of the Council of Churches. He was four times chairman of the Congregational Union of New Zealand. In 1890 he married a daughter of D. Hutchinson, of London. He died on 8 Jun 1935.

Cycl. NZ, iv (p); Who's Who NZ, 1908, 1924, 1932; Otago Daily Times, 10 Jun 1935.

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John Savage

John Savage

SAVAGE, JOHN (1770-1838) was born in South London, qualified in medicine, and was assistant surgeon in the Melville Castle (1796-97). In 1802 he was appointed assistant surgeon in New South Wales, whither he sailed with his wife in H.M.S. Glatton, arriving in 1803. A follower of Jenner, he introduced in the colony vaccination by calf lymph. Early in 1804 he was appointed magistrate for the county of Cumberland, and a few months later acting magistrate at Parramatta. During the insurrection of the Irish convicts (Mar 1804), he was appointed captain of the Parramatta Associated company of volunteers (afterwards the Parramatta Loyal Association Company). As a magistrate he did duty also at Norfolk Island and Van Diemen's Land. In Jun 1805 he was court-martialled on a charge of refusing to attend a settler's wife; found guilty and cashiered. Governor King disapproved of the sentence. He could not intervene, but granted Savage permission to go to England.

Savage left Sydney in the whaler Ferret and spent some weeks in Bay of Islands, during which he made notes for an interesting little volume, Some Account of New Zealand, particularly the Bay of Islands and Surrounding Country, which contained sailing instructions for the northern coasts. Having gained the confidence of the natives, he was importuned by several who wished to accompany him to England, and he eventually consented to take Moehanga (q.v.), the first Maori to visit Great Britain. Savage was well received by Lord Fitzwilliam (President of the Council); the sentence of the court-martial was reversed, and he was confirmed in his appointment. He did not, however, return to New South Wales, but entered the service of the East India Company (1807), from which he retired in 1833. He died on 27 Apr 1838.

India Office records; F. M. Bladen, Historical Records of New South Wales, vols v, vi; Savage, Some Account of New Zealand (1807).

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Michael Joseph Savage

Michael Joseph Savage

SAVAGE, MICHAEL JOSEPH (1872-1940) was born at Benalla, Victoria, on 7 Mar 1872, the son of Richard Savage, a small farmer from county Cavan, Ireland. Educated at the Benalla state school, he learned a good deal about farming as a boy. On leaving school, at the age of 14, he entered the employ of a Benalla storekeeper, where in the course of seven years he learned every side of the business. The bank failure of 1893 throwing him out of employment, he carried his swag in search of work. For some years he was employed on the properties of Sir Samuel McCaughey, in New South Wales, where he was engaged mainly in the digging of irrigation ditches which converted the district into one of the most prosperous in New South Wales. Of medium stature, Savage was athletic and powerful, and delighted in feats of strength with his jaws and teeth. He was interested in football and racing, but rarely betted.

In the last years of the century Savage returned to Victoria to visit his brother at Rutherglen. There he met Patrick Webb (later his Minister of Mines), and they were employed together in the A.M.A. mine. Conditions were so bad that most of the work had to be done in a stooping or crawling position, and a candle would not burn within 10 feet of the working face. Savage and Webb became close friends and took an active part in the infant labour movement in Australia. The sympathetic nature of the older man warmed to the aspirations of the Australian workers, who were then suffering both from the depression of the nineties and from the penalties which still attached to trades union activities. They read deeply the working-class literature of the time, mainly Blatchford, Henry George and the Webbs, the Clarion and the Labour Leader. Webb was a mine steward, and he succeeded in organising practically all of the 300 A.M.A. workers into a union. He was also secretary of the North Prentice branch of the Political Labour Council, out of which evolved the Australian Labour Party. Disliking underground work, Savage seized the first opportunity of escape. While in the Great Southern Consols mine he was employed on the winding engine and qualified for a first-class ticket. Thus equipped, he took charge of a small mine on Garibaldi Hill belonging to Dr John Harris (later Sir John Harris, Minister of Education in Victoria). He took part in the miners' co-operative movement, and helped to organise the Rutherglen Co-operative Society, Limited, which operated a store and a large bakery. Of this he was manager for nearly a year.

In the early years of this century Australia was much interested in the condition of labour in New Zealand, where the workers were in the full enjoyment of rising prices for farm products and of the social legislation of the Ballance and Seddon governments. Webb came to New Zealand in 1906; Savage remained in Rutherglen and assumed some of his secretaryships, including that of the North Prentice branch of the Political Labour Council. Webb, who was working in the mines at Denniston, expressed the opinion that New Zealand offered an excellent opportunity to a man possessing the personality and qualities of leadership which he recognised in Savage. Eventually Savage decided to come to the Dominion and, resigning his position in the Co-operative Society, he landed in New Zealand on Labour Day 1907. What he heard about the West Coast climate decided him to remain in the North Island, and he took employment for some months at George Seifert's flax mill at Tokomaru. He was then invited to assist in the formation of a co-operative society in Auckland. This movement failed, but Savage remained in Auckland and found employment as a cellarman in Hancock's brewery. There he was employed throughout the remainder of his life as a worker, and for eight years he walked to and fro every day between Herne Bay and Khyber Pass. His settled position enabled him to take a new interest in working-class politics, and he was an active trades unionist. He greatly admired the social legislation of Ballance and Seddon, and when the Liberal regime came to a close he co-operated with other labour leaders-notably H. E. Holland, W. E. Parry, P. Fraser, P. C. Webb, H. T. Armstrong and R. Semple-in organising New Zealand labour to play an independent role in politics. At this early stage his clear thinking and flair for essentials, combined with a real understanding of working-class needs, a deep humanity and personal integrity marked him out as a sound adviser even to those who did not foresee his eventual promotion to the leadership.

When Savage first attempted to enter Parliament (in 1911) as a candidate for the Auckland Central seat, the Labour party had not been organised for political purposes and he was a member of the New Zealand Socialist party, which had its headquarters in the Federal hall in Victoria street. In the middle of the campaign a strike of the general labourers' union broke out which caused a stoppage of municipal services in Auckland. At a large strike meeting at the Grey statue (on 28 Oct) Savage seconded a resolution calling on the various sections of labour to get together. Amongst those concerned in the strike negotiations were P. Fraser (then president of the general labourers' union and later Prime Minister), and P. Webb and R. Semple, president and organiser of the Federation of Labour. The result of the election in Auckland Central was: A. E. Glover (Liberal) 4061; M. J. Savage (Labour) 1800; F. C. Gleeson (Independent) 1177; W. Richardson (Prohibitionist) 601. D. McLaren, who in 1908 was elected for Wellington East as a Labour member, lost his seat in 1911, but four Labour and Socialist candidates were elected-namely W. A. Veitch (Wanganui), J. H. Payne (Auckland), J. Robertson (Otaki) and A. H. Hindmarsh (South Wellington).

In Jan 1913, at the invitation of the Federation of Labour, a preliminary conference was held in the office of the Maoriland Worker at which a committee was appointed to organise another conference with the object of unifying the labour movement. That conference, which met in Jul, included representatives of the Federation of Labour, the trades and labour councils, the Socialist party and the United Labour party. In Jun a parliamentary vacancy had occurred in the Grey electorate owing to the death of the Speaker (Sir Arthur Guinness). Webb, who had taken a prominent part in the formation of the Federation on the West Coast, and was its president, left the conference to contest the seat as a Social Democrat. He won it as a direct representative of the new Labour party. The conference resulted in a merger of practically all of the labour groups into two new organisations, the United Federation of Labour and the Social Democratic party, the former being the industrial and the latter the political wing of the movement. The Labour and Socialist representatives already in parliament elected A. H. Hindmarsh as their chairman and functioned as the Social Democratic party. In Dec 1913 the group was strengthened by the election of J. McCombs for Lyttelton. At the election of 1914 Savage again stood for Auckland Central as a Social Democrat, but without success. With the memory of the Waihi strike so recent and a war just beginning, conditions for Labour candidates were not favourable, but the party gained eight seats, as compared with four in 1911. The result in Auckland Central was: Glover, 4053; Savage, 1751; W. Richardson, 1315.

In 1916 another conference was convened at the instance of the national executive of the Social Democratic party, which approached the labour representation committees. The outcome was the Labour party as it is known to-day, composed of branches and affiliated trades unions. Savage was now well and favourably known in Auckland, and his eventual advancement in politics seemed assured when he was elected (in 1918) to the Auckland City Council and the hospital board. These duties satisfied his yearning for social reform and gave him an insight into local government, which is essential for success in New Zealand politics. In 1919 Parliament (which had been extended as a war measure) was dissolved, and the election afforded Savage his entry into political life in the fuller sense. The National Government had achieved its purpose and dissolved, and the election was fought nominally in peace conditions but with many war restrictions in full effect. Savage contested Auckland West in place of the retiring member, C. H. Poole. He was opposed by two candidates supporting what were regarded as nationalist tickets. At one of his meetings in this campaign he outlined a social programme which included the widening of the old age pension to something like the present social security scheme, based on rights of citizenship. The election resulted as follows: Savage, 4008; C. F. Bennett (Reform), 3475; A. J. Entrican (Liberal), 1493. Labour still had only eight seats in the House. Savage speedily accustomed himself to the technique of Parliament, and when McCombs resigned the deputy leadership of the parliamentary Labour party in 1923 he was elected to succeed him. This addition to his political duties compelled him to resign from the City Council and the hospital board. At the election of 1922 Savage defeated J. Farrell in Auckland West by 5694 votes to 4345. Labour on this occasion made a marked advance, gaining 17 seats, as compared with 22 held by Liberal members and 38 by Reform. In 1925, following the death of Massey, the Reform party gained 55 seats in a House of 80 members. Labour lost four, but by the discomfiture of the Liberal party (which had only 12 members in the new Parliament) it became the official opposition. Savage's electorate gave him 5677 votes, while the Reform candidate (S. Oldfield) polled 5201.

In 1926 Savage visited Australia as a delegate of the New Zealand Parliament to the conference of the British Empire Parliamentary Association. In 1927 he was again elected to the Auckland City Council and the hospital board, on which he continued to act until the death of his leader (H. E. Holland, q.v.) in 1933. At the 1928 election the anti-Labour vote was again split and Savage, though in a safe position at the head of the poll, was again a minority member: Savage, 5361; R. B. Speirs (United), 4020; F. A'Deane (Reform), 2021. The Reform following in Parliament was now reduced to 29, and the Liberal party (under Sir Joseph Ward) had 26 seats. Labour, with 19 seats, gave a general support to the Liberal government which took office on 10 Dec 1928. On 28 May 1930 G. W. Forbes succeeded Sir Joseph Ward as Prime Minister. The country was now feeling the full force of the economic depression, and unemployment had attained unprecedented dimensions. On 22 Sep 1931 Forbes formed a coalition government from the United and Reform parties. In the elections at the end of 1931 Labour registered another advance in strength, the new house being composed as follows: Reform, 22; Liberal United, 29; Labour, 25; Independent, 4. Savage's majority was the greatest he had ever polled: Savage, 6442; H. R. McKenzie (Independent Coalition United), 1925; J. A. C. Allum (Independent Coalition Reform) 1870. In 1933 Henry Holland died, and Savage was elected unanimously as leader of the Labour party, which was again the official opposition. During that Parliament (extended for one year against Labour's protest) he greatly strengthened the position of the party and improved the foundations already laid for the triumph of Labour in 1935.

In the election of 1935 New Zealand unequivocally returned to power its first Labour government. In a house of 80 members Savage had a following of 55; the Coalition opposition (now called the National party) numbered only 19; and there were six independent members. In Auckland West Savage polled 8567 votes; E. D. Stallworthy (Nationalist), 2387; and J. A. Govan, (Democrat), 792. On 6 Dec 1935 Savage was sworn in as the first Labour Prime Minister of New Zealand. The party caucus entrusted him with the choice of his colleagues, and he nominated the following: P. Fraser (Minister of Education and Health); W. Nash (Finance and Customs); D. G. Sullivan (Industries and Commerce and Railways); H. G. R. Mason (Attorney-General and Minister of Justice); H. T. Armstrong (Labour and Immigration); R. Semple (Public Works and Transport); W. E. Parry (Internal Affairs); P. C. Webb (Mines); F. Jones (Postmaster-General, Minister of Defence); W. Lee Martin (Agriculture); F. Langstone (Lands and Commissioner of State Forests); M. Fagan (member of Executive Council without portfolio). On assuming office Savage lost no time in implementing the programme upon which the Government was elected. Wages, salaries and pensions were at once restored to the scale existing before the economy cuts of 1931; the powers of the arbitration court, which had been suspended during the depression, were revived; and a 40-hour week for industry was enacted. The Government assumed control of currency and credit; bought out private interests in the Reserve Bank and abolished the railways board. A vigorous programme of public works and housing helped materially to reduce unemployment. To assist farmers, guaranteed prices were introduced for dairy produce and a marketing department instituted and the state took over the mortgage corporation. Savage took the keenest personal interest in the passing of the social security legislation, which consolidated existing pensions and public health law and made comprehensive provision for medical services and old age and invalidity pensions. Savage had a good command of parliamentary practice, and in his control of parliament was firm and conciliatory. He once insisted at a Labour conference that a gain made by subtlety could only be held temporarily. Frank and straightforward, he was never a florid speaker, but he was a keen and effective debater, making his points by sincerity and simplicity of expression rather than by oratorical effect. He made quick decisions which were generally accurate. In his administration of the prime ministership he reverted to the English convention and assumed much less departmental responsibility than his immediate predecessors. Though he did control External Affairs, Native Affairs and some minor portfolios, he conceived his post as that of a presiding and co-ordinating head of the executive, and in this role he was singularly successful. To him as Minister of Broadcasting was due the introduction of the broadcasting of Parliament, which New Zealand was the first country in the world to adopt. He had firm faith in broadcasting as a political instrument and when his health forbade him longer to transact public business he broadcast a series of earnest personal addresses on 'New Zealand's problems as I see them.' Savage's reaction to the Imperial connection was instant and unquestioning. The crises of 1938 and 1939 prompted an immediate declaration of solidarity on behalf of New Zealand, and he took a whole-hearted part in the war preparations in vindication of the voluntary basis of service.

On 30 Apr 1936 Savage was appointed a member of the Privy Council. In the following year he attended the Imperial Conference in London and the coronation of King George VI (5 May 1937), and on 28 May he was sworn of the Privy Council. He received the freedom of the City of London and the honorary D.C.L of Oxford University.

At the elections of 1938 the Labour government was again returned with a majority independent of any possible combination: Labour, 53; Nationalist, 25; Independent, 2. Opposed by J. W. Kealy (Nationalist), Savage retained his old seat by 11,591 votes to 3584. During the session of Parliament in 1938 his health had begun to fail and for some weeks in 1939 Parliament was led by the deputy Prime Minister (Hon Peter Fraser). The death of Savage, which occurred on 27 Mar 1940, was marked by great public demonstrations of sorrow. The body lay in state at Parliament House in Wellington and was interred at Bastion Point, Auckland, after a remarkable progress from the capital. Savage was a bachelor and a member of the Roman Catholic church. He was succeeded as Prime Minister by the Hon. P. Fraser (1 Apr 1940).

Who's Who N.Z., 1932; Who's Who, 1939; N.Z. Herald, 13 Oct 1933 (p); N.Z. Railways Magazine, Aug 1936 (p); Auckland Star, Evening Post, 27 Mar 1940; The Dominion, 28 Mar 1940 (p); Grey River Argus, 1 Apr 1940; The Standard, 3 Apr 1940; N.Z. Listener, 5 Apr 1940 (p); The Observer, 1 Nov 1939.

Reference: Volume 2, page 276

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Henry Sawtell

Henry Sawtell

SAWTELL, HENRY (1834-1913) was elected a member of the first Christchurch City Council in 1868, represented Christchurch City in the Provincial Council (1870-74). In 1872 he was mayor of Christchurch. He was a partner in the firm of Wilson, Sawtell and Co., general merchants.

Cycl. N.Z., iii; The Press, 21 Jun 1913.

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Charles Waring Saxton

Charles Waring Saxton

CHARLES WARING SAXTON graduated M.A. at Oxford, and later received the D.D. He also came to Nelson in 1842, and held services there till he returned to England in 1843. He was headmaster of the Newport Grammar School in 1846-70, and in 1887 was living in Shrewsbury. Joseph Somes (q.v.) married a sister of the Saxtons.

Nelson P.C. Proc.; Broad; Dr F. A. Bett (information).

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John Waring Saxton

John Waring Saxton

SAXTON, JOHN WARING (1806-66) was born at Whitchurch, Shropshire. He lived in Shrewsbury before coming to Nelson by the Clifford in 1842 with his brother, Charles Waring Saxton. Saxton contested the superintendency of Nelson in 1853 against Stafford, the result being: Stafford, 251; Saxton, 206; F. Jollie, 150. He represented Waimea South in the Nelson Provincial Council (1853-57). He was a man of considerable talent, a fine musician and a skilled water-colour painter. His diary, copiously illustrated with sketches, is a valuable contribution to the early history of Nelson. He made five sketches for illustrations to E. J. Wakefield's Adventure in New Zealand. He died on 14 Nov 1866.

Cycl. NZ, v; Nelson P.C. Proc.; Nelson Examiner, 15 Nov 1866.

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Henry Schaw

Henry Schaw

SCHAW, HENRY (1828-1902) was born in England, educated at the Royal Military College, Woolwich, and received his commission in the Royal Engineers in 1847. He served in the Crimea and was afterwards engineer in charge of public works in Ceylon. He blew up the fortifications of Corfu when that island was transferred to Greece, and was later professor of fortification at Sandhurst Military College, commanding engineer at Gosport and deputy inspector of fortifications; and inspector-general of fortifications (from which post he retired with the C.B. and the rank of major-general in 1887). Schaw settled in New Zealand, and gave his services gratuitously in advising the Government on coast defences and organisation. He took a keen interest in scientific matters, contributing many papers on optics and meteorology to the proceedings of the Philosophical Society and the New Zealand Institute. He was a supporter also of the Bible in-schools movement. Schaw died on 14 Aug 1902.

N.Z.P.D., 10 May 1888; Trans. N.Z. Inst.; N.Z. Times, 16 Aug 1902.

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Karl Gustavus Schmitt

Karl Gustavus Schmitt

SCHMITT, KARL GUSTAVUS (1834-1900) was born at Frankfurt-am-Main, the son of Dr Aloys Schmitt, a German composer and hof-capelmeister at the court of Bavaria. He was educated in Germany and became an accomplished violinist. Schmitt came to Auckland in the early sixties and was a successful musical teacher. Later he became organist in Sydney to a Congregational and other churches and conductor of the Philharmonic Society. After spending some time in Germany he came to Tasmania as aide-de-camp and musical director to Sir Frederick Weld (q.v.), who was governor (1875-80). In 1881 he returned to Auckland as conductor of the Choral Society. He was a founder of the Auckland Amateur Opera Club and of the young ladies' orchestra, and at the time of his death lecturer in music at Auckland University College. He took a great interest in volunteering and was honorary captain in the College Rifles and the Southern Wairoa Rifles, and captain in the New Zealand militia. Schmitt died on 22 Mar 1900. Schmitt received Italian and Belgian decorations for his compositions, some of which were performed in St Patrick's Cathedral and St Benedict's, Auckland.

N.Z. Herald, 23 Mar 1900.

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Cort Henry Schnackenberg

Cort Henry Schnackenberg

SCHNACKENBERG, CORT HENRY (1812-80) was born in Wilstedt, Hanover, and brought up in the Lutheran faith in a devout home. His father dying when he was 13, Cort found his way to London and entered commercial life. After a few years there he sailed for Sydney (1837), and two years later was sent to New Zealand as agent to purchase flax and other produce from the Maori. He sailed from Sydney in the Bee (Nov 1839). Schnackenberg had joined the Independent Church in Sydney. In 1839 he was at Paparua (Kawhia). There he became acquainted with Whiteley (q.v.), who was impressed by his piety and his knowledge of Maori, gained during many journeys in the interior. In 1844 he consented to become a catechist in the Wesleyan mission, and he was stationed first at Mokau, reopening a station which had been abandoned owing to native and other difficulties. There he rapidly gained the confidence and esteem of the natives and became a valuable missionary. In 1853 he was received on probation for the Wesleyan ministry, and in 1857 he was taken into full connection, being ordained in the High Street chapel, Auckland. The next few years he spent at Kawhia, until the outbreak of the Waikato war. Thereafter he remained at Raglan until his death, ministering to Europeans and Maori over a wide and difficult district. He supervised the Government schools amongst the natives, and was frequently called upon to advise the Government on native matters. He died on 10 Aug 1880.

Schnackenberg married (1864) Annie Jane (d. 2 May 1905), daughter of Edward Allen of Mount Albert, formerly of Leamington, Warwickshire, who arrived in the Black Eagle (1861). She was for 10 years president of the W.C.T.U.

Buller; Morley; N.Z. Herald, 16, 25 Aug 1880, 8 May 1905; Auckland Star, 23 May 1980.

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Charles William Schultze

Charles William Schultze

SCHULTZE, CHARLES WILLIAM (1818-79) was born at Edinburgh, the family having settled in Scotland from Germany a century earlier. His father was a West Indian merchant. In 1836 Schultze emigrated to Australia. He obtained a position in the firm of Weller Brothers (formerly of Amersham, Buckinghamshire). They were merchants, shipowners and whalers, and in 1831 they established a whaling station in Otago harbour, where they met with keen opposition from J. Jones (q.v.). In 1832 their station was destroyed by a fire which burned down 80 houses and raupo huts.

Giving evidence before the Legislative Council of New South Wales in 1839, George Weller claimed to have purchased 500,000 acres of land in Otago from Taiaroa, and announced his intention of settling a colony of white people upon it. A month or two later Schultze was sent down in the schooner Henry Freeling (91 tons), which was to bring back a cargo of Otago potatoes. She was wrecked at Tautuku about Sep 1839, and it was some months before Schultze found his way back to Sydney in the schooner Lucy Ann. He had an interest in Otago, and in 1844, when the New Edinburgh scheme was postponed, he obtained a refund of money paid to the New Zealand Company for two sections of land. Having married Anne Meek (d. 1887), a daughter of Joseph Weller, Schultze returned to New Zealand in 1842 in the schooner Shepherdess which he commanded. After a few voyages to Tahiti for fruit, he settled in Wellington, operating a flourmill at Kaiwarra for 20 years, when he retired. The granary was in Willis street.

Schultze was an officer of militia, being gazetted captain in 1863. From 1853 until his death he was a justice of the peace. He was a member of the Settlers' Constitutional Association. At the first election for the Provincial Council he was defeated, but in 1854 he was elected to represent Wellington Country, and he continued in the Council almost continuously until 1865. During Featherston's superintendency he was speaker (1861-65), and on four occasions he acted as deputy-superintendent. Schultze was a useful member of the Council, but his speakership was stormy. Politics ran high and a jury found for Schultze in a libel action and bound the paper over in recognisances of £200.

Schultze was a Presbyterian and a member of the building committee of St Andrew's Church in 1866. He was also a prominent freemason, being an early member of the Pacific Lodge. He was one of the first directors, in 1877, of the Wellington Steam Tramways Co. He died on 2 Mar 1879.

Wellington P.C. Proc.; J G Wilson; Ward; Ingram and Wheatley; Evening Post, 18 Nov 1929; Otago Witness, 13 Dec 1856.

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Henry Scotland

Henry Scotland

SCOTLAND, HENRY (1821-1910) was born at Muswell Hill, London, the youngest son of George Scotland, C.B., chief justice of Trinidad. Educated at the Merchant Taylors' School and St John's College, Oxford, he read for the bar and was called in 1849. In the following year he came to New Zealand in the Eden and settled in Taranaki, living close to New Plymouth, where he practised law for many years. In 1852 he contested the Taranaki seat in the Legislative Council of New Ulster (against Wicksteed and J. C. Richmond). In 1868 he was called to the Legislative Council, of which he was one of the last life members. He inclined to favour single-chamber government, but in later years consistently defended life nomination as giving the members greater independence of the party in power. Scotland attended to his duties punctiliously until within a few weeks of his death. He lost a considerable part of his fortune in the bank crisis of the nineties, and afterwards left Taranaki and lived at Pahi, Auckland. He died at Wellington on 27 Jul 1910.

N.Z.P.D., 27 Jul, 3 Aug 1910; N.Z. Herald, 15 Feb 1875; Evening Post, 27 Jul 1910. Portrait: Parliament House.

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Henry Arthur Scott

Henry Arthur Scott

SCOTT, HENRY ARTHUR (1815-1908) was born in England and served in the 12th Lancers. He came to New Zealand in the fifties and settled in Canterbury, taking up the Glenthorne run and living at Glenmore, at the foot of the Port Hills. He started the first volunteer corps in Canterbury. Scott was a member of the provincial executive in 1860. He sold his property in 1872 and returned to live in Wales, where he died in 1908. He was the father of Talbot Scott and of H. A. Scott, the secretary of the Midland Railway Co.

Parltry Record; Acland.

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John Halliday Scott

John Halliday Scott

SCOTT, JOHN HALLIDAY (1851-1914) was born in Edinburgh and educated at the Edinburgh Institution and at the University, where he qualified. (M.B. and C.M., 1874; M.R.C.S. Eng., 1876; M.D., 1877; F.R.S. Edin., 1879) After a year as house surgeon and 18 months as demonstrator in anatomy at Edinburgh University, he was appointed dean of the medical faculty and professor of anatomy and physiology at Otago University (1877). He was a member of the Otago University council (1908-14), and was on the New Zealand University senate (1890-1912, 1914). Scott was a water-colour artist and was for many years secretary of the Otago Art Society. In 1882 he married a daughter of John Bealey, of Canterbury. He died on 27 Feb 1914.

Thompson, Hist. Otago Univ.; Cycl. NZ, iv (p); Who's Who NZ, 1908.

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Matthew Scott

Matthew Scott

SCOTT, MATTHEW (1820-1904) was born in the north of Ireland and emigrated to Victoria as a young man. Disappointed there, he moved to Queensland as a pioneer farmer, and then came on a visit to New Zealand. After exploring in the Western district of Southland he decided to settle there, and in 1856 took up a pastoral run at Fairfax, to which he brought sheep from Sydney. On the run being opened for settlement, he retired to live in Stewart Island and later in Auckland. Scott was a member of the Southland Provincial Council for New River (1861-64), and was on the executive in 1862, and deputy-superintendent. He died on 10 Jul 1904.

Parltry Record; Southland Times, 13 Jul 1904.

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Robert Julian Scott

Robert Julian Scott

SCOTT, ROBERT JULIAN (1861-1930) was born in Plymouth, a son of Rear-Admiral R. A. G. Scott, R.N., and a cousin of Captain R. F. Scott, the Antarctic explorer. Educated at the Abbey School, Beckenham, Kent, and at the Royal School of Mines, he had railway engineering experience in England, and in 1881 joined the New Zealand railway service as locomotive draftsman and manager of the Addington workshops. He designed and operated several new types of locomotives and wagons. The first locomotive to be made in the Dominion was called the Prairie, or Scott.

When the Canterbury University College school of engineering was founded, Scott was appointed lecturer in engineering (1888). He became lecturer in charge (1890), and professor in charge (1894), and until he retired in 1923 he was the dominating influence in the school. He was a member of the New Zealand University senate (1903-23) and acted as chairman of the royal commissions on railway rolling stock, on tramway brakes, on the Addington workshops, and on munitions. He published a number of papers on engineering subjects, as well as official reports. Scott was an enthusiastic yachtsman; designed and raced his own vessels, and was a founder of the Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club. (M.I.M.E.; M.I.C.E.; F.A.I.E.E.; M.N.Z.Soc.C.E.) He died on 8 Nov 1930, surviving by many years his wife (Gertrude, daughter of Sir Charles Bowen).

Who's Who N.Z., 1908, 1924; Hight and Candy; The Press, 9 Nov 1930.

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Thomas Scott

Thomas Scott

SCOTT, THOMAS (1816-92) was born at Cupar, Fifeshire, and came to New Zealand in the Olympus with his wife (1841). A man of strong physique and courage, he distinguished himself by carrying despatches on foot between Wellington and Taranaki. In this duty he established trading relations with the tribes on the coast. Scott served in the militia during the campaign against Rangihaeata; was present at the capture of Te Rauparaha and was one of the force of 50 picked men who were stationed at Waikanae as a buffer against the hostile tribes from Wanganui. There he lived on terms of friendship with Wi Kingi te Rangitake. He settled in Rangitikei in 1846 as ferryman, pilot and storekeeper at the mouth of the Rangitikei river. Scott took little part in politics or local government. He died on 16 Jan 1892.

J. G. Wilson; Rangitikei Advocate, 18 Jan 1892.

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Arthur Scoullar

Arthur Scoullar

SCOULLAR, ARTHUR (1830-99) was born at Stewarton, Ayrshire, educated in the parish school and sent to work at the age of seven. For eight years he was engaged in making Kilmarnock bonnets, and he was then apprenticed to cabinetmaking in Glasgow till 1850. In 1854 he sailed for Melbourne as carpenter's mate in the Contest. He worked at his trade there and on the diggings, and in 1862 was attracted to Otago by the Dunstan rush. There he made some money and in 1863 he started business as a cabinetmaker in Dunedin in partnership with Henry North. The latter retiring in 1890, the firm became Scoullar and Chisholm, and Scoullar went to live in Wellington. He was a member of the Dunedin City Council for four years, and mayor in 1884-85; and was an elder of Knox church. His death occurred on 11 Jun 1899.

Cycl. N.Z., i; Otago Daily Times, 12 Jun 1899.

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Francis William Ogilvy Grant Seafield

Francis William Ogilvy Grant Seafield

SEAFIELD, FRANCIS WILLIAM OGILVY GRANT, 10th Earl of (1847-88), and 29th chief of Clan Grant, was born in Ireland. He became a midshipman in the Royal Navy, but retired and joined the merchant service. About 1870 he settled in New Zealand, taking up a farm at Waiareka, near Oamaru. He married (1874) Ann Trevor Corry, only daughter of Major George Evans. Having lost his money in the farm, Grant took employment as a labourer wherever he could obtain it and was so engaged until 1884, when he succeeded to the title of Lord Reidhaven. In that year he contested the Oamaru seat as a Liberal against Shrimski, and again in 1885 against T. W. Hislop. Succeeding his father in the earldom (1888), he interested himself thereafter in philanthropic movements. Seafield died on 3 Dec 1888, being succeeded by his son, the 11th earl (q.v.). His widow died in 1935.

Burke, Peerage; Otago Daily Times, 4 Dec 1888; North Otago Times, 22 Jul 1884, 19 May 1885, 4 Dec 1888.

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James Ogilvy Grant Seafield

James Ogilvy Grant Seafield

SEAFIELD, JAMES OGILVY GRANT, 11th Earl of (1876-1915) and 30th chief of clan Grant, was born at Oamaru and educated there and at Christ's College (1890) and Lincoln Agricultural College. He was a lieutenant in the Canterbury Yeomanry Cavalry. Succeeding his father in 1888, he proceeded to Scotland and devoted his attention to the estate and tenantry at Cullen House, Banffshire. He was deputy-lieutenant of Banffshire (1913). On the outbreak of the war in 1914 Seafield joined the Cameron Highlanders, served for some months as a recruiting officer, and then in France as a captain in the 5th battalion. He died of wounds on 13 Nov 1915. The earl married (1898) Mary Elizabeth Nina, daughter of Dr Joseph Henry Townend (Christchurch). He was succeeded in the earldom by his daughter and heir, Nina Caroline (b. 1906) and in the barony of Strathspey and the baronetcy by his brother, the Hon Trevor Ogilvy Grant (1879-).

Burke, Peerage; Christ's Coll. List; The Times, 15 Nov 1915.

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Charles Seager

Charles Seager

SEAGER, CHARLES (1833-1918), who was born in Hampshire, England, was educated as an engineer. Arriving in New Zealand by the Acasta in 1858, he settled in Wellington, where he founded and conducted for 18 years the Phoenix foundry. He established and later managed the Wellington Steam Packet Co. From 1871 to 1873 Seager sat in the Provincial Council as member for Wellington City. He died on 16 Oct 1918.

Cycl. NZ., i; Ward; Evening Post, 16 Oct 1918.

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Edwin Percy Sealy

Edwin Percy Sealy

SEALY, EDWIN PERCY (1839-1903) was born in England, educated at Clifton College, and came to New Zealand in the Clontarf (1859). After spending two years on Patoka station, he joined the survey staff in Hawkes Bay and in 1865 became provincial surveyor in Canterbury. He was an enthusiastic alpinist, making many journeys in the Mackenzie country and being the first to explore the Tasman and Hooker glaciers. He collected moths, butterflies and birds' eggs, of which he had fine collections. He also took many alpine photographs for the Canterbury Museum, and was awarded a gold medal at the Vienna Exhibition. On retiring from the service he farmed at Southern Down, but lost money. He was a promoter of cooperation among farmers and was chairman of directors of the Farmers' Co-operative Association, of which he was the founder. Sealy died on 30 Oct 1903. He married (1873) a daughter of T. Sanderson (North Canterbury).

Cycl. NZ, iii (P); Timaru Herald, 31 Oct 1903.

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James Seaton

James Seaton

SEATON, JAMES (1822-82) was born at Sorn, Ayrshire; was trained as a cotton manufacturer, and came to Otago in the Philip Laing (1848). He took up land at Portobello, which he cleared and farmed successfully. In 1867 Seaton was elected to the Provincial Council for the Peninsula, which he represented till 1872. He resigned upon being appointed with T. Birch as immigration agent for the colony. In 1875 he was elected M.H.R. for Caversham, which he represented till 1879 (when he retired). In 1881 Seaton again came out for the Peninsula, which he won after a keen contest. He was a member of the general road board and the Otago education board, and rendered valuable service to his own district and the City of Dunedin. He died on 18 Nov 1882.

Parltry Record; Otago Daily Times, 1 Dec 1882.

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Richard John Seddon

Richard John Seddon

SEDDON, RICHARD JOHN (1845-1906) was born at Eccleston, near St Helens, Lancashire. His father was headmaster of the Eccleston Hill Grammar School and his mother, Jean Lindsay, who came from Annan in Dumfries-shire was mistress of the denominational school. On their marriage the denominational school was closed. Seddon received a good education in his father's school, including Latin as an extra subject for which he stayed after school hours. He was good at mathematics (for which he received the prize), but soon became impatient of school and was sent to his grandfather's farm.

At the age of 14 he was apprenticed to Dalgleish and Co., engineers, of St Helens, and on completing his term he found employment as a journeyman in the Vauxhall foundry at Liverpool. He had scarcely entered upon this when he decided to emigrate, and in 1863 he left for Victoria in the Star of England. He took employment in engineering shops in Melbourne, but was soon attracted by the goldfields at Bendigo. This was a short interlude. He had no luck and was glad to return to Melbourne and obtain employment in the railway workshops at Williamstown. A clever athlete (especially in running, wrestling and boxing) Seddon won a prize at the eight-hours demonstration at Williamstown. In later years on the West Coast he frequently distinguished himself as a wrestler. He was a corporal in the Williamstown artillery. While there he met Louisa Jane, daughter of Captain John Stuart Spotswood, and granddaughter of Captain John Spotswood of the 84th and 98th Regiments, and of Major-general Waddington, H.E.I.C.S.

At the end of 1866 Seddon left Melbourne in the Alhambra for New Zealand. Landing at Hokitika, he made his way to the goldfields at Waimea, or Six Mile, where his life in New Zealand began. Equipped with a knowledge of engineering and mining methods in Australia, he and his party introduced hydraulic sluicing, constructing dams and flumes to work the auriferous terraces on the Right-hand Branch. He was connected with the celebrated Band of Hope water-race, and as a result of his experience he urged the local authorities and the Government to make races on a large scale to provide water for the miners. Seddon made a good deal of money at this time, some of which he invested in opening stores on the fields. One of these stores was at the Big Dam. In 1869 he was married, and he then settled down in Kumara, where he kept a store and took a prominent part in the affairs of the town and district. He practised with success as a miners' advocate at Stafford and Goldsborough.

In 1869, also, he made his first appearance in public life, being elected by the miners as a member of the Arahura road board, of which he was chairman from 1870 until it merged in the county. He was a candidate at the same time for the Westland county council, but was defeated. On Westland becoming a province (1874) he was elected to represent Arahura in the Provincial Council, in which he sat till the abolition (1876). He was chairman of committees for a time, and in this capacity he made a study of the standing orders, the rules of conducting meetings and parliamentary procedure according to Todd and May. When the county was re-established (1877) he became a member of the council, of which he was chairman most of the time until becoming a minister of the crown (1891). In 1878, being now one of the oldest residents of Kumara, he was elected first mayor of the borough. In the laying-out of the town he took a leading part, calling in the warden to ensure that the streets should be straight and the blocks square. Seddon first stood for Parliament in 1876. In a contest for the return of two members for Hokitika, he entered the field rather late and, not being so well known in Hokitika as the other candidates, he was unsuccessful. Barff and Button were elected, the figures being: Barff, 648; Button, 586; Reid, 527; Seddon, 343; Hoos, 6. Seddon returned thanks with a confident assurance that he would be elected at a future time. Button resigned his seat in May 1878, and at the by-election Seddon assisted in the return of Seymour Thorne George (q.v.), a nephew and follower of Sir George Grey. At the dissolution of 1879 George retired from Hokitika to contest the Rodney seat and Seddon, as chairman of the Liberal election committee, received a telegram from Grey advising him to become a candidate for Hokitika. Standing as a radical and out-and-out follower of Grey, Seddon condemned large land holdings and Chinese immigration, and proposed to pacify the Maori in the North Island by constructing railways through their lands. He considered Grey the only possible premier at the time. The poll resulted in the return of Reid and Seddon. (Reid, 917; Seddon, 800; Dungan, 561, Cumming, 90.) On appearing in Parliament Seddon declined to speak on the address-in-reply until late in the debate, contending that it was the duty of new members to listen to the arguments of those who had long parliamentary experience and to act as jurymen. He was continuously a member of Parliament (for Hokitika 1879-81; Kumara 1881-90; Westland 1890-1906). In his first Parliament he was one of the group of Liberal members who formed the Young New Zealand party. Equipped with a competent knowledge of the standing orders, he made a favourable impression as a stonewaller, when, in association with all the Nelson and West Coast members, he opposed the attempt to reduce the number of members allotted to Westland under the representation bill. During the 10 years that he spent as a private member, mostly in opposition, with short intervals supporting the Government in power, Seddon managed to get many of his proposals passed into law. He failed to gain exemption of goldmining property from property taxation, but after seven years perseverance (in which it was several times carried in the House of Representatives) he got the gold duty abolished by an act which was adopted as a conservative measure. For seven years in succession he introduced a bill to protect the public against abuses by auctioneers, and eventually secured its passage. Seddon was a member of the goldfields and other committees, and he frequently acted as teller for his party. He was a master of parliamentary procedure, alert in seizing upon points of advantage, persistent in criticism and a staunch stonewaller. He was one of the first to appreciate the political implications of the rise of the Labour party in New Zealand politics. From the outset he believed that the Liberal party should advocate labour's just demands, and during the eighties he voted consistently for all measures which aimed at improving the conditions of the working class and widening the franchise. He made as yet no claim to leadership.

From their first meeting in 1876 (when he thought of settling in the North Island), Seddon recognised Ballance as an advanced thinker and the obvious successor to Grey in the leadership of the Liberal party. Ballance, for his part, appreciated the robust energy and parliamentary acumen of Seddon, and frequently put him forward to criticise the Government. Long before the Liberal party came into power he was designated for cabinet rank. After the general election of Dec 1890 Ballance invited him to join the ministry, and entrusted to him the departments of Public Works (then very important), Mines and Defence. From the outset Seddon was supreme in his own departments. Though he had no previous experience of administration he rapidly mastered the technique and became a thoroughly efficient minister. At that time finance was not necessarily the cabinet duty next in importance to the premiership. A knowledge of parliamentary procedure was at all times important, and when Ballance was incapacitated in 1892 from taking his place in the House Seddon automatically took charge. In the months that followed Ballance relied more and more upon his vigorous lieutenant, and when he died (27 Apr 1893) there was no real question as to the succession. Stout, whom many favoured as leader of the liberals, was out of Parliament for nearly six years, and before he regained a seat (at a by-election for Inangahua on 7 Jun 1893) Seddon was securely installed as premier. When he took office (on 1 May 1893) his cabinet consisted of Buckley (Attorney-general), Reeves (Education, Labour and Justice), McKenzie (Lands, Immigration and Agriculture), Ward (Treasurer and Postmaster-general), Cadman (who shortly took Justice and Mines) and Carroll (representing the Native race). Montgomery was a member of the executive without portfolio (1893-95). In 1895 Buckley was appointed to the Supreme Court bench. In the early weeks of 1896 Reeves became Agent-general; and W. C. Walker was appointed Minister of Education, Hall-Jones Minister of Public Works, Justice and Marine, and T. Thompson Minister of Industries and Commerce. A few months later Ward resigned from the ministry and Seddon assumed charge of the Treasury and Post and Telegraph department. For three years he bore a very heavy burden of departmental responsibility. The return of Ward to office at the end of 1899 enabled him to resign some of the heavier departments, but he did not relinquish the Treasury. Ward became Colonial Secretary, Postmaster-general and Minister of Industries and Commerce, and a few weeks later assumed control of the new department of Public Health. Thompson now retired, and Seddon took into his cabinet McGowan (Jan 1900, Justice and Mines), Duncan (Jul 1900, Lands and Agriculture), and Mills (Trade and Customs). Walker having resigned in 1903, the leadership of the Legislative Council became vacant, and Pitt was appointed to that chamber as Attorney-general. Seddon's control of his departments was always firm and personal, and his leadership of the ministry was never questioned. When he assumed office the Government was involved in litigation over the resumption of the Cheviot estate under the land and income tax assessment act. This was warmly contested as a test question, and opened the way for a series of acts (sponsored by Sir John McKenzie) with the object of making land more easily available to persons of moderate means. The land act of 1892 provided several easy methods of acquiring land and the formation of small farms associations, of which a considerable number were established in succeeding years. In his first session Seddon extended the franchise to women and passed the local option act to enable the electorates to declare upon liquor-licensing policy every three years. In Nov the first election was held at which women voted. Meanwhile the passing of the workmen's wages act foreshadowed a series of laws which were to be brought forward by W. Pember Reeves. In 1894 the industrial conciliation and arbitration act was passed on its third introduction, having been twice thrown out by the Legislative Council. It was followed by the shops and offices act (1894), and acts to regulate the attachment of wages and to protect the homes of workers against mortgage or sale for debt. McKenzie passed his advances to settlers act, the acts for the subdivision of large estates were widened, and unimproved rating was introduced. The dairy industry act of 1894 introduced compulsory grading and inspection and inaugurated the expansion of the dairy industry on sound lines. The franchise was amended by the abolition of the non-residential or property qualification (1896) and by a new municipal franchise (1898). The most noteworthy social measure of this period was the old age pensions act of 1898. Its origin, as far as the liberal administration is concerned, remains obscure, but Seddon took it up as a policy measure which eventually buttressed the popularity of his Government. Its benefits were extended in 1905. In 1894 Seddon courageously accepted the responsibility of rescuing the Bank of New Zealand from imminent collapse by advancing a large sum of money and guaranteeing a new share issue. This eventually made the state a large shareholder in the institution, and enabled him to resist the demand of the left wing of his party for the establishment of a state bank. In like manner, by granting instalments or approaches, he was able to placate the insistent cry of his more advanced followers for single-taxing of land and government ownership of industries. With continued prosperity prices in New Zealand continued to rise, and from time to time he found it necessary to legislate to counteract them. Thus came into existence state coal mines (1901), state fire insurance (1903) and working men's dwellings (1905). To the Labour influence in the Government is also to be ascribed the workers' compensation act, the establishment of maternity homes and the liberalising of the education act, particularly the facilities for secondary education, which were made available to a wider section of the population, and the introduction of technical education.

By such means Seddon led the parliamentary liberal party hand in hand with Labour, which had elected half a dozen members to the Parliament of 1891 and had also genuine representation in the Legislative Council. The success of his expensive social legislation, which was made possible by the steady improvement in prices of produce, enhanced Seddon's reputation outside New Zealand. Confident in the stability of his administration, he attended the Diamond jubilee celebrations in 1897 and displayed an independent and masterful attitude at the Imperial Conference. There he expressed the view that the time had come when more formal ties should be devised to bind together the component parts of the Empire. The development of his leadership as a result of that experience was obvious, but he deferred to Labour principles by declining titles more than once proffered. His outlook on Empire affairs widened considerably, and thereafter he adopted a robust and independent tone in his communications with the Imperial Government. On topics in which he conceived the whole Empire was interested he consistently exercised his right of criticism. On the outbreak of the Boer war Seddon boldly solved the enigma of oversea loyalty by offering on behalf of New Zealand to send a contingent to serve in South Africa. He was almost unanimously supported by Parliament and subsequent contingents, amounting in the aggregate to about 10,000 men, were despatched before the war ended. Even during the war Seddon did not hesitate to voice the complaints of his people on the conduct of the campaign. He carried on a heated correspondence with the Imperial Government following the disclosure of the agreement with Germany by which British rights in Samoa were abandoned and the group was apportioned between Germany and the United States. He insisted (1900) that Tonga and the Cook group should be annexed to New Zealand. As to the latter, he gained his point in 1901, but Tonga remains in the position of a British protectorate. He further demanded that Fiji, where the whites were restive and dissatisfied, should be administered by New Zealand; but the Colonial Office, deferring to the protest of New South Wales, declined his request. His vigorous protest against questions of Imperial interest being decided without full consultation with the Colonies concerned seemed to bear some fruit; and yet the last despatch that he penned was a protest (concerted with Australia) against another such incident in regard to the New Hebrides. About 1900 Seddon adopted the title of Prime Minister instead of Premier. This was actually warranted by the civil list act as far back as 1873. The title was used in the New Zealand Year Book in 1900 and in Hansard from 1902.

Having received the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall in New Zealand (1901), Seddon left in Apr 1902 to be present at the coronation of King Edward VII. On his way he visited South Africa during discussion of the terms of peace. His wide Imperialism was firmly demonstrated not only in the contributions of the Colony to the Imperial Navy and to the forces in South Africa, but in the introduction of penny postage (1 Jan 1901), the contribution to the Pacific cable (1899), the proclamation of Empire day (1903), the passing of a preferential and reciprocal trade act (1903) and the stand he took on the introduction of Chinese labour for the development of the Rand gold mines. All through his political life Seddon had opposed Chinese labour in New Zealand, and as recently as 1900 he with difficulty persuaded the Imperial Government to assent to the New Zealand restriction act of 1899.

Seddon's leadership of the liberal and Labour parties in New Zealand was never challenged. It is true that as his earlier colleagues passed from the scene they were occasionally replaced by men of less calibre and personality. Yet he was always able to retain the loyalty of the allied parties, and no serious rift ever occurred in their relations. A rugged figure of great personal influence, ceaseless energy, force and courage, Seddon had an enormous capacity for work and no desire for devolution upon others. Throughout his administration practically every departmental decision of importance was made by him or in consultation. He was an adept parliamentarian, a master of the rules of procedure, ruthless in using them, and direct in purpose and method. With a large-hearted sympathy for the working class he combined a genius for public affairs, in which he revelled. As a speaker he was fluent and forcible. He made good use of invective, told an occasional apt story, and invariably scored against his political opponents, both on the platform and in Parliament. His importance in New Zealand history is not easily measured. When he came into politics no party that was not conservative had ever been in power. Liberalism had only recently been enunciated by Sir George Grey. Infinitely more practical than Grey, he served willingly and loyally under Ballance, for whose person he felt affection and for his leadership respect. It is inconceivable that Stout or any other Liberal leader could have succeeded Ballance in 1893, or that any other, having done so, could have implemented the Liberal programme with the same sure vision and ready opportunism that Seddon applied to his task. In his last general election (1905) the manifestos presented him to the electors as a humanist. He had demonstrated this again in 1904 by introducing legislation to safeguard maternity and child life. After an overwhelming victory at the polls (Dec 1905) he visited Australia early in 1906 to discuss reciprocal trade and mutual and Empire interests. On his return from Sydney he died suddenly on board the Oswestry Grange on 10 Jun 1906.

On his visits to Great Britain Seddon received the freedom of Edinburgh, St Helen's and the Royal burgh of Annan, and the honorary doctorate of Cambridge and Edinburgh Universities. He was a prominent freemason, being grand master of New Zealand. He was also for many years an oddfellow.

Seddon's widow died on 9 Jul 1931. She was president of the Women's Social and Political League, the Navy League and the Victoria League.

The eldest son, Captain RICHARD JOHN SPOTSWOOD SEDDON (1882-1918) was killed in France in the war of 1914-18. Another, THOMAS EDWARD YOUD SEDDON (1884-) was a member of Parliament for Westland 1906-22, 1925-28.

Westland P.C. Proc., 1874-75; N.Z.P.D., 1879-1906 (notably 7 Nov 1901, 28 Jun 1906); Reeves; Condliffe; Keith; Hight and Bamford; Hindmarsh; Reid; Drummond (p); Harrop, Westland; J. H. Allen in Empire Review, Nov 1908; Gisborne; Scholefield, Pacific and N.Z. Evol.; Saunders; Mr W. S. Myers in Windsor Magazine, Sep 1901; M.A.P., autobiography (reprinted in Lyttelton Times, 12 Jun 1906); Methodist Times, 12 Aug 1897; Weekly Press, 4 Jul 1895; West Coast Times, 19 Jan 1876, 3 Sep 1879; N.Z. Times, 27 Aug 1918; N.Z. Herald, 16 Aug 1902, 4 Dec 1905, 18 May 1906; Evening Post, 9 Jul 1931; Lyttelton Times, 12 Jun 1906. Portrait: Parliament House (by Tennyson Cole); bust by Nelson Illingworth in Parliamentary Library.

Reference: Volume 2, page 144

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Volume 2, page 144

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William Seed

William Seed

SEED, WILLIAM (1827-90) came to New Zealand with his parents in the Martha Ridgway (1840), settling in Taranaki. In 1841 he was in the employ of W. B. Rhodes (Wellington). On the settlement of Otago the family moved south (1849) and lived for a while in Tokomairiro. Seed was employed by the New Zealand Company (1848-51); was for a short time private secretary to Sir George Grey, and in 1853 joined the Customs department at Wellington. In 1855 he was sent to Ahuriri as subcollector and treasurer, and two years later returned to Wellington. On Grey's return as Governor, Seed again acted as his private secretary (1862) and in the following year became permanent Under-secretary in the Executive department, with charge of defence during the Waikato war. In 1865 he was appointed collector at Wellington and next year acting-Secretary for Customs and civil service commissioner. In 1868 he was appointed deputy-auditor, and in 1882 Secretary and Inspector of Customs and Marine. He retired in 1887. Seed paid a visit to Samoa in 1870 to report on trade in the islands, and in 1875 he made a tour of British lighthouses. In 1886 he represented New Zealand in the negotiations for a trade treaty with Fiji.

Seed married first, Eliza, a daughter of J. Cook (Makara), and second, a daughter of George Allen (Wellington). He died on 6 Feb 1890.

Cycl. NZ, 1 (P); Customs Dept. records; New Zealand Times, 20 Feb 1890.

Reference: Volume 2, page 144

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Volume 2, page 144

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William Henry John Seffern

William Henry John Seffern

SEFFERN, WILLIAM HENRY JOHN (1829-1900) was born in England, brought up to printing, and came to Australia in 1851. He was on several Sydney papers (including the Sydney Illustrated News) and in 1856 came to Auckland. After some years in journalism on the Southern Cross and the New Zealander, he took the latter paper over from Williamson and Wilson. Dr Kidd and James Heron were his partners for a while and later, with C. F. Mitchell, he brought out the New Zealander as the first morning paper published in New Zealand at a penny. In 1866 they started the Penny Journal, and in 1867 the Auckland Budget. Early the following year he accepted the position of editor and manager of the Taranaki Herald, which he occupied till 1896, when he retired from active journalism. In 1869 it became a bi-weekly and in 1877 a daily. Besides acting as correspondent for papers, Seffern wrote a good deal on New Zealand history, including The Early Settlement of New Zealand (1888), History of Taranaki (1890), The History of a Colonial Newspaper, and The Chronicles of the Garden of New Zealand (1895), and The Maori Rebellion during the Sixties. He was a keen supporter of amateur theatricals and of the Taranaki Agricultural Society, and organised many ploughing matches. Seffern died on 26 Oct 1900.

Cycl. NZ., vi (p); Seffern, op. cit.; Taranaki Herald, 26 Oct 1900.

Reference: Volume 2, page 144

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Volume 2, page 144

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George Augustus Selwyn

George Augustus Selwyn

SELWYN, GEORGE AUGUSTUS (1809-78) was the son of William Selwyn, Q.C., and was born in Hampshire. His mother was Letitia Frances, daughter of Thomas Kynaston, of Witham, Essex; and his father, a distinguished constitutional lawyer, was treasurer of Lincoln's Inn and instructor to the Prince Consort in the constitutional laws of England. George was educated under Dr Nicholas Ealing at Eton, where he was a contemporary of W. E. Gladstone and of Bishop Harold Browne, of Winchester. He was the best boy on the river and first in almost every branch of study. At St John's College, Cambridge (1827-30) he did not care for mathematics, and was low among the junior optimes; but he was second classic and was elected a fellow of St John's College. He was a very strong swimmer, a tireless walker and a skilful horseman. From his school days he endured hardness, and was a firm believer in fitness and temperance as the basis of health and efficiency. In the first boat race between the universities (1829) Selwyn pulled seventh oar for Cambridge.

On graduating (B.A., 1831; M.A., 1834) he returned to Eton as private tutor to the sons of the Earl of Powis. He was ordained in 1833, and became curate of Boveney, near Eton, and later assistant curate of Windsor. There he had practically sole charge of the parish and did not omit to devote his attention to its slums. In 1839 he married Sarah Harriet, daughter of Sir J. Richardson, judge of the court of common pleas. Having thus vacated his fellowship, he was dependent on his earnings. In 1841 the episcopal council at Lambeth recommended the appointment of a bishop for New Zealand, and the new see was offered to Selwyn, after it had been declined by his brother William (afterwards Lady Margaret professor of divinity at Cambridge). In the letters-patent the solicitors made a mistake in the latitude describing the bounds of the diocese of New Zealand, the effect of which was to give Selwyn jurisdiction over a region, mostly water, extending many degrees north of the equator. He noted the mistake, but did not challenge it. Before being ordained, he asked the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel for an annual grant for the purpose of endowment, so as to ensure that the Church in New Zealand should not be a continually increasing burden. He was consecrated at Lambeth chapel on 17 Oct 1841 by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Nine days later he received the degree of doctor of divinity from Cambridge University, and Oxford also conferred its degree on him.

On 26 Dec Selwyn and his wife sailed in the Tomatin from Plymouth, accompanied by the Rev C. L. Reay, of the Church Missionary Society; four other clergymen (the Revs Cotton, Whytehead, Cole and Dudley); three catechists (Messrs Butt, Evans and Nihill) and a schoolmaster and mistress, all placed at his disposal by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. During the voyage, with the help of a Maori passenger, Selwyn mastered the Maori language, and with the aid of the ship's officers the art of navigation. Arriving at Port Jackson on 14 Apr, Selwyn found the brig Bristolian about to sail for Auckland, and with Cotton he took passage by her, leaving the rest of the party in the Tomatin. On the morning of 30 May he landed in Auckland. After one or two small expeditions Selwyn decided to fix his headquarters at Waimate, near Bay of Islands, where the Church Missionary Society had buildings and a farm available for his occupation. At the end of Jul he started on his first visitation, which took him to Taranaki, Nelson and Wellington, and thence overland, up the Manawatu river and into Ahuriri, across country to Rotorua and back to Auckland. He thus visited all the settlements and missions in the North Island, and arrived at Bay of Islands again on 9 Jan 1843, having travelled 2,685 miles, of which 1,400 was accomplished by sea, 397 by boat, 126 on horseback and 762 on foot. The Rev T. B. Whytehead, the head of St John's College, died on 19 Mar. The rest of the year was devoted to establishing the projected Polynesian college and its adjuncts. In Mar Selwyn visited the stations to the northward, and in May opened St Paul's Church in Auckland. He ordained three more European deacons (Bolland, Spencer and Butt). In Oct, with the Revs Cotton and Nihill and George Clarke, the Chief Protector of Aborigines, Selwyn started on another long visitation, diagonally across the North Island through Thames, Rotorua, Taupo (where he met the Chief Justice, W. Martin, q.v.), Wanganui, New Plymouth, Nelson, Wellington and Waikanae. Then he sailed in the schooner Richmond for Otago, and thence with Tuhawaiki to Ruapuke and Stewart Island. Some difference of opinion as to spheres of labour in the south developed between the Bishop and the Wesleyan missionaries. In Feb he reached Wellington on his return and met the Governor (FitzRoy), with whom he had many opinions in common in regard to the natives. On 20 Mar he was back at Bay of Islands. His activities on these important visitations are fully described in the annals published in 1847 by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.

The Church Missionary Society having resolved to resume possession of the farm and mission buildings at Waimate, Selwyn decided to remove his headquarters to Auckland so as to be more centrally situated for the white and native population and the Government, with which he was to have many dealings. He had intended in 1844 to visit the Bishop of Australia to discuss church matters, but was deterred by the first symptoms of disaffection towards the Government on the part of some of the native tribes. The year was marked by the holding of the first synod (without full ecclesiastical authority) to frame regulations for the management of the mission and the government of the church in New Zealand. The move to Auckland involved heavy work and thought in connection with the establishment of the college in its new surroundings, with schools for boys, girls, native adults, half-castes and English children, and a hospital. Selwyn did not soon live down the suspicion in the minds of some natives that he was sent on behalf of the Queen to help undermine Maori customs and the mana of the chiefs. On the day the flagstaff at Kororareka was first cut down (Aug 1844) Heke proceeded straight from that deed to the beach at Paihia, where Selwyn was busy with the native school, and danced the war dance before him. FitzRoy was a guest at St John's College, Waimate, during these disturbed days. When fighting broke out Selwyn, with a complete disregard of danger, moved from point to point without fear or fatigue ministering to the spiritual needs of the soldiers and wounded of both sides and both races. Throughout the day on which Kororareka was sacked (11 Mar 1845) Selwyn and Archdeacon Henry Williams moved about in the town tending the wounded and getting them off to the ships, and next morning burying the dead. In council, too, he was fearless, speaking his mind freely to those in authority, and not refraining from warm controversy when the natives were ill-treated or deceived or their interests seemed in danger of being ignored. During the next year he again undertook a task of some danger in mediating between the Christian tribes of the West Coast and the invaders from Taupo.

The arrival of Sir George Grey as Governor (1845), with personal introductions from Gladstone, inaugurated a period of interesting cooperation for the benefit of the Maori people, which was marred, however, by serious disagreements on the interpretation of Earl Grey's despatches relating to the Maori title to their lands. About this time Selwyn had an unhappy dispute with some of the senior missionaries regarding their land purchases. During the troubles at Wellington he remained at Waikanae to restrain Te Rauparaha, whose son was a zealous native Christian. In 1848 the arrival of H.M.S. Dido gave Selwyn an opportunity (as temporary chaplain) of visiting the islands of Melanesia and making his plans for evangelising them. Visiting Tonga, Samoa, New Hebrides and New Caledonia, he brought back some Melanesian young men for instruction at St John's. The little schooner Flying Fish, 17 tons, which he had used for the past few years in his visitations, was unequal to the longer voyages which he now contemplated, and he acquired the Undine, 22 tons. His first voyage in her, to the South Island and the Chathams, was of 3,000 miles. In 1849 he took some of his young Melanesians as evangelists back to their homes in the New Hebrides. On this voyage he met H.M.S. Havannah, and again he took some boys for training in his college. In 1850 the Rev C. J. Abraham (q.v.) arrived to take charge of the college. In May some Melanesian boys were returned to their own islands, others being brought away to take their places in the college. Later in the year Selwyn paid a visit to Australia for the meeting of the synod. There the Australian board of missions was formed, and it was decided to obtain a larger vessel, the Border Maid, of 100 tons. In her Selwyn, with Bishop Tyrrell of Newcastle, made a perilous voyage to the New Hebrides. While watering at Malekula the party, divided into three, was surrounded by strong bands of hostile natives and in grave danger of being attacked. Selwyn's courage never flagged. With great self-possession and deliberation he completed his task and led his party back to the shore, where they managed to board the vessel and to get her under sail amidst a fleet of hostile canoes. In Oct he reached Auckland, bringing 13 new boys for the work. Two years later it was decided to establish a mission at Nengone, in New Hebrides, with a resident missionary (Rev W. Nihill) in charge. In 1852 he held a synod at Canterbury with four clergy, met J. R. Godley, and before returning to Auckland visited Otago, Ruapuke, and Chatham islands. In 1853 he ordained his first Maori deacon (Rota Waitoa).

After again visiting Melanesia (1853) Selwyn left for England in 1854 with his wife and two eldest children. His main objects were to visit his ageing father, and to lay before the authorities a scheme which he had elaborated for the self-government of the diocese of New Zealand (by means of a general synod), and the formation of new dioceses. His mission was entirely successful. His plans were adopted, Melanesia was created a separate see and £10,000 raised for this purpose. Friends of the mission gave the schooner Southern Cross, and Charlotte Yonge set aside all the profits of The Daisy Chain for the purpose. To his disappointment, the schooner was not ready for the voyage out, and he had to come back in the Duke of Portland (1855) in company with Henry Sewell. He left his two elder sons in England, and brought out John Coleridge Patteson (q.v.), who later became Bishop of Melanesia. On his arrival he left at once for Taranaki to mediate in a tribal dispute, a task in which he incurred the anger of the settlers. He explained his position in a pastoral letter. Selwyn made one voyage in the Southern Cross, visiting 66 islands and effectively occupying the field where other organisations were not already in charge. On a visit to New South Wales he tried to persuade the governor to allow the headquarters of the Melanesian mission to be located at Norfolk Island, but Denison required it for the Pitcairn people.

Four new bishops were now consecrated, and the legal constitution of the Church in New Zealand was put forward in 1857, adopted by Parliament in 1858, and fully established at the first general synod in 1859. As an organiser, Selwyn had great influence on the church both in New Zealand and abroad. In 1861 Patteson was appointed Bishop of Melanesia, and Selwyn paid several visits with him to the northern islands. The mission headquarters were removed from St John's to Kohimarama, where they remained till 1867. Selwyn at this time was in a financial quandary. The Parliament of New Zealand, when responsible government was introduced, declined to recognise the existence of an established church in New Zealand by continuing to vote each year the moiety (£600) of the salary of the bishop. Selwyn had already donated the other half of his salary to the fund for the establishment of new sees. When he heard of the decision of Parliament he determined to return to New Zealand in any circumstances, and declined the offer of the bishopric of Sydney. Shortly after his return he became involved again in controversy on behalf of the Maori chiefs who resisted the sale of their lands to the Government. He was uncompromising in insisting that the good faith of the British Government, upon the strength of which the chiefs had signed the Treaty of Waitangi, should be vindicated. He attended the King conference of 1857, when Potatau was elected, and again in 1860, but withdrew when the King flag was hoisted. In 1862 he exerted all his influence at Wi Tamihana's conference at Matamata. With Martin, Hadfield and Swainson he firmly maintained his position, incurring the censure of the government and the opprobrium of the settlers of Taranaki, who upbraided him in warm terms for taking the part of the natives. Selwyn even found himself at variance with Grey on the interpretation of despatches from the Imperial government. The Government of the day, he thought, showed too little regard for the rights of the Maori, who were at the mercy of the more sophisticated whites. Throughout the wars in Taranaki and Waikato Selwyn was constantly in the field as chaplain to the troops, ministering without distinction to the needs of both races and both sides in the conflict. After the murder of Volkner he hastened to Opotiki to bring away Grace.

The influx of diggers to Otago (1861), Westland (1865) and Thames (1867) raised new problems of organisation which Selwyn promptly solved. In 1867 he again visited England, to attend the first Pan-Anglican synod, which had originated in his own work of church organisation. While there he was offered the vacant see of Lichfield, which he firmly refused because 'the native race, to whose service I was first called, requires all the efforts of the few friends that remain to them.' He wished no new field of work. His organisation there was not yet complete, the church was not endowed, his health was still good, and his heart was in New Zealand and Melanesia. The Archbishop of Canterbury urged the appointment upon him, and finally at Windsor Castle (on 1 Dec 1867) the Queen expressed her strong desire that he would accept the see in England. Yielding as an act of obedience, he was enthroned on 9 Jan 1868, and at once returned to New Zealand to close up his activities here. His final departure from the colony (20 Oct 1868) was marked by widespread demonstrations of regret.

Selwyn introduced in his new sphere the methods of church organisation and administration which he had adopted in New Zealand. He was again a missionary in his approach to the needs of the Black Country; distinguished himself by his exertions in the colliery disaster at Pelsall in 1872, and established a mission to the bargees, appointing a resident chaplain in the barge Messenger who ministered to the large floating population on the Trent and Mersey canals. Amongst Selwyn's publications, apart from official reports and controversial letters, are: Are Cathedrals Useless? (1838), Sermons Preached in the Church of St John, New Windsor (1842), and A Verbal Analysis of the Holy Bible (1855). Selwyn paid two visits to Canada and the United States (1871 and 1874). He was deeply affected by the martyrdom of Patteson in the Melanesian islands in 1871. His own son, J. R. SELWYN (q.v.), whom he had ordained, became a worker in these dangerous islands and was eventually selected as Patteson's successor and consecrated on 18 Feb 1877. Selwyn died on 11 Apr 1878, and his widow on 25 Mar 1907.

G.B.O.P., 1849/1120; App. H.R., 1853-66 (notably 1854 I, p. 300, 1856 AG, 1858 L.C. E5, 1860 E1, E1b, E4, 1861 D10, E3, E3b, E3f, 1863 E7, E7I, 1864 E2, E2a E2c, E5; Buick, First War; Selwyn, op. cit.; Gorst; Thomson; Carleton; Rusden; Saunders; Buller; Davis; Gudgeon; Gisborne (p); Curteis; Godley, Letters; Hampstead Parish Church Magazine, Apr-Aug 1909 (p); Tucker; Boreham; How; Southern Cross, 21 Oct 1868; The Times, 12 Apr 1878.

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John Richardson Selwyn

John Richardson Selwyn

SELWYN, JOHN RICHARDSON (1844-98), the younger son of George Augustus Selwyn (q.v.) was born at Waimate, educated in part at St John's College, Auckland, and proceeded to England (1854), where he went to Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge. He was a good oarsman. Not a keen scholar, he graduated B.A. (1866) and M.A. (1870). He intended entering the legal profession, but was so impressed with the work of his father when he visited New Zealand in 1867, and by Bishop Patteson that he decided to enter the church. He was ordained by his father (then Bishop of Lichfield) in 1869. He was curate at Alrewas for more than a year, then curate-in-charge at St George's, Wolverhampton, where he became vicar. On the death of Bishop Patteson (1871) Selwyn offered his services for Melanesia. He married (1872) Miss Clara Innes and they reached their station at Norfolk Island late in 1873.

Selwyn soon showed gifts of leadership which marked him out for the direction of this difficult and unhealthy diocese, and his nomination was confirmed by the general synod of New Zealand in 1877. He was consecrated at Nelson in Feb and entered upon his work. The loss of his wife and his father spurred him to further devotion to the cause. In 1885 he married Miss Annie Mort. In 1889 recurrent attacks of rheumatism and ague caused permanent disability, which necessitated his retirement from Melanesia (1890). He was then invited to accept the mastership of Selwyn College, Cambridge, which had been founded as a memorial to his father, and he held that post until his death on 12 Feb 1898. Selwyn was a typical missionary bishop, tactful, industrious and courageous, with a simple religious faith and a manly endurance of pain. His influence was largely responsible for the establishment of Cambridge House in London, and he introduced many undergraduates to the mission field. He published Pastoral Work in the Colonies and the Mission Field (1897).

J. K. Davis (p); D.N.B.; F. D. How; Curteis; Auckland Weekly News, 19 Feb 1898.

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Charles Sew Hoy

Charles Sew Hoy

SEW HOY, CHARLES (1837-1901) was born in Canton, and as a young man went to San Francisco. In the fifties he followed the gold rush to Victoria, where he was in business, and in 1869 he started business in Dunedin. He was always interested in mining, and was the promoter of the Sew Hoy Big Beach Co., whose success led directly to the first dredging boom in Otago. He later engaged in hydraulic sluicing, and was interested in the Nokomai Co., for whose operations water was brought a distance of 20 miles. Sew Hoy, who was an enterprising merchant and a generous contributor to benevolent objects, died on 22 Jul 1901.

Otago Daily Times, 23 Jul 1901.

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Henry Sewell

Henry Sewell

SEWELL, HENRY (1807-79) was born in the Isle of Wight, the fourth son of Thomas Sewell, solicitor and steward of the island, and of Jane, daughter of John Edwards, curate of Newport. He was educated at Hyde Abbey School, near Winchester, and, having qualified as a solicitor, joined his father's firm in 1826. He practised successively at Newport, Pidford and Brockhurst. On 15 Mar 1834 he married Lucinda Marian, eldest daughter of General William Needham (of Mt Olive, Jamaica, and Widcombe, Bath; who was member for Athenry in the last Irish Parliament, 1798-1800). On her death 10 years later Sewell went to live in London, and there married (1850) Elizabeth, second daughter of Captain Edward Kittoe, R.N., of Deal.

Shortly after his arrival in London Sewell began to take an interest in the affairs of the Canterbury Association, and it was on his motion that the Society of Canterbury Colonists was formed. In Jul 1850 he was appointed chairman of the committee of management, and shortly afterwards deputy-chairman of the New Zealand Company, a post which Hutt had administered with indifferent success. Edward Gibbon Wakefield, always the power behind the throne in the affairs of the Association, described Sewell at this time as "a conscientious and able man of business, of high character, with his heart in the thing as an intending colonist, with no defect that I know of unless his Puseyite name should prove hurtful." On another occasion Wakefield described him as highly gifted, with acuteness, circumspection, judgment, industry, elevation of view and refinement of taste, all governed by strong conscientiousness and a single-minded, unambitious wish for the success of the work, which he was undertaking from love of it. He even went so far as to attempt to have Sewell appointed chairman in the absence of Lyttelton. Yet not long after we find Wakefield confessing to a certain amiable weakness in his "treasure." About this time Sewell appeared as the chief adviser of the South African delegates in resisting the intention of Earl Grey to withdraw the constitution already granted to South Africa but held in abeyance owing to the Kaffir war. Thoroughly versed in constitutional law, he contended that the crown had no power to withdraw a franchise once granted, except for cause shown in the courts. Sewell had already determined to emigrate, but there is possibly something in the suspicion of Godley (1851) that he and Wakefield were too fond of power to allow the Canterbury Association to go out of existence. While the New Zealand constitution bill was being laboriously framed Sewell played his part. He collaborated with Norton and Wakefield in the deliberations at Hams Hall, and propounded to Gladstone an attractive scheme for the federation of colonial settlements.

Towards the end of 1852 the work at home was finished, and the Canterbury Association was already in financial difficulty. Sewell was therefore sent out to settle matters on the spot. He arrived in New Zealand by the Minerva (Feb 1853) at the very moment when the new constitution was published. Later that year Fitzgerald was elected first Superintendent of the province, and he eagerly availed himself of the great knowledge Sewell possessed to induce the Canterbury Provincial Council to accept the powers and privileges of the Association and to assume its financial liabilities. This agreement, which was carried through in 1855, was completely satisfactory to the Association. "Nothing could be more creditable," Godley wrote to Lord Norton, "both to the Association and the colonists than the way in which it has been done and, take it how you will, no verdict could be more complete on the merits of the Association's work. That a colony four years old should be able to adopt a liability of £30,000 without serious, indeed ruinous, inconvenience, is a most remarkable proof of its material prosperity, and that they should be willing to do so is an equal proof of moral wellbeing." The deeds were signed by Sewell and formally transferred to the Superintendent in the presence of the Council. Sewell had intended to return to England in 1855 but, being invited by the inhabitants of Canterbury, he was not able to resist the temptation to participate in provincial politics. FitzGerald had appointed him provincial solicitor at the outset, as the best way of utilising his special knowledge; and in Mar 1855 he was elected to represent Lyttelton in the Council (resigning in Jun 1856).

By this time Sewell was deep in colonial politics. From 1853 to 1856 he was member of Parliament for the Town of Christchurch, and in Jun 1854, as the outcome of the constitutional debates then proceeding, he found himself a member of the Colonial executive without portfolio. But he was not altogether at home in the rude young Colony. Though Wakefield got on easily with "the unwashed" and liked them, Sewell had habits of thought which did not so easily accept the democratic omission of "Mr" by people who called a carpenter "Mr Smith." He was naturally reserved and aloof, a defect which was more and more obvious as he got deeper into the controversies of Colonial politics. Sewell entered the first Parliament almost as the tool of Wakefield. Sharing with him a passion for responsible government, he allowed himself as soon as the House met to be nominated to the executive (along with Weld and FitzGerald). Matters came to a quick crisis on 17 Aug, when the Administrator (Wynyard) intimated his intention of proroguing Parliament. Determined not to be baulked in their demand for full responsibility, Sewell and his followers took prompt measures, locked the doors to preserve a quorum; and Sewell proceeded to move a series of resolutions asserting the right of Parliament to control expenditure and protesting against the position of Wakefield as the secret adviser of the administrator. When a member (G. Mackay, q.v.) appeared in the chamber with his hat on and claimed, by virtue of a Gazette notice, that parliament had been prorogued, Sewell lost his temper, seized him by the collar and commenced to belabour him, thereby precipitating a melee.

During the recess the new Governor (Gore-Browne) assumed office empowered to grant full responsibility. Parliament met in May 1856 and Sewell, called upon to form a government, took office as first Premier of New Zealand, with Bell, Whitaker and Tancred as his colleagues. Sewell's opposition to the provinces, as opposed to centralism, was so well-known that the strong provincial following in the House treated him with suspicion. This estrangement made it impossible for him ever to lead a government with success. His ministry lasted only a fortnight. After a few days in opposition (while Fox was in office), Stafford, the only man with whom Sewell could work, succeeded him as Premier, with Sewell as Colonial Treasurer and later as Commissioner of Customs. When Parliament prorogued Sewell resigned his seat (he had already withdrawn from the Canterbury Provincial Council) in order to go to England on private and public business. In addition to the affairs of the Canterbury Association and the Church of the Province of New Zealand, both of which he served with his great knowledge of constitutional law, he was authorised to negotiate for an Imperial guarantee for the £500,000 loan which the Colony required to raise. This was embodied in an Imperial bill of 1857, and Sewell returned to the Colony with enhanced reputation (Feb 1859) to resume his duties at the Treasury and Customs until the Stafford Government went out of office. During most of 1860 he again represented the Town of Christchurch in Parliament, resigning in Nov to assume the office of Registrar-general of Lands. He was sent to Taranaki as commissioner to hear war compensation claims.

In Aug 1861 Fox called Sewell to the Legislative Council, and entrusted him with the portfolio of Attorney-general and the leadership of the Council. This office he held also in the succeeding ministry of Domett, and resigned finally in Jan 1863. Towards the end of 1864 Sewell contemplated visiting England, but at Weld's earnest request again took office as Attorney-general in the new ministry. During this term, in May 1865, he resigned from the Legislative Council, and was elected to represent the Town of New Plymouth in the lower house. In Oct the ministry went out of office, and in Jan 1866 Sewell accepted the post of counsel under the land registration act, which necessitated his resignation from Parliament. His political opinions were apt to be dictated by prejudice, and at this period he was as strong a critic of Stafford as he had formerly been an admirer. The financial difficulties of the sixties, induced largely by the supineness of Domett towards the demands of the provinces, gave Sewell a new opportunity of serving the country in England. During 1868 he spent many months at Hams Hall, and collaborated with FitzGerald in bringing the British Government to terms regarding the loan policy of New Zealand. On his return from England he wished to get elected for a Taranaki seat, but was too late. Fox offered him the post of Registrar-general of Lands which he declined and, on his suggestion, Fox again called him to the Council (Jun 1870) and made him Minister of Justice. The importunities of Vogel became troublesome, and it was soon clear they could not both remain in cabinet together. Fox had to choose, and he felt he could not dispense with Vogel, to whom in Nov 1871 the portfolio of Justice was transferred. Complaining that he was not even consulted on Vogel's immigration and public works bill, Sewell resigned and joined the opposition. Within a year he was again in office as Colonial Secretary to Stafford. Waterhouse rebuked him for his "undue haste and unseemly greed after office." The ministry was defeated a month later. Sewell retired owing to family circumstances, and in Nov 1873 he finally turned his back upon New Zealand politics. In the spring of 1876 he left the Colony for good and took up his residence at Romford, Essex, where his son was curate. Some time later he moved to Cambridge, where he died on 5 May 1879. His widow died on 29 May 1880.

It is not easy to account for Sewell's failure in New Zealand politics except on the grounds of inherent political weakness. Gisborne says that he was a man of culture and ability. His conversation sparkled with cleverness and wit, and he excelled in happy classical quotation. He was an apt administrator and a good debater, occasionally eloquent and effective, and quick at seeing points. "His nature was supple and pliant; and it was not robust enough to stand alone. His mind had breadth, but it was slippery and unable to grasp closely great principles; its strength was dissipated on small things. There was in him no fixity of purpose. There was an utter want of repose in his temperament. He was fussy, restless, too easily impressionable and full of false alarms." Yet he put his great intelligence and unwearied industry always at the service of the country. Cox found him a capital departmental head, with an erratic mind and fertile resource to meet difficulties. He was probably the best debater in the House, and had a wonderful mastery of bluebooks and figures; yet "there was probably never a time when he knew his own mind for two days consecutively." Privately Sewell was a delightful companion, genial, pleasant and witty. He wrote a number of pamphlets, notably Thoughts on the Relations of Men to the External World (1848), The New Zealand Native Rebellion (Auckland 1864), a letter discussing his constitutional differences with Sir George Grey (1853) and a letter to the Bishop of Wellington (London, 1867). Then there was, of course, the journal which he kept from 1853-56, and which is in the possession of the Bishop of Christchurch. A tablet in St Paul's, Wellington, commemorates his services in the early organisation of the Church in New Zealand.

Sewell's brother, RICHARD CLARKE SEWELL (1803-64), was a prominent legal writer and reader in law at Melbourne University.

N.Z.C.; New Zealand Journal; Canterbury P.C. Proc.; Sewell, op. cit.; Godley, Letters; N.Z.P.D., pass. (notably 17 Aug 1860); D.N.B.; Gisborne (p); Saunders; Rusden; Reeves; Cox; Otago Daily Times, 10 Oct 1874; N.Z. Times, 30 Jul 1879; Lyttelton Times, 16 Dec 1925; Evening Post, 21 Jul 1934.

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Arthur Penrose Seymour

Arthur Penrose Seymour

SEYMOUR, ARTHUR PENROSE (1832-1923) was born at Marksbury, Somerset, and came to New Zealand in 1851, settling in Marlborough. In 1855 he married a daughter of Frederick Huddleston, of Nelson. Seymour had a large run in the Awatere valley. He took a prominent part in the affairs of Marlborough, and was a justice of the peace from 1857. When the province was separated from Nelson he was elected to represent Picton in the Provincial Council, in which he sat almost continuously throughout the provincial period (for Picton 1860-65; Awatere, 1866-69; Picton, 1869-74; Awatere, 1874-75). In the first session Seymour moved that provincial buildings be erected in Picton. The removal of the capital from Blenheim was a disturbing factor in Marlborough politics for many years. The Blenheim party was led by Eyes. Seymour was a member of the executive in 1860 and in 1864. Later in 1864 he was elected Superintendent (in succession to Carter). The struggle continued until the end of 1865, when the Picton party was defeated and Eyes became Superintendent.

Seymour was called to the Legislative Council, of which he was a member till 1872. In 1870 he was again elected Superintendent, and a year or two later Eyes became a member of his executive. This enabled Seymour to be elected again to represent the Wairau constituency in Parliament, and he remained its member till 1881, when he was defeated by H. Dodson. Six years later he was returned to Parliament for Waimea-Picton, which he represented till 1890, when he finally left politics. He was chairman of committees in the House in 1873-75 and 1879-81. Seymour was a member of various local bodies, including the Marlborough education board (of which he was the first chairman in 1877), the land board (for 36 years) and the Victoria College council (1898-1904). He died on 3 Apr 1923.

Marlborough P.C. minutes; Buick, Marlborough; Cycl. N.Z., v (p); N.Z.P.D., pass. (notably 45, 19 Jun 1923); Marlborough Express, 4 Apr 1923.

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Henry Seymour

Henry Seymour

SEYMOUR, HENRY (1794-1883) was born in Worcestershire. He came to Nelson in the Martha Ridgway (1842) and started in business there as a commission agent, the company being afterwards sold to N. Edwards and Co. He and his son-in-law (A. G. Fell, q.v.) drew their sections in the Wairau, where Blenheim now is, after the selection in 1848. He was the principal agent of the absentee landowners and was on the committee which chose Waitohi as the port. Seymour was appointed in 1849 a member of the Legislative Council of New Munster, and from 1853 till 1860 he was a member of the Legislative Council of New Zealand (under the new constitution). He took a prominent part in the constitutional debates and matters of procedure. He was also much interested in education, and on 24 Jul 1854 carried a resolution setting up a committee to consider the matter. He died on 31 Mar 1883.

N.Z.P.D., 1854-60; Nelson Evening Mail, 30 May 1883.

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Herbert Cam Seymour

Herbert Cam Seymour

SEYMOUR, HERBERT CAM (1836-1915) was born at Wraxhall, Somerset, the son of George Turner Seymour and brother of A. P. Seymour (q.v.). He came to New Zealand in the Pudsey Dawson in 1854, and in the following year with his brother took up the Wakefield Downs estate. In 1867 he took Okakuri (Marlborough) and later Brooklyn. He represented Picton in the Provincial Council (1867-69). About this time he engaged in surveying and after completing work for the Blenheim-Picton railway he became timber inspector for Brogden brothers. Entering the provincial government service, he became stationmaster and wharfinger at Picton and then manager of that section of the railway. Seymour resigned from the service about 1897 to take over the Tyntesfield estate, which he worked advantageously for some years, and then sold to live in Picton. He was a member of the borough council and the Wairau licensing committee, a prominent churchman and a keen cricketer. Seymour died on 7 Aug 1915.

Cycl. N.Z., v (p); Marlborough Express, 10 Aug 1915; Picton Press, 15 Aug 1915.

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Alexander Shand

Alexander Shand

SHAND, ALEXANDER (1840-1910) was born in Wellington, his parents having arrived by the Oriental earlier in the year. His father, Archibald Watson Shand (1808-78) had a farm and flourmill at Waiwetu. In 1850 the family moved to Dunedin (where the father was subcollector of customs), and in 1855 to the Chatham Islands (where he was collector and resident magistrate). In 1863 Alexander was appointed clerk and interpreter to the resident magistrate, Captain W. E. Thomas (q.v.), with whom he was involved when the Hauhau prisoners escaped from the island in 1868. Retiring from his official position in 1869, he engaged in sheepfarming on the island, and made a special study of the Moriori people, about whom he wrote several papers in the Polynesian Journal (vols. i-vi). He died on 2 Aug 1910.

N.Z. Gaz., 1855; Who's Who N.Z., 1908; Polyn. Jour., vols i-vi; Polyn. Soc. Mem., vol 2, 1911 (p and biog.); Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol 4, 357, vol 37, 144; H. D. Skinner, The Morioris of Chatham Islands, 1923; Wellington Independent, 19 Jun 1867.

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James Shand

James Shand

SHAND, JAMES (1835-89) was born in Aberdeenshire and came to Otago as a lad with his father, who died in the following year. Working hard on his mother's farm at Green Island, and carting to the diggings, he saved sufficient by 1858 to buy from the Government what became the Abbotsford property, which he cleared and improved, making it one of the model farms of the Taieri. He increased the area to 1,200 acres, and in 1866 purchased Centre Bush, near Winton, and later Mount Hyde and Traquair, all of which proved fairly remunerative. He also bought and developed the Otokia station near Henley and took an interest in promoting the frozen meat trade. In 1881 he established a large butchery business, which proved a financial failure; his purchase of the Edendale estate in Southland was also unfortunate. Shand was a member of the Otago Provincial Council for Taieri (1869-75) and was one of the Otago representatives in the negotiation of the reunion with Southland, where he had considerable interests. He was active in the conservation of the Taieri plain against flooding and was a member of the board of conservators, the Taieri county council and the local road board. He married a daughter of George Duncan, and died on 18 Sep 1889.

Parltry Record; Otago P.C. Proc.; Critchell and Raymond; Otago Daily Times, 16 Jul 1880, 20 Sep 1889

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John Shand

John Shand

SHAND, JOHN (1834-1914), born in Elgin, Scotland, was educated at the Elgin Academy and at Aberdeen University, graduating M.A. in 1854. For 12 years he was teaching at the Ayr and Edinburgh Academies and in 1870 he was appointed professor of mathematics and natural philosophy at Otago University. He came to Port Chalmers by the Wild Deer. In 1879 Shand served on the royal commission on the University of New Zealand; in 1886 he was appointed to the separate chair of natural philosophy; and in 1889 was awarded the LL.D. by Aberdeen University. He was a member of the New Zealand University senate (1877-1914), of the council of Otago University (1895-1914), chairman of the professorial board (1892-95), and a member of the Otago education board and the High Schools board of governors. (C.M.G., 1913) Shand retired in 1914, and died on 30 Nov.

Thompson, Hist. Otago Univ.; Beaglehole; Cycl. N.Z., iv (p); Who's Who N.Z., 1908; Otago Daily Times, 7 Dec 1914.

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James Stewart Shanks

James Stewart Shanks

SHANKS, JAMES STEWART (1835-1911) was born in Scotland and came to Otago with his parents in the Kelso in 1849. In company with a brother he first worked at a sawmill in the bush near Clutha, and later on the survey of Southland under J. T. Thomson and Robert Gillies. A year or two later, with his brother William, he prospected for a station in north and central Otago and eventually acquired the Marairua run of 28,000 acres near Tuturau. He was chairman of the school committee and a member of the road board and of the Southland county council and education board. The brothers suffered from the depredations of diggers on their stock and from scab introduced into their flocks by sheep from Nelson. When the run was resumed by the Government, Shanks settled in Mataura (1862) as an auctioneer. He was a member of the county council and the education board and represented Mataura in Parliament from 1879 to 1881. He died on 13 Oct 1911.

Otago Witness, 2 Nov 1911; Kinross; Otago Daily Times, 6 Nov 1911

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Thomas Blackall Shapter

Thomas Blackall Shapter

SHAPTER, THOMAS BLACKALL, a son of Dr T. Shapter, of Exeter, England, was a barrister and solicitor practising at Shortland, Thames, when he married (1870) a daughter of Henry Bunny (q.v.). He shortly afterwards moved to the West Coast, where he represented Westport in the Nelson Provincial Council (1873-75). He was goldfields secretary in the provincial executive (1874-75).

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James Cragg Sharland

James Cragg Sharland

SHARLAND, JAMES CRAGG (1819-87) was born in Devon, educated there and apprenticed to a chemist. He came to Taranaki about 1847 and for some years conducted a prosperous business in New Plymouth. He was chairman of the town board and represented New Plymouth in the Provincial Council (1857-61, 1864-66). In 1859 he visited England. On his return with a large shipment of stock, he found the town almost in a state of siege and his family lodging in a warehouse after leaving their home at Brooklands, which had been damaged by hostile natives in Mar 1860. Sharland went on to Nelson with his stock, realised it there and returned to Taranaki, where he remained until the middle sixties. In 1866 he was a provisional director of the Taranaki Petroleum Co. After the war he visited Hokitika and Thames, spending a few months in business in each of these places. Finally, about 1866, he settled in Auckland, purchasing the chemical business of J. N. Manning, which under his management developed into a prosperous undertaking. In 1883 he stood for the town board. In 1886 the wholesale and importing business was formed into a limited company (Sharland and Co.) and he retired. Sharland died on 23 Jul 1887.

Taranaki P.C. Proc.; N.Z. Herald, 14 Dec 1883, 25 Jul 1887; Pharmaceutical Jour. of N.Z., Sep 1983 (p).

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John Sharp

John Sharp

SHARP, JOHN (1828-1919) was born at Maidstone, Kent, and on leaving Chatham House College, Ramsgate, he joined the merchant service and saw a native rising in the West Indies. In 1843 he came to New Zealand by the Ursula as clerk to F. D. Bell (q.v.), and he was later engaged as surveyor to the New Zealand Company, clerk to the Superintendent, resident magistrate and registrar of the Supreme Court at Nelson. As sheriff Sharp was responsible for the trial and execution of the Maungatapu murderers. In public life he represented Waimea East in the Nelson Provincial Council (1855-57), and later Amuri (1873-75). For three years he served as provincial treasurer (1867-70). From 1875-79 he sat as member for Nelson City in the House of Representatives. In 1888 Sharp retired from his position as resident magistrate, and in the following two years he was mayor of Nelson (1888-90). He was a captain in the Nelson Rifles and a member of lodge Southern Star. His wife was Erica Catherine, daughter of A. S. Collins. Sharp died on 4 Jun 1919.

Cycl. N.Z., v (p); Who's Who N.Z., 1908; Nelson Evening Mail, 5 Jun 1919. Portrait: Parliament House

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Edward Shaw

Edward Shaw

SHAW, EDWARD, an English barrister, was teaching at Bishop's school in Nelson before being appointed warden and magistrate at Inangahua, Reefton and Westport. In 1879 he was appointed a district judge, and was stationed at New Plymouth. On the resignation of T. S. Weston in 1883, he was elected to Parliament for the Inangahua seat, defeating E. Wakefield (q.v.). He retired at the dissolution in 1884.

Cycl. NZ

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Henry Shaw

Henry Shaw

SHAW, HENRY (1850-1928), who was born in Birmingham, England, came to New Zealand in 1859. Taking up the study of accountancy, he became a fellow of the New Zealand Society of Accountants and a president of the New Zealand Accountants and Auditors Association (1908-11). He was a life member of the Leys Institute and a member of the Auckland Society of Arts. From 1909-12 Shaw sat in the Auckland City Council, serving on the library committee. Specially interested in illuminated manuscripts and incunabula, he engaged for a number of years upon bibliographical and literary work in the Auckland library and in 1912 presented his collection to the City. He was the author of a Guide to the Auckland Library (1914). Shaw died on 3 May 1928.

Who's Who N.Z., 1924; N.Z. Herald, 4 May 1928.

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John Shaw

John Shaw

SHAW, JOHN (1813-94) was born at Glenshee, in Perthshire. He studied for the bar at Glasgow University, but relinquished law for farming and in 1838 bought New Barns in Forfarshire, which he farmed for 14 years. In 1852 he came to Otago in the Maori with his sister, and took up a farm of 50 acres at Clutha. He devoted his attention to sheep-breeding and increased the area of his Finnegand estate to 2,000 acres. Shaw was a member of the Clutha river board and school committee and an elder of the Presbyterian Church. He represented the Southern district in the Provincial Council (1855-59). His death occurred on 18 May 1894.

Otago P.C. Proc.; Cycl. NZ, iv; Otago Daily Times, 12 Jun 1894.

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Isaac Brentnall Sheath

Isaac Brentnall Sheath

SHEATH, ISAAC BRENTNALL (1814-97) was born in England. He was a member of a flourishing firm of gunmakers (Hollis and Sheath), when he decided to emigrate, and came to Canterbury in the Chrysolite (1861). He had a sheep run in the Mackenzie country, and coal mines at Malvern. In 1869 he started woolscouring works at Woolston, and later joined R. A. Loughnan in flaxmilling at Halswell. Eventually he was in business in Christchurch as an ironmonger. Sheath was in the Provincial Council for Mt Cook (1866-67) and for Timaru (1870). He died on 19 May 1897.

Canterbury P.C. Proc.; Lyttelton Times, 20 May 1897; The Press, 21 May.

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John Sheehan

John Sheehan

SHEEHAN, JOHN (1844-85) was the son of David Sheehan (a carpenter who settled in Auckland in the forties, made careful investments and became the owner of Governor Browne hotel. He represented Northern Division in the Provincial Council 1861-69). Born at Auckland on 5 Jul 1844, he was educated in part by R. J. O'Sullivan, and in 1862 was articled to the law with F. W. Merriman. Completing his term with R. W. Wynn and J. B. Russell, he was admitted to the bar (1867) and commenced to practise in Auckland. He was one of the founders of the Auckland Catholic Institute, in which he gained useful forensic experience and confidence.

During the Waikato war he served as a sergeant in the Auckland Cavalry Volunteers (1863). In 1869, on his father retiring from the Provincial Council, Sheehan was elected for the Northern Division, which he represented (1870-73). As leader of the group which defeated the executive then advising Gillies, Sheehan took office and himself administered the portfolio of goldfields secretary (1870-73). He was a confirmed provincialist. In the Council and also in Parliament he showed great powers of debate and oratory, and a faculty for repartee. From the outset he favoured free, secular and compulsory education, which he advocated throughout his political career, often against the policy of his own faith.

When Farnall resigned from Parliament to go to England (Jan 1872) Sheehan was elected unopposed, the first European born in New Zealand to sit in Parliament. He represented the Rodney constituency till 1879, and then Thames (1879-84). (Ormond defeated him in another constituency, Clive, in 1879). When Sir George Grey began to gather about him a young liberal following Sheehan became his first lieutenant. He was one of the moving spirits in the Young New Zealand party, which gradually exerted its influence towards the defeat of the Atkinson government. In the Grey administration (1877-79) Sheehan was Minister of Native Affairs and Justice. At the general election of 1879 he and Grey were returned unopposed for the Thames, but the Government was defeated immediately afterwards. Sheehan at this time was following his profession in the native land courts and had a lucrative practice in Napier, where he resided. He contested the Napier seat against Ormond in 1884, but was defeated. A year later a vacancy occurred in Tauranga, and he defeated W. Kelly. A few weeks later he died (12 Jun 1885). Sheehan was a man of sparkling qualities and brilliant promise; able, intellectual, generous and warmhearted. He was the first native-born New Zealander to hold cabinet rank.

Brett's Almanac, 1879; N.Z.P.D., 18 Jul 1872, et pass.; Cycl. N.Z., ii, 540; N.Z. Herald, 13, 15 Jun 1885; Auckland Star, 13 Jun 1885; Lyttelton Times, 14 Jun 1885. Portrait: Parliament House.

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Joseph Shephard

Joseph Shephard

SHEPHARD, JOSEPH (1822-98) was born in England and brought up to the law. He was town clerk of Newcastle-on-Tyne and was engaged in parliamentary bill work in that city when he decided to come to New Zealand. Arriving by the Donna Lita (1861), he settled in Nelson, purchasing a farm at Fern Hill, on the upper Wai-iti river. As a member of the Provincial Council for Waimea South (1869-75), he strongly advocated the improvement of communication with the West Coast goldfields and presided over the parliamentary committee which recommended that the work be entrusted to a public company. He took a keen interest in education, being a member of the education board and board of examiners, a school commissioner and a governor of Nelson College (1885). In 1870-72 and 1874 he was provincial treasurer.

Shephard contested a parliamentary seat unsuccessfully in the sixties. In 1871 he was returned for Waimea, which he represented 1871-7 and 1879-85. On retiring he was called to the Legislative Council, of which he was a member until his death (on 25 Oct 1898). Shephard was a good writer with a fine grasp of colonial affairs. He edited The Colonist for some years.

Parltry Record; Nelson P.C. Proc.; The Colonist, 26 Oct 1898. Portrait: Parliament House.

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Alexander Shepherd

Alexander Shepherd

SHEPHERD, ALEXANDER (1798-1859) was born in Aberdeen, and held government appointments at Demerara and Berbice, British Guiana. While there he married. Ill-health brought him back to England, and in 1842 he was appointed Colonial Treasurer in New Zealand. He came out in the New York Packet and assumed office on 9 May 1842. He was a member of the Legislative Council. In 1848 he was Receiver-general of New Ulster and a member of the Council there. As the outcome of the grant of responsible government Shepherd retired from the position of Colonial Treasurer on 7 May 1856. He died on 20 Jul 1859. He rendered valuable service to the Auckland Savings Bank and other institutions. (See SIR F. WHITAKER, SIR G. M. O'RORKE and SINGLETON ROCHFORT.)

New Zealander, 23 Jul 1859.

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James Shepherd

James Shepherd

SHEPHERD, JAMES (1796-1882) was born at Sydney, the son of a pious, hardworking colonist, who was deeply interested in missions. The son also evinced an interest in evangelism, and attracted the attention of Marsden. When quite young he entered on a mission schooner to study navigation, and Marsden gave him an opportunity of visiting New Zealand to become acquainted with the Maori (1817). In pursuance of his policy of manning the mission with artisan-catechists, Marsden early in 1820 sent Shepherd to Bay of Islands, primarily to satisfy the urgent desire of Te Morenga to have a missionary in his territory, but also to introduce systematically the arts of agriculture and gardening, in both of which Shepherd was expert. Though wanting in education, Shepherd was a man of high natural abilities, in whom Marsden always had complete confidence. His letter of instruction, urging him to travel much amongst the tribes, to plant wheat, barley, maize and other cereals; to devote his attention to the culture and preparation of phormium tenax, and to encourage the Maori to bring forward their produce for market, is an important document in the history of the period. On his next visit (1823) Marsden was fully satisfied with the fruits of Shepherd's work at Okura, west of Kerikeri, and with his competent command of the language. Marsden had intended settling the Rev Henry Williams at Whangaroa, with Shepherd to help him, but unexpected changes led him to keep Williams at Paihia, and he proceeded with Shepherd and others to purchase a site for the Wesleyan mission under Leigh. After visiting Whangarei they went north to Whangaroa, and chose the site at Kaeo, where Leigh had started work (Jun 1823) with Shepherd as his assistant. On the removal of Leigh through illness (Aug 1823) Shepherd was withdrawn and stationed at Te Puna with King. He continued his work there, teaching at the station and travelling amongst the tribes instructing them in agriculture and the Christian religion. In 1830 they had 400 souls within an hour's walk and 1,000 whom they visited.

In 1833 he was at Te Puna, and afterwards at Paihia, where he translated some hymns into Maori and assisted the Rev William Williams in the translation of the first complete New Testament (published 1837). In 1840 Shepherd went to Whangaroa, where he erected a dwelling and place of worship and laboured for 37 years. He was never ordained, but was an exemplary Christian teacher. In 1877 his wife (nee Nelson) whom he had married in Sydney in 1823, died. Shepherd's death occurred on 1 Oct 1882.

Marsden, L. and J., and Lieutenants; Ramsden; Barton; N.Z. Herald, 14 Oct 1882.

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John Shepherd

John Shepherd

SHEPHERD, JOHN (1836-1911) came to New Zealand with the Albertland settlers in the Hanover (1862). Till 1890 he was manager of the co-operative Society's stores, which he afterwards purchased. Shepherd represented Marsden in the Auckland Provincial Council (1870-73) and Albertland (1873-76). A staunch temperance advocate, he introduced in the Council one of the earliest permissive bills for the control of the liquor traffic. He once contested a parliamentary election, and was the second choice of the electorate when W. F. Massey came out in 1894. He was a member of the Rodney county council. Shepherd died in 1911.

Brett and Hook, Albertlanders (p); N.Z. Methodist Times, 9 Oct 1937.

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Richard Shepherd

Richard Shepherd

SHEPHERD, RICHARD, served in the 68th Regiment in New Zealand, and later joined the Armed Constabulary, in which he held the rank of sergeant. He was awarded the New Zealand Cross for distinguished bravery at Otautu (near Patea) on 13 Mar 1869, when he was dangerously wounded while holding a difficult observation post. Shepherd was residing at Thames from 1876 to 1913.

NZ Army records; Gudgeon.

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Thomas Luther Shepherd

Thomas Luther Shepherd

SHEPHERD, THOMAS LUTHER (1829-84) was born in London. He came to Victoria, and was managing clerk to a firm of solicitors at Sandhurst. Then he moved to Melbourne, and came to New Zealand with the rush to Hokitika. From there he moved to Queenstown, and was employed as a law clerk and afterwards practising on his own account. Wilson Gray thought highly of him. In 1867 he was elected to the Provincial Council for Goldfields (with J. C. Brown and Mouat). In 1870 he was defeated. Having moved to Naseby, he defeated Fraser in 1871 for Dunstan, which he represented until 1873. From 1871-75 also he was M.H.R. for that constituency. After being defeated he retired from politics. Shepherd was later employed as clerk of the court and gold receiver at Naseby and subsequently at Palmerston, Charleston and Ahaura. He died on 28 Oct 1884.

Parltry Record; Otago P.C. Proc.; Evening Herald (Dunedin), 29 Oct 1884; Otago Witness, 8 Sep 1931. Portrait: Parliament House.

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Thomas Viret Shepherd

Thomas Viret Shepherd

SHEPHERD, THOMAS VIRET (1845-1916) was born at Auckland, the son of Alexander Shepherd (q.v.), educated privately and joined the army as an ensign in the 109th Regiment (1861). He served at home and in India till 1883, when he retired with the rank of major and settled in Auckland. There he was adjutant and commandant of the militia district (1883-90), rising to the rank of colonel. Shepherd was sergeant-at-arms of the House of Representatives (1902-15), and died on 19 Dec 1916. He married (1879) Grace, daughter of Major-general G. Shakespear, R.A.

Who's Who N.Z., 1908; N.Z.P.D., 29 Jun 1917.

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Kate Wilson Sheppard

Kate Wilson Sheppard

SHEPPARD, KATE WILSON (1848-1934) (née Malcolm), one of the foremost pioneers in the woman suffrage movement in New Zealand, was born in Islay, Scotland, in 1848. She inherited from her father a talent for music and metrical expression, and mainly from an uncle a devotion to the Free Church and sympathy for social causes. Educated in Scotland, she was brought up as a Congregationalist.

In the late sixties she came to New Zealand with her mother and sisters, settling in Christchurch, where she married Walter A. Sheppard (1836-1915). Mrs Sheppard became prominent in the women's movement in New Zealand, to which she was attracted by the visit in the eighties of Mrs Mary Leavitt, to found a branch of the Women's Christian Temperance Union. For many years this was the leading women's organisation in the country. Mrs Sheppard's qualities of graciousness, enthusiasm, geniality and clarity of vision were of inestimable value in commending the claims of her sex to politicians. She met with much opposition, not always from the opposite sex, but was fortunate in securing the alliance of John Hall and John Ballance. In 1891 she inaugurated, in The Vanguard, a page for women which she conducted anonymously as an Esperanto student. This first page of women's activities was transferred four years later to the White Ribbon, of which Mrs Sheppard was editor (with Lucy Lovell-Smith as associate).

On female franchise being won (1893), Mrs Sheppard set to work to organise women's societies to study social problems. The first National Council of Women was held in Christchurch in 1896. She was president and held other offices until financial troubles caused the suspension of its activities. In the middle nineties Mrs Sheppard travelled abroad, making many contacts from which the movement received new inspiration. About the time of the war of 1914-18 the National Council was revived, with her as president, but she took an early opportunity of retiring in favour of younger leaders.

Mrs Sheppard lost her husband, and married some years later W. S. Lovell-Smith (d. 1929), author of Outlines of the Women's Franchise Movement in New Zealand (1905). She died on 13 Jul 1934, having survived by a few months the election of the first woman to the New Zealand Parliament (Mrs E. R. McCombs, q.v.).

Lyttelton Times, 26 Jun 1907 (tribute to Sir J. Hall); W. S. Smith, op. cit.; Jesse Mackay in Woman To-day, Apr 1937 (p).

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John McEffer Shera

John McEffer Shera

SHERA, JOHN McEFFER (1840-1906) was born at Coote Hill, County Cavan, Ireland, the son of a merchant. After receiving his education at Wesley College, Sheffield, he learned the softgoods business in Londonderry, and then returned to his home town to manage for his father. In 1867 his Londonderry employers (McArthur and Co.) commissioned him to wind up their business in South Australia, after which he established the firm of McArthur, Shera and Co. in Auckland with himself as managing partner (1868). The partnership was dissolved in 1877, but Shera remained in the softgoods business for some time and then became a sharebroker. In 1887 he contested the City West seat and in 1890 he was elected at the head of the poll to represent Auckland City in Parliament (retiring in 1893 when he was defeated). He supported Grey. Shera was a member of the conciliation board for the Auckland district, a commissioner of education reserves, and a trustee of the Auckland Savings Bank. He held a captain's commission in the Auckland Cavalry. Shera married (1873) Jemima, daughter of Colonel Balneavis (q.v.). He died on 19 Sep 1906.

Cycl. N.Z., ii (p); N.Z. Herald, 20 Sep 1906. Portrait: Parliament House.

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Francis Sherriff

Francis Sherriff

SHERRIFF, FRANCIS (1801-97) was born in Kent. He was brought up to the cotton trade, was in business with Richard Cobden for some years (Cobden, Sherriff and Jillett) and was a member of the Haberdashers' Company. Being interested in the colonies, he invested and lost a good deal of money in colonial lands, but having sections in Wellington, Nelson and Wanganui he came to Wanganui with his son (1853) and occupied a farm at No. 3 Line. Returning to England, he dissolved his partnership, sold his home at Tunbridge Wells and in 1863 came to New Zealand again with his family and a plant for making agricultural implements. In 1876 he moved to Wanganui. Sherriff was much interested in music and possessed a fine musical library. He was prominent in the Church of England. He died on 22 Aug 1897.

Woon; Wanganui Chronicle, 23 Aug 1897.

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Richard Arundell Augur Sherrin

Richard Arundell Augur Sherrin

SHERRIN, RICHARD ARUNDELL AUGUR (1832-93) came to New Zealand in the late fifties. In Jan 1863 he was engaged with his brother William prospecting and pioneering on the West Coast of the South Island. Jacob Lauper (q.v.) tried to reach their camp at the mouth of the Grey river after the death of Whitcombe. He was in camp with Townend at the mouth of the Taramakau when Howitt (q.v.) was lost, and he took a leading part in the search. Sherrin's boat was swamped in the Grey river in Sep, he and a Maori being the only survivors of five occupants. He afterwards engaged in journalism, and was for a time (about 1879-80) editor of the New Zealander, which was established to support Grey in Wellington. In Auckland he edited the Freeman's Journal in the early eighties and Labour (a weekly) in 1884-85. He published a pamphlet demanding an inquiry into the financial condition of New Zealand (1881) and compiled an official handbook of the fishes of New Zealand (1886). Sherrin's best known work was a history of New Zealand from the earliest times to 1840, which formed the first half of Brett's large publication in 1890. He died on 7 Jan 1893.

Canterbury Gaz., vol x, no 10; Cycl. N.Z., i; Howitt, ii, p. 441; Hindmarsh; The Press, 21, 24, 25 Mar 1863.

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Edward Shortland

Edward Shortland

SHORTLAND, EDWARD (1812-93), the third son of Thomas G. Shortland, was born at Courtlands, Devonshire. Educated at Exeter Grammar School and at Pembroke College, Cambridge, he graduated B.A. (1835) and M.A. (1839); then studied medicine, and was admitted an extra-licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians (1839). Attracted to New Zealand by his brother Willoughby (q.v.), he was appointed private secretary to Hobson (Jun 1841). In Aug 1842 he was appointed police magistrate and sub-protector of aborigines. He afterwards became protector, and in 1843-44 accompanied Colonel Godfrey as interpreter during the investigation of land claims in the South Island. He himself reported on many claims, and took a census of the South Island Maori. The substance of his researches and travels he published in England in 1851 under the title The Southern Districts of New Zealand. In 1854 he published The Traditions and Superstitions of the New Zealanders. Shortland became M.R.C.P. in England in 1860 and before returning to practice in Auckland he served in the Sicilian campaign and married a Sicilian lady. Thereafter he practised for many years in Auckland. He was a profound Maori scholar and besides his other books wrote Maori Religion and Mythology (London, 1882) and How to Learn Maori. He returned to England for good in 1889 and died at Plymouth on 2 Jul 1893.

His eldest son EDWARD GEORGE, born at Auckland on 2 Nov 1855, entered the Navy (1869) and attained flag rank in 1909. He had a distinguished career, mainly on the instructional side. After commanding several training vessels he was lieutenant in Admiral Lyon's flagship Swiftsure in the Pacific (1882-85); served in the Hyacinth in China (1889-92) and was promoted commander in the battleship Nile in the Mediterranean (1894). Captain in 1900, he commanded the Narcissus (1901-03), the cruiser Hogue in China and the battleship New Zealand in the Channel fleet (1908). In 1908 he was commodore commanding the Royal Naval Barracks at Portsmouth and in 1909 was promoted rear-admiral. There being no vacancy for a flag, he retired (1912). Volunteering for service in the war of 1914-18 he received the C.B. for his services as principal naval transport officer (1915). He was promoted vice-admiral 1915 and admiral 1918. Shortland married in 1898 Blanche, daughter of Vice-admiral Rombulow Pearse. He died on 7 Apr 1929. The second son, FREDERICK WILLIAM (1861-1925), was born at Plymouth, and practised law at Auckland, Taumarunui and in Otago. He was author of several legal textbooks (Police Court Practice and Procedure, The Family Lawyer, works on bankruptcy and Tales of Maoriland). He died on 27 Feb 1925.

G.B.C.P. 1845/247; D.N.B.; Shortland, op. cit.; Scholefield, Hobson; A. Mackay; N.Z. Herald, 19 Oct 1889, 28 Feb 1925.

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Willoughby Shortland

Willoughby Shortland

SHORTLAND, WILLOUGHBY (1804-69) was the eldest son of Captain T. G. Shortland, R.N., and brother of Dr Edward Shortland (q.v.) and Vice-admiral Peter F. Shortland. Educated at the Royal Naval College, he entered the service in Jan 1818. A lieutenant in 1828, he served in the Galatea, 42 guns, and the Ranger, 28 guns (on the Jamaica station). After some years in the Mediterranean, he was mate in the Blanche on the South American station. As acting-lieutenant of the Victor, he served under Captain Hobson (q.v.) in the West Indies and nursed him through an attack of yellow fever. Promoted lieutenant, and appointed (1831) to command the schooner Skipjack, five guns, he served until he was invalided home (Jun 1833). His period of inactivity lasted until Hobson took him out to New Zealand in 1838. Gipps gave him the appointment of police magistrate in New Zealand; but soon after landing he was acting as the principal government official. During Hobson's illness he assumed the authority of the Governor and visited the far north to obtain signatures to the Treaty. When a separate government was established (1841) Shortland was Colonial Secretary, and he spent three months at Port Nicholson displaying "the dignity and importance of the Crown" and establishing a proper administration. Shortland and other officials were reprimanded by the Colonial Office for taking improper advantage of the privilege of purchasing lands in the Colony.

On Hobson's death (Sep 1842) Shortland became administrator. Embarrassed throughout by native troubles and financial perplexities, he had the temerity to govern without the assistance of the Legislative Council, which was not convened during his administration. He tried to raise money in New South Wales, at 15 per cent. interest, and when that failed he resorted to the expedient of issuing bills on the British Treasury. These were dishonoured, but the Colonial Office advanced an equal amount to enable the Colony to carry on. Shortland's relations with the colonists were characterised by high-handedness and lack of sympathy; but he cannot be accused of lack of vigour following the affair at Wairau, and he managed to restrain the settlers, who resented his strictures and appealed to New South Wales for assistance. FitzRoy, arriving at the end of 1843, treated Shortland rather more brusquely than he deserved, and he resigned, making way for Andrew Sinclair, who had come to the Colony with FitzRoy. Shortland returned to England. He was appointed in 1845 president of the island of Nevis (West Indies), and in 1854 governor of Tobago. This post he held until 1856, when he retired to live in Devonshire. In 1864 he was gazetted a commander on the retired list. He died on 7 Oct 1869. Shortland married at Auckland (1841) Isabella Kate Johnston, daughter of Robert A. Fitzgerald (q.v.) of Geraldine, county Limerick.

G.B.C.P., 1841/311, 1842/566, 1845/108, 1846/337; D.N.B.; Sinclair Papers; N.Z. Gaz.; Wakefield; Rusden; Saunders; Sherrin and Wallace (p); Scholefield, Hobson; Harrop; Thomson.

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Walter Shrimpton

Walter Shrimpton

SHRIMPTON, WALTER (1842-1936) was born in England, and arrived in Canterbury in the Charlotte Jane (Dec 1850). After farming with his brother for a short time he moved to the North Island and took up virgin land in the Matapiro block, Hawkes Bay. He established a fine herd of red deer (from the South Island) in 1876. He broke in this country and farmed it with great tenacity and perseverance. In later life he took an energetic part in public affairs, serving for many years on most of the local bodies in his district. He was chairman of the Okawa road board and afterwards represented the Okawa riding in the Hawkes Bay county for many years (being often elected chairman). He was an early trustee of the Napier hospital and represented the county on the united Hawkes Bay charitable aid trustees from 1898 until 1909, when the Hawkes Bay hospital board was formed. He was a member of that body (1909-27), and chairman (1909-22). During 30 years of participation in hospital administration he made many handsome gifts, including the Shrimpton ward, which was built in 1913, destroyed by earthquake in 1931 and rebuilt. He presented to Hastings hospital the first radio equipment so installed in New Zealand. From 1910-27 he was on the committee of the Parke Island old people's home and chairman many years. Shrimpton was for a while a member of the East Coast native land trust, an official of the Hawkes Bay A. and P. association and an officebearer of the Hawkes Bay Jockey club. He died on 25 Jul 1936. He was twice married. (See F. D. RICH.)

Playne; Hawkes Bay Herald and Daily Telegraph, 26 Jul 1936.

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Samuel Edward Shrimski

Samuel Edward Shrimski

SHRIMSKI, SAMUEL EDWARD (1828-1902) was born at Posen, Prussian Poland, and received his early education there. He was then for 12 years in London engaged in mercantile life, and at the end of the fifties emigrated to Melbourne. He entered into one of the gold rushes and in 1861 came to Otago and settled at Oamaru as draper and storekeeper. He was in partnership with Joseph Moss until 1870, when he carried on alone as auctioneer and Government land agent. He became very prominent in the life of the community, being a borough councillor (1868) and mayor of Oamaru (1871), the originator and first chairman of the Waitaki High School (1879-82), a member of the education board and the harbour board, treasurer of the hospital trustees and a founder of the Athenaeum. He represented Waitaki in Parliament (1876-81) and Oamaru (1881-85). On retiring from the House of Representatives he was called to the Legislative Council, of which he was a member until his death (on 25 Jun 1902). Shrimski married Deborah, daughter of W. H. Neumegen (Auckland).

N.Z.P.D., 1876-1902 (notably 1 Jul 1902); K. C. McDonald (p); Cycl. N.Z., iv; Parltry Record; Otago Daily Times and N.Z. Herald, 26 Jun 1902. Portrait: Parliament House.

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John Sibbald

John Sibbald

SIBBALD, JOHN (1822-92) was born in Aberdeen and came to Otago in the Clutha in 1852. Entering into business in Dunedin as a tailor, he afterwards took over the Provincial Hotel, which he let to tenants. Sibbald represented the City of Dunedin in the Provincial Council (1867-70). He died on 7 Sep 1892.

Otago Daily Times, 4 Oct 1892

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David Sidey

David Sidey

SIDEY, DAVID (1827-1914) was born at Pitcairn Green, near Perth, Scotland, and was a United Presbyterian minister at West Calder before coming to New Zealand in 1872 as minister of St Paul's church in Napier. In 1879 he was moderator of the Assembly and in 1883 he retired from active duty at St Paul's. He afterwards became clerk and treasurer of the General Assembly, and clerk of the Hawke's Bay Presbytery. Sidey took a great interest in education as secretary and treasurer of the Napier High Schools board of governors and a member of the Hawke's Bay education board. He died on 25 Jul 1914.

Dickson; Hawkes Bay Herald, 26 Jul 1914.

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Thomas Kay Sidey

Thomas Kay Sidey

SIDEY, SIR THOMAS KAY (1863-1933) was born in Dunedin, and was a son of John Sidey, who arrived in the Blundell (1848). He received his early education at Napier and at Barrett's collegiate school in Dunedin, the Otago Boys' High School (1876-81) and Otago University. (B.A. 1885; LL.B. 1889.) He was for some time in a law office and then practised law. Sidey took an early interest in politics. He contested the Caversham seat against Morrison in 1896, and on Morrison's death in 1901 he won it against five opponents (including Earnshaw, Bedford, Hally and J. J. Meikle). He retained the seat continuously (as Dunedin South after 1908) till retiring from the House in 1928. Sidey was a consistent Liberal and a supporter of Seddon and Ward. His efforts in politics were mainly directed towards the enactment of measures of law reform and of his daylight saving proposal. In 1909 he introduced a bill which proposed to extend the daylight time for one hour during the summer months. Each year his summer-time bill was brought in and secured a first reading, but failed to make any further progress, the main opposition coming from the country districts. In 1915 it passed the House after an all-night sitting, but the Legislative Council rejected it. In 1926 it had the same treatment. In 1927 it was passed by both Houses, but with a proviso that it should operate for one year only. In 1928 it was reenacted, but the period of extension was reduced from an hour to half an hour; and in the following year the act became permanent. Sidey brought into Parliament also proposals regarding indeterminate sentences, the control of legal training and of dentists (involving the sound establishment of the Otago Dental School), and the registration of music teachers. He was deputy-leader of the Liberal opposition prior to the election of 1928 and on the accession of the Liberal party to office, having been called to the Legislative Council, he became Attorney-general and Minister of Justice. In this capacity he completed the daylight-saving legislation, and carried out many measures of law reform, including the establishment of a council of legal education. In 1930 he attended the Imperial Conference with the Prime Minister, and he was responsible for the inclusion in the Statute of Westminster of the clause exempting New Zealand from its operation except in so far as the Parliament of New Zealand might enact. In 1931 he resigned his portfolios in order to enable the Prime Minister to form a coalition cabinet. He was knighted in 1930.

Sidey was a member of the Caversham borough council (1892-1902) and mayor (1894, 1899 and 1901). He was a member of the school committee (1890-1901) and president of the Dunedin and Suburban school committees' association (1893); a governor of the Otago High Schools (1901-02 and 1905-29), and chairman (1914-19); a member of the council of Knox College; and of the council of Otago University, of which he was vice-chancellor (1921-25), and chancellor (1925-33). As a member of the senate of the New Zealand University he was specially associated with the movement to grant theological degrees. Sidey was associated with many public bodies and associations and public companies. He married (1903) Helena, daughter of David Baxter (Dunedin). His death occurred on 22 May 1933.

N.Z.P.D.; Otago Daily Times, 23 May 1933; Who's Who N.Z., 1908, 1932; Sidey, A Record Of Public Service (1933).

Portrait: Parliament House.

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Margaret Home Sievwright

Margaret Home Sievwright

SIEVWRIGHT, MARGARET HOME (1843-1905) was born at Pencaitland, North Berwick, Scotland, the daughter of John Richardson, later of Riversdale, County Chateauguay, Canada. In girlhood she devoted her attention to teaching the waifs and strays of Edinburgh. Trained as a nurse under Florence Nightingale, she served for some years in hospitals, and in the seventies came to New Zealand. In 1878 she married William Sievwright (d. 1909), a solicitor who had been practising in Lerwick, Shetland Islands. They settled in Wellington (on the invitation of Sir Robert Stout, whose Wellington office he joined), and afterwards moved to Dunedin. In 1883 they removed to Gisborne, where they lived for the rest of her life. In spite of frail health Mrs Sievwright took a strenuous part in social movements, temperance work and the franchise campaign. She was founder of the National Council of Women, and president till her death (on 9 Mar 1905). Every aspect of women's life had her full sympathy, as much after the gaining of the franchise as before. She believed that political power could only be exercised advantageously if women were fully educated for the duty. She was enthusiastic in organisations for the benefit of child life, and was for many years a member of the Waiapu licensing bench. Naturally averse to public activities, she nevertheless exerted her whole influence on behalf of women.

Evening Post, 8 Jun 1905; Jessie Mackay in Woman To-day, May 1937; Poverty Bay Herald, 9 Mar 1905.

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William Alexander Sim

William Alexander Sim

SIM, SIR WILLIAM ALEXANDER (1858-1928) was born at Wanganui, and educated at Wanganui Collegiate School. Articled to C. H. Borlase (1872), he completed his term in 1877, and in the following year proceeded to Dunedin, where he was employed as chief common law clerk to Sievwright and Stout. In 1879 he was admitted to the bar, and a few years later became a partner in the firm of Stout, Mondy and Sim. Sim was chairman of the first conciliation board in Dunedin under the industrial conciliation and arbitration act. In 1907 he was appointed judge of the Arbitration Court and in 1911 of the Supreme Court. In 1913 he was designated to the Otago and Southland district. He was chairman of the taxation royal commission (1923-25).

Sim was a founder of the Dunedin cremation society (and later president), a trustee of the Dunedin Art Gallery society, chairman of the prisons board and a supporter of the Patients' and Prisoners' Aid society. His legal publications include: Divorce Act and Rules of New Zealand (1892 and 1902) and (with Sir Robert Stout) The Practice of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal of New Zealand. He married (1886) Frances Mary, daughter of Joseph Walters (Victoria). He was knighted in 1924 and died on 29 Aug 1928.

N.Z. Law Jour., Apr 1928; Evening Post and Otago Daily Times, 28 Jan 1907, 30 Aug 1928 (p); The Dominion, 31 Aug 1928. Portrait: Supreme Court, Dunedin.

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Charles Simeon

Charles Simeon

SIMEON, CHARLES (1816-67) was a son of Sir R. G. Simeon, 2nd baronet. He held a commission in the 75th Regiment, from which he retired with the rank of captain. Simeon married Sarah Jane, daughter of Philip Williams. Having retired from the army he became associated with the movement for the colonisation of Canterbury and when W. G. Brittan sailed for New Zealand (in 1850) he was appointed chairman of the Society of Canterbury Colonists. Arriving in New Zealand the following year, he relieved J. R. Godley as resident magistrate for Lyttelton and Christchurch. He was commissioner of police for Lyttelton (1853), and sheriff for the province. From 1853 to 1855 he represented Christchurch Country in the Provincial Council, acting as speaker throughout. Simeon was a captain in the New Zealand militia. He died on 29 May 1867.

Canterbury P.C. Proc.; Godley, Letters; Canterbury Papers; Burke, Peerage, 1938; Wigram.

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Joseph Simmonds

Joseph Simmonds

SIMMONDS, JOSEPH (1819-89) came to Nelson in the Fifeshire in 1842 and settled at Spring Grove, where he took up a bush farm. He represented Waimea South in the Provincial Council (1857-69). Simmonds died on 7 Jul 1889. (See J. H. SIMMONDS)

Nelson P.C. Proc.; The Colonist, 8 Jul 1889.

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Joseph Henry Simmonds

Joseph Henry Simmonds

SIMMONDS, JOSEPH HENRY (1845-1936) was born at Spring Grove, Nelson, the son of Joseph Simmonds (q.v.). Educated in Nelson and at Canterbury College, he had some experience in farming, goldmining and school teaching before being accepted in 1869 as a minister of the Wesleyan Methodist church. He was stationed in Waikato (1869-70), in Fiji (1871-73) and thereafter in various New Zealand circuits till 1894. In 1895 he was president of the New Zealand Methodist conference and assumed control of Three Kings College, of which he was principal till 1916. He was a governor of the Theological Institution (1896-1910) and of the Auckland University College Council. Simmonds studied trees and forestry very deeply and published (1927) an important book on eucalypts in New Zealand. He died on 30 Jun 1936.

Who's Who N.Z., 1908, 1932; N.Z. Herald, 1 Jul 1936 (p); Otago Daily Times, 3 Aug 1933 (p).

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Frank Churchill Simmons

Frank Churchill Simmons

SIMMONS, FRANK CHURCHILL (1829-76) was born in Guernsey, the son of Captain F. F. Simmons, R.A., and was educated at Rugby under Dr Tait and at Lincoln College, Oxford, where he graduated M.A. He was ordained to the ministry and for some years conducted a large school at Dundee. In 1863 he was appointed rector of the Otago Boys' High School, and he took up the post in May 1864. He was very popular, and excelled as a teacher of English history and classics, but his opinions brought him into controversy. In writing to the Bishop of Brechin, he criticised the religious organisations of the province with a freedom which caused widespread offence when his letter was published. As a result of the ensuing controversy, Simmons resigned in 1867 and was appointed to Nelson College (1868). There also he was very successful as a teacher, especially of English language and literature. He took a leading part in the movement to make university education available to students in the provinces, and proposed in 1865 that scholarships should be established by the Government to enable New Zealanders to attend universities in England. A select committee of Parliament approved the proposal, but R. Campbell proposed the creation of a university, which was provided for by a provincial ordinance of Otago (1869).

Simmons died suddenly on 16 May 1876. He had considerable literary ability and a graceful style. He contributed to the Otago Daily Times and for some time edited the Colonist. A biographer wrote that "it fell to him to realise the undeniable hardness of colonial life and society."

Nelson Coll. Reg.; Otago HS. Reg.; Otago Daily Times, 1 Dec 1870, 5 Jun 1876; The Colonist, 16 May 1876; Beaglehole.

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William Henry Simms

William Henry Simms

SIMMS, WILLIAM HENRY (1834-92) was born at Hamburg, Germany, of English parents. He married Miss Dunnage. On coming to New Zealand he took up the Albury run in south Canterbury. While there he was a member of the Canterbury Provincial Council (for Waitangi 1862-64; Timaru, 1864-65). For some years Simms was a music teacher in Christchurch (where he was leader of the Liedertafel); and in 1887 he established a commission agency. He was German consul. He died on 8 Jul 1892.

The Press, 9 Jul 1892

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Robert Kirkpatrick Simpson

Robert Kirkpatrick Simpson

SIMPSON, ROBERT KIRKPATRICK (1837-1921) was born in Argyllshire, Scotland, educated privately at Morven, and brought up to sheepfarming. Coming to New Zealand in 1859 by the Queen of the Avon, he engaged in sheepfarming at Turakina. In 1862 he purchased Closeburn, Bonny Glen, where he remained unmolested by the Maoris during the war. In 1878 he bought land at Hunterville and began clearing it. For 26 years Simpson was inspector of sheep for Rangitikei and the West Coast, rising to senior inspector for the Colony. He was a member of the highway board from 1863 until it was abolished, when he was elected to the Rangitikei county council, of which he was treasurer for many years. He was a witness before the federation commission (1901) and sat in the Legislative Council (1914-21). He died on 5 Aug 1921. His wife was a daughter of Alexander Grant (1808-97), of Inverness, who arrived in New Zealand in 1840 and in Rangitikei 1846.

N.Z.P.D., 23 Sep 1921; J. G. Wilson; Cycl. N.Z., i. Portrait: Parliament House.

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Andrew Sinclair

Andrew Sinclair

SINCLAIR, ANDREW (1796-1861) was born at Paisley, of a family engaged in trade in the town. He got a sound Scots education, and in 1814 commenced his medical studies at Glasgow College. He was there and at Edinburgh until 1818; took a course in the hospitals in Paris, and in 1822 was appointed assistant surgeon in the Royal Navy. In 1823, while on the Cape station in the Owen Glendower, he did his first botanical work, and sent specimens to the British Museum. He spent 10 years at the Cape and in the Mediterranean and, after taking further lectures in medicine, was posted (1835) to the Sulphur for Beechey's expedition in South America.

This duty gave him many opportunities for scientific investigation, and he sent home specimens from Mexico, Central America, California, and Brazil. Early in 1839 he was invalided from Central America. He was in Great Britain for the next year or two, but was at Bay of Islands in 1841, when he accompanied Hooker on some of his botanical ramblings. In 1842 he returned to Scotland and reported upon openings for investment in Sydney. Either at this time or soon after Sinclair presented to the British Museum such a fine collection of shells and insects that Dr John E. Gray was encouraged to commence his first scientifically-arranged catalogue. Thereafter scarcely a year passed but Sinclair made some gift or sale of importance to the Museum from his discoveries in New Zealand. Early in 1843 Sinclair was posted as surgeon to the convict ship Asiatic, conveying convicts to Tasmania. Having landed his people at Hobart (Sep), he signed off and proceeded to Sydney with the object of getting a passage back to England. There he met Captain Robert FitzRoy, R.N., on his way to New Zealand to assume the governorship. He discussed the prospects of doing exploration work and FitzRoy agreed to bring him, without pay.

The officer whom FitzRoy had intended to make Colonial Secretary was sick from wounds received exploring in Australia, and during the voyage to Auckland in the Bangalore FitzRoy made up his mind to utilise the services of Sinclair. In Jan 1844, he persuaded him to accept office as Colonial Secretary, with membership of the Legislative Council. Sinclair was not only a man of wide experience, he was a shrewd business man, and a sagacious and cautious adviser. Within a year trouble broke out at Bay of Islands, and Sinclair accompanied FitzRoy to the scene. On his advice the flagstaff was re-erected when Heke cut it down. Sinclair worked cordially with the Attorney-General (Swainson) and the Chief Justice (Martin), both firm friends of the Maori. He had to inaugurate a civil service for the Colony with the material at hand. His immediate colleague was Shepherd (q.v.), the Colonial Treasurer, but his subordinates he had to choose and train. When he resigned 12 years later there was the nucleus of a really efficient service, with men like G. S. Cooper and Gisborne in key positions. FitzRoy and Grey both treated Sinclair as their personal adviser and took his advice in their own investments.

The development of responsible government involved the retirement of the three permanent officials whose appointments were made by the Home government, and the Governor refused to accept the reform until their pensions had been provided for. This having been done in the session of 1856, Sinclair retired on pension and devoted the rest of his life to scientific pursuits. He proceeded at once on a visit to Scotland and Europe. He already had an established name in the scientific world through his gifts to the British Museum and his botanical contributions to Beechey's voyage; and in 1851 he had contributed to Hooker's Journal of Botany some notes on the vegetation of Auckland. He had discussed scientific matters with Darwin and Huxley, and had had correspondence with Owen from 1847. Late in 1858 he returned to New Zealand with the intention of gathering material for Hooker's Flora in one or two districts that had not been covered. Hooker referred frequently to Sinclair's herbarium, and did him the honour of naming a genus after him.

In 1859 Sinclair was elected a fellow of the Linnean Society. His journals show that he botanised in the vicinity of Whangarei and Manukau, in Otago and Southland, and in the Nelson and Marlborough districts. In Hooker's Flora it appears that he sent specimens from East Cape, Auckland, Bay of Islands, Great Barrier and Waiheke, Whangaroa, Nelson, D'Urville Island, Wairau, the Dun mountain and Tarndale (where he ascended to a crater at a height of 6,000 feet). Hooker considered Colenso the foremost botanical explorer in New Zealand at that time, with Sinclair second as a man of great attainments in many ways. Early in 1861 Sinclair was in Canterbury for the purpose of accompanying von Haast on his exploration of the Southern Alps. On 20 Mar they made their headquarters at Samuel Butler's station, Mesopotamia. On 22 Mar they set off up the Lawrence, a tributary of the Rangitata, and were about to proceed to its source when Sinclair volunteered to return to Mesopotamia to collate specimens. On 26 Mar he was travelling with another member of the party on foot. Attempting to cross a stream, he lost his footing and was swept away. The body was discovered next day and buried at Mesopotamia. Von Haast gave the name of Sinclair to a peak (7,022 feet) at the head of Forest Creek. A fine collection of specimens obtained by Sinclair and mounted by his nieces was shown by Sir George Grey at the Dunedin Exhibition (1865) and presented to Sydney University.

Sinclair died possessed of considerable property. He was a Christian gentleman of high principle, a generous philanthropist, and had been a liberal supporter of the Presbyterian church of St Andrew's, of which he was one of the founders. He was an originator of the Auckland museum (1853). He was unmarried. (See T. B. GILLIES)

N.Z.P.D., 1854-56; App. H.R., ib.; Canterbury Gaz.; Admiralty Records; Sinclair papers (General Assembly Library); family information from Dr Sinclair Gillies (Sydney); Beechey, Voyage of the Sulphur; Cant. O.N.; Bunbury; Gisborne; Saunders; Thomson; Rusden; Shortland; Cheeseman, Manual of N.Z. Flora, p. xxvii; Hochstetter; Hooker; Cox; H. F. Jones; H. T. Kemp in N.Z. Herald, 16 Mar 1901; Lyttelton Times, 3 Apr 1861; G. H. Scholefield in Evening Post, 29 Sep 1934 (p); N.Z. Herald, 7 Apr 1894.

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Donald Sinclair

Donald Sinclair

SINCLAIR, DONALD (1802-71), a farmer, who claimed to have been in the army, came to New Zealand in 1843 by the Phoebe Dunbar. In 1844 he was appointed chief police magistrate for Nelson and representative of the Government under the Superintendent of the Southern division. In the following year he became commissioner of the court of requests, and later magistrate, which he resigned in 1847. Sinclair was a member of the Nelson Provincial Council (for Nelson 1853-57, and for Wairau 1858-59) and was speaker of the Council from 1853-57. He died on 13 Sep 1871.

Broad; Mackay.

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Francis Sinclair

Francis Sinclair

SINCLAIR, FRANCIS (1797-1846) was the son of George Sinclair, of Prestonpans, Scotland (belonging to a Caithness branch). His father was a master mariner, and Francis shared some of his experiences in the French war. In 1824 he married Elizabeth McHutcheson. For some years he was a supervisor of the inland revenue at Stirling, and as the family increased he decided to emigrate. In 1840 he sailed with his wife and children in the Blenheim, arriving at Port Nicholson in Feb 1841. The land they had bought not being yet available, they took employment where it offered for a year or two. At the suggestion of Colonel Wakefield Sinclair visited Wanganui, taking his family in a whale boat and landing each night to sleep ashore.

Disappointed there, they leased a section from Fitzherbert at Richmond, on the Hutt river, and built the schooner Richmond, 45 tons. After visiting Taranaki they called at Nelson, Banks Peninsula, Waikouaiti and Otago. In 1843 Sinclair took the Deans family to Canterbury and his own family and the Hays to Banks Peninsula. Selling the Richmond to W. B. Rhodes for 30 cattle, they settled at Pigeon Bay, where they worked hard to establish themselves on their farm (Craigforth), milking cows and making butter and cheese for the Wellington market. Selwyn, Grey and Godley enjoyed the hospitality of their home, and admired their industry and courage. The Sinclairs built several schooners, and had one trading between Banks Peninsula and Wellington. In 1845 Sinclair and his son George sailed for Wellington with their farm produce in a new schooner, the Jessie Millar, which was lost at sea with all hands.

The eldest daughter, Jean Robertson, married Captain Thomas Gay; and the second, Helen McHutcheson, married C. B. Robinson (q.v.). A few years later Mrs Sinclair decided to look for a more promising country to settle her family. With this object they embarked in the Bessie, commanded by Gay, and visited several Pacific islands. In 1863 they spent a few months in Vancouver Island, but finding the climate too severe, they returned to Hawaii and eventually bought from Kamehameha IV the island of Niihau, containing about 70,000 acres. There they settled (Oct 1863). Some time later they purchased a similar area on Kauai, where Mrs Sinclair established her home and resided till her death in 1893. The family successfully developed their estate as a sheep and cattle station, and later as a cattle ranch and sugar plantation. (See C. B. ROBINSON, FRANCIS SINCLAIR)

Family information from Aylmer F. Robinson, W. McHutcheson, Eric Knudsen and H. C. Tennent; Cant. O.N.; Godley, Letters; Guthrie Hay; J. Hay; Deans; Woodhouse; Isabella Bishop, Hawaiian Archipelago, 1875.

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Francis Sinclair

Francis Sinclair

SINCLAIR, FRANCIS (1834-1915), the son of Captain Francis Sinclair (q.v.), was born in Scotland and came to New Zealand with his parents (1840). He went to Hawaii with his mother (1863). Later he owned a sheep station in the North Island of New Zealand, and resided in Auckland. Returning to California before 1906, he afterwards resided in England. Sinclair married first Isabella, sister of William McHutcheson. She wrote a valuable book on the indigenous flowers of the Hawaiian islands (illustrated by her own paintings), and was engaged on a further volume when she died. He afterwards married her sister, Wilhelmina McHutcheson Sheriffs.

Sinclair himself wrote Ballads and Poems from the Pacific (pseud. "Philip Garth") (1885); Where the Sun Sets (1905); Under North Star and Southern Cross (1907); From the Four Winds (1909); and Under Western Skies (1911). He died in 1915.

Family information Aylmer F. Robinson; Sinclair, op. cit.

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James Sinclair

James Sinclair

SINCLAIR, JAMES (1817-97) was born at Lybster, Caithness, Scotland. With his wife and children he came to New Zealand in the Agra (1852), and soon afterwards removed from Wellington to Nelson, where he opened a store. In 1852 he settled at Wairau, where he had built for himself the first wooden house. Sinclair soon became on friendly terms with the natives with whom he did business and for many years he acted as merchant and banker for runholders. He was generally regarded as the founder of Blenheim, which he represented in the Marlborough Provincial Council when it was still called Beaver (1860-62). He continued in the Council for Upper Wairau (1862-63) and for Lower Wairau (1864-65, and 1869-74). Sinclair was largely responsible for the separation of Marlborough from Nelson, and later for fixing the capital at Blenheim instead of Picton. He married (1850) Christina (d. 1895), daughter of John Sutherland. His death occurred on 9 Aug 1897.

Marlborough P.C. minutes; Cycl. NZ, v (p); Buick, Marlborough; Marlborough Express, 24 Dec 1895, 10 Aug 1897.

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Charles Perrin Skerrett

Charles Perrin Skerrett

SKERRETT, SIR CHARLES PERRIN (1863-1929) was born in India, came to New Zealand with his father (Peter Perrin Skerrett) at the age of 12, and was educated in Wellington. His first position was that of telegraph messenger. He was a cadet in the Treasury in 1878, and on 6 Mar 1879 became a cadet in the Justice department. It was as a clerk in the magistrate's court in Wellington that he first learned something of law and the necessity for strict attention to detail. His father, who was messenger and court crier, was advised to read law, and he and his son were admitted to the bar about the same time.

Skerrett served his articles with Bell, Lewis and Gully, and having passed in all subjects first in his year, he was admitted as a barrister and solicitor in 1884. He commenced practice on his own account, quickly gained the reputation of being a powerful pleader, and was noted for the facility and lucidity with which he presented complicated cases. From 1887-93 he was a member of the firm of Brown, Skerrett and Dean. In 1893 he retired from the partnership, and in 1894 he was joined by Andrew Wylie. From this partnership (Skerrett and Wylie) by amalgamation with the business of Chapman and Tripp, evolved the firm of Chapman, Skerrett, Wylie and Tripp which, in 1913 (on the retirement of Martin Chapman, KC, and Andrew Wylie) became Chapman, Skerrett, Tripp and Blair. When the dignity of King's Counsel was created in New Zealand (1907) Skerrett was one of the first on whom it was conferred. He retained his connection with Chapman, Skerrett, Tripp and Blair until Feb 1926, when he was appointed Chief Justice in succession to Sir Robert Stout. During his career at the bar Skerrett was connected with many important cases before the Court of Appeal and the Privy Council, and as counsel in numerous election petitions, including those of Thomas Wilford (Hutt), Maui Pomare (Western Maori) and James Parr (Eden). For many years he was regarded as the leader of the bar, although Sir Francis Bell was his senior. None excelled him in the power of concentration. He possessed a remarkably quick mind, and an unusually comprehensive grasp of the principles of law. As Chief Justice he maintained the high standard he had set at the bar and strengthened the reputation and standing of the Supreme Court bench. He was knighted in 1927.

Skerrett's interests outside the profession were numerous. He was an expert horseman and a keen polo player. He was captain of the Wellington Polo club before it disbanded in 1906, and played in many tournaments. He was deputy-master of the United Hunt club, and once won the Hunt steeples on his own horse, Halicore. He was a vice-president of the Wellington Racing club, and as a member of the New Zealand Racing conference he took a leading part in framing the rules and regulations. He was a keen fisherman and golfer, and delighted in deer-stalking. At one time he played for the Poneke football club. He was also a patron of Association football, and president of the New Zealand football association (to which he presented the Skerrett Cup for competition among secondary schools). He was president of the New Zealand Sports Protection league, the New Zealand Welfare league and the Licensing Reform association, and he served several terms as president of the Wellington and the Wellesley clubs. His wit, charm and felicity of expression stamped him as a fine after-dinner speaker. He was several times president of the Wellington district law society, and from 1918-26 was president of the New Zealand law society. He was also for many years a member of the Rhodes Scholarship selection committee. Skerrett was unmarried. He died on 13 Feb 1929.

N.Z. Law Jour., 5 Mar 1929; Beauchamp; The Times, 18 Feb 1929; Evening Post, 13 Feb 1929.

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John Skevington

John Skevington

SKEVINGTON, JOHN (1814-45) was born at Nottingham and entered the Wesleyan ministry in 1839. He was appointed to minister to the tribes on the West Coast about 1844, his headquarters being at Heretoa, on the Waimate plains. He persuaded the Ngati-Ruanui to return the prisoners taken at Patoka from the Ngati-Tuwharetoa taua which had invaded their territory. On one of his visits to Auckland Skevington was accompanied by Titokowaru, who was baptised, with the name of Hohepa. Skevington's influence against land selling was considerable. He died suddenly at Auckland on 21 Sep 1845, after preaching in connection with a district meeting.

Morley; E. J. Wakefield, Adventure, ii, 345.

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Samuel Skey

Samuel Skey

SKEY, SAMUEL (1817-61), a boatman, sat in the Provincial Council as member for Wellington City (1856-57). His election, as a representative of the working class, caused much controversy at the time. He died on 22 Aug 1861.

Ward; The Spectator, 25 Oct 1856; Wellington Independent, 23 Oct 1856.

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William Skey

William Skey

SKEY, WILLIAM (1835-1900) was the son of a London lawyer who died while he was an infant. He worked on a farm, and under the influence of one of his guardians, who had leisure and means to pursue the hobby, he made a study of chemistry. He erected a laboratory on the farm to test manures. On another place he experimented in distilling spirits from beetroot, and for three years operated a still, but at a financial loss. In 1860 he came to New Zealand with his brother Henry, spent two years bushfelling and mining at Gabriel's Gully, and in 1862 was appointed laboratory assistant to Hector in the geological survey of Otago. There he pursued his studies under the analyst (Charles Searles Wood, A.R.S.M., F.C.S.), whom he succeeded in charge of the laboratory. In 1865 he was transferred to Wellington as assistant in the Geological Survey department, from which he was transferred in 1893 to the Mines department. Skey made discoveries in metallurgy and chemistry which were of great value to the mining industry. He contributed many scientific papers to the Philosophical Society and the Chemical News, and published also a volume of verse The Pirate Chief and Other Poems. He died on 4 Oct 1900.

Trans. N.Z. Inst., pass.; Cycl. N.Z., i (p); family information; Evening Post, 4 Oct 1900.

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William Slade

William Slade

SLADE, WILLIAM (1859-1916) was born in Staffordshire and came to New Zealand in 1878. He was accepted for training in Three Kings College for the Methodist ministry. He worked amongst the Maori people at Raglan (1881-83), at Tauranga (1884) and Port Chalmers (1885). Slade married (1885) Margaret Jean Gilmour. In 1886 he went as a missionary to Fiji and for 17 years worked with initiative and indomitable energy. He was revered by the natives as a champion of their rights and honoured by the Europeans for his dauntless courage. He returned to New Zealand in 1902, and spent a year in deputation work on behalf of missions (inaugurating the Methodist women's missionary union). In 1907 he was president of the Methodist conference and was appointed to superintend the Dunedin Methodist central mission. Here he initiated the movement to build the Octagon Hall. His visit to England to seek assistance for this work was interrupted by the war. Ultimately he brought it to fruition but overtaxed his strength and his health broke down. He was a man of genius, an eminent churchman and a great administrator. He died on 20 Apr 1916.

M.A.; R.P.

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Robert Slater

Robert Slater

SLATER, ROBERT (1850-1931) was born at Lamplough, Cumberland, his father being manager of a co-operative society. Educated at the parish schools at Frizington and Cleator, he worked for some years with a stonemason, in a mine and in a grain store. He commenced business as a carrier in 1872 and in 1879 came to Otago. Finding his first employment on railway construction, he organised the workers into a union (1880). From 1883 to 1901 he was employed in Dunedin in the clothing trade. He devoted much of his life to labour organisation and was one of the founders of the Otago trades and labour council, of which he was the first president (and secretary 1890-1902). During the maritime strike Slater was organiser, secretary and treasurer of the strike defence league. In June 1890 he discussed with J. A. Millar the establishment of a labour day demonstration in Dunedin; and after much opposition the first celebration was held there, resulting in a profit of £200 to help the miners at Denniston, who were then on strike. Slater was president and local secretary of the demonstration for some years. He represented the pressers at the conference held in 1908 to consider further organisation of unions and the drafting of rules for the trades council. He represented the workers on the Arbitration Court from 1896 to 1907, when he retired. For many years Slater was president and secretary of the Workers' Political committee. He was on the organising committee of the Dunedin tailoresses' union, which resulted from the revelations of the sweating inquiry. Slater was a strong Methodist and acted as a local preacher in Timaru and Dunedin circuits. He died on 15 Jul 1931.

Paul, Trades Unionism; N.Z. Methodist Times, Aug 1931; Otago Daily Times, 16 Jul 1931.

Reference: Volume 2, page 157

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Alexander Sligo

Alexander Sligo

SLIGO, ALEXANDER (1832-1909) was born in Perth, Scotland, attended the old Guild School and served his apprenticeship to the stationery and book-binding business. Emigrating to Melbourne in 1854, he followed his trade for some time, spent some years on the goldfields, and in 1863 crossed to Dunedin. There he established himself as a bookseller, stationer and binder (1871). In public life Sligo was for eight years a member of the Dunedin licensing committee (three years chairman), a member of the board of management of the Dunedin Technical School and chairman of the Dunedin school committee. Defeating H. S. Fish, he sat for a term in the House of Representatives as member for South Dunedin (1897-99). He died on 29 Nov 1909.

N.Z.P.D., 20 Dec 1909; Cycl. N.Z., iv (p); Who's Who N.Z., 1908; Otago Daily Times, 30 Nov 1909.

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Gideon Smales

Gideon Smales

SMALES, GIDEON (1817-94) was born at Whitby, Yorkshire. Inclined from his youth for mission work, he was accepted by the Wesleyan Methodist conference and ordained at Liverpool (1839). In Sep he sailed from Bristol in the Triton, 120 tons, and after calling at Hobart arrived at Hokianga in Mar 1840. Until 1856 he was engaged in mission work amongst the Maori. In the early forties he was stationed at Nelson and his duties took him to Wairau. There he discussed with Te Rauparaha and his chiefs the claim to the plain, and at Te Rauparaha's request took a message to Captain Wakefield stating definitely that he would resist seizure of the Wairau. After the affray he went to Wairau and later to Porirua, where he recovered from the Ngati-Toa chiefs Wakefield's cutter. On retiring from the mission (1856) Smales went to live on his land at East Tamaki, and in a few years had 300 acres under cultivation. He erected a stone church which was available for all denominations. At the opening of the Thames goldfields he erected at his own expense a home institute, partly as a shelter and partly as a place of worship and meeting of benevolent societies. The institute cost £4,000 and involved Smales in heavy loss. He was a man of superior mental attainments and cultured mind, and a fluent speaker. On one of his visits to England he published Whitby Authors and their Publications (1867), containing nine pages devoted to Captain Cook. He also published some pamphlets in New Zealand. Smales died on 5 Oct 1894.

Smales, Op. cit., and reminiscences in N.Z. Herald, 11 Mar, 1 Apr, 10, 17 Jun, 9 Dec 1893; N.Z. Herald, 28 Apr, 14 Jul, 11 Aug, 6 Oct 1894.

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Alfred Lee Smith

Alfred Lee Smith

SMITH, ALFRED LEE (1838-1917), who was born in Yorkshire and educated privately, arrived in Wellington in 1868. Engaging in commerce in Dunedin, he became chairman of directors of Donaghy's Rope and Twine Co., and a director of the Union Steamship Co. In 1886 he was elected to the City Council, and in 1894 he represented New Zealand at the Ottawa conference on trade relations and telegraphic communications. From 1898 to 1905 Smith was a member of the Legislative Council. He died on 2 May 1917. Smith contested the parliamentary seat for Dunedin City in 1890 and for Bruce in 1892.

N.Z.P.D., 29 Jun 1917; Cycl. N.Z., iv; Who's Who N.Z., 1908; Otago Daily Times, 3 May 1917. Portrait: Parliament House.

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Angus Smith

Angus Smith

SMITH, ANGUS, served in the Crimean War with the 93rd Highlanders. After coming to New Zealand he saw service in the field for about three years between 1863 and 1869. Beginning as a colour-sergeant in the 1st Waikato Regiment, he took part in engagements at Mauku, Te Ranga, and Waireka. On 5 Jun 1869 (when he was a cornet in the Bay of Plenty Cavalry) he was one of the detachment of 14 camped at Opepe under Captain Moorsom. They were surprised by Te Kooti on the 7th and nine were killed. Smith escaped and made for Galatea, but was captured by Te Kooti's band, tied to a tree, and stripped of his clothing. After being in that position for four days without food or water, he escaped and proceeded to Fort Galatea where he arrived on hands and knees, having been 10 days without food or clothing and suffering from a wound in his foot. He was awarded the New Zealand Cross and was afterwards promoted captain. Smith died at Opotiki on 3 Apr 1902.

N.Z. Army Records; Cowan; Gudgeon.

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Benjamin Smith

Benjamin Smith

SMITH, BENJAMIN (1815-93) was born at Liverpool, where he was in business as a printer and publisher till 1853, when he sailed for Wellington. He was farming for some time in Rangitikei, and then returned to Wellington and was employed by W. W. Taylor. He sat in the Wellington Provincial Council as member for Rangitikei (1867-69). In 1871 he established himself as a land and estate agent. He died on 24 Dec 1893.

Ward; Evening Post, 27 Dec 1893.

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Edward Metcalfe Smith

Edward Metcalfe Smith

SMITH, EDWARD METCALFE (1839-1907) was born at Cradley, Staffordshire, and educated there. At the age of 11 he commenced work in the steel and iron industry, but was later apprenticed to the gun trade in Birmingham. He passed as an armourer in the Royal Small Arms works in Pimlico and Enfield and at the Royal Woolwich Arsenal, gaining a first-class certificate. He then joined the New Zealand field force as a staff garrison armourer. Arriving in the Africa (1861), he was stationed in Auckland until 1864, and returned to England in the Himalaya. He came to New Zealand again in the Ironsides (1867) as armourer to the Colonial forces and was sent to Taranaki, where his wife and family were already settled. After being there some years he was consulted by the department on a project for establishing a small arms factory in Wellington. In 1872 he resigned his appointment to endeavour to arouse interest in the development of Taranaki ironsand. He gave lectures in Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington and New Plymouth and assisted in raising £30,000 capital for the Titanic Iron and Steel Co., of which T. K. Macdonald (q.v.) was secretary. Smith was appointed manager of the works at Henui (1873) and held that position for three years. After retiring he carried out some smelting in the furnaces, but the movement had no permanent success. He then turned his attention to coal and limestone and carried out some smelting at Vivian's foundry and at the harbour works at Moturoa. When Henderson, Ferguson and Mackie undertook the contract for constructing waterworks for New Plymouth Smith joined their staff and afterwards became turncock. His interest in ironsand continued, and he advocated also improving the harbour at New Plymouth by building a breakwater eastward from the island, a railway from Waitara and Mokau to connect with the Auckland system and a scheme to carry road metal from Mount Egmont.

Smith contested the New Plymouth seat against Samuel (q.v.) in 1884 and 1887, and in 1890 was elected for Taranaki, defeating John Elliot and R. C. Hughes. In 1893 he defeated Trimble, but in 1896, owing to the splitting of the Liberal vote, he suffered defeat by H. Brown (q.v.). Three years later he won the seat against H. Okey (q.v.) and he retained it until his death. Smith's faith in Taranaki ironsand was indomitable. In 1879 Macandrew commissioned him to cast disc railway wheels. In 1892 he again demonstrated at Onehunga the feasibility of smelting sand. In 1896 his supporters sent him to England, where he addressed the Iron and Steel Institute and interested many influential people, but without tangible result. In 1901 he again visited England in company with Sir Alfred Cadman (q.v.). The negotiations failed, but were resumed later by others. Meanwhile Smith's failing health suffered a severe shock by injuries received in a railway accident (1904). He died on 19 Apr 1907.

His son, SYDNEY GEORGE SMITH (1879-) was M.P. for Taranaki (1918-25) and for New Plymouth (1928-), and was Minister of Labour and Immigration (1930-31).

Cycl. N.Z., vi; Taranaki Herald, 2 Oct 1876, 20 Apr 1907; N.Z.P.D., 27 Jun 1907. Portrait: Parliament House.

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Francis Henry Smith

Francis Henry Smith

SMITH, FRANCIS HENRY (1868-1936) was born at Long Bay, Tasmania, and came to New Zealand with his parents, who were interested successively in the Rollesby, Mistake and Wolds stations in the Mackenzie country. Smith was educated at Burkes Pass and Timaru main school, and after spending a few years under his father bought Albury Park, held it for some years and then purchased Waratah, where he farmed for the remainder of his life. He was a competent flockmaster, exhibited sheep with success in many shows and exported stud sheep to South America. As a young man he was a fine athlete (440 yards hurdles and captain of the Mackenzie football club), and he was for a while lieutenant in the Mackenzie Mounted Rifles. He was a member of the Timaru harbour board and the High School board. He contested Timaru against Hall-Jones (1902) and Waitaki against Steward (1909), and was elected for the latter seat in 1911. Standing for Timaru in 1914, he was defeated by Craigie. Smith died on 17 Aug 1936.

Timaru Herald, 18 Aug 1936; The Press, 19 Aug 1936. Portrait: Parliament House.

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George Harold Smith

George Harold Smith

SMITH, GEORGE HAROLD (1866-1936) was born at Masterton, the son of J. Valentine Smith (q.v.), and was educated at Nelson (1875-76) and Wellington Colleges. He studied law privately while at Patea and was admitted in 1888, commencing to practice forthwith in Pahiatua, and becoming a barrister in 1900. He was a prominent footballer, having been a Wellington representative player at 17 and captained the first West Coast touring team and the Wairarapa team. He also played for Taranaki. He was prominent too as a boxer, sprinter and cricketer, and later in tennis and golf. Smith was mayor of Pahiatua 1893-94. In 1916 he defeated R. B. Ross at a parliamentary by-election and sat for Pahiatua until 1919, when he retired. Smith died on 21 Apr 1936. He married first Emmeline, daughter of E. Meredith (Masterton); and secondly (1925) Mrs. A. H. Blake (Wellington).

Cycl. NZ, i; Pahiatua Herald, 22 Apr 1936; The Dominion, 24 Apr 1936.

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Hugh Garden Seth Smith

Hugh Garden Seth Smith

SMITH, HUGH GARDEN SETH (1848-1935) was born at Balham, London, and educated at University College, London, and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took a scholarship (1870) and graduated B.A. in 1871 (as 14th wrangler in the mathematical tripos) and proceeded M.A. Called to the bar of the Inner Temple (1873) he came to New Zealand in 1881, and in the following year was appointed district judge and resident magistrate at Auckland. In 1887 he became chief judge of the native land court. Resigning in 1894 to visit England, he came back to private practice until 1904, when he was again appointed chief judge. Smith took a deep interest in education, science and church matters; was a member of the council of Auckland University College and the Grammar School board; first president of the Polynesian Society, and chancellor of the Anglican diocese of Auckland (1898-1925).

He married (1884) a daughter (d. 1887) of the Rev Frederick Larkins; and in 1897 Emily Mary, daughter of the Rev A. G. Purchas. He died on 24 Nov 1935.

Who's Who NZ, 1908, 1932; N.Z. Herald, 28 May 1904, 25 Nov 1935.

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James Chapman Smith

James Chapman Smith

SMITH, JAMES CHAPMAN (1827-1903) was born at Carnoustie, Forfarshire. His father died when he was an infant; his mother remarried and young Smith received the sound education of the parish school. He seems to have served his time in the bakery trade, for when the family sailed for New Zealand in 1842 in the ship New Zealand he was entered as a baker. Reaching Nelson in Nov, Smith remained there for six years earning a living by his hands and getting experience.

In 1848 he decided to throw in his lot with James Allan (q.v.), who had come in the same ship and was settling in Otago. Taking his passage in the schooner Emily, 12 tons, Smith had in the hold £120 worth of goods-boots, flour, onions, bricks and lime. Bad weather forced the schooner to shelter for three weeks in Akaroa, and it did not reach Dunedin until the end of May. Allan and Smith entered into partnership, and by Oct had their bakehouse working. Three months later the store was opened on the same site (Bullen's corner). Most of the timber was sawn at Port Chalmers and Anderson's Bay, carried on the shoulders to the beach, and rafted to the town. Later they obtained a whaleboat and they constructed a sawpit on the beach, where they earned a good sum by cutting logs for other settlers. They were rafting logs when the Blundell arrived. The partners by Dec 1849 were doing well, and Smith went to Nelson to buy supplies. While in Port Nicholson, he found the schooner Perseverance from Hobart, with 70 tons of flour and other goods. He purchased the whole of this flour and 30 tons out of another ship to be landed at Port Chalmers. The settlement was almost out of flour, and the bakery prospered. Smith married (1850) Margaret, sister of Edward Martin (Tokomairiro) and of the Hon John Martin (q.v.). A little later he chartered the schooner Otago, 70 tons, to collect supplies of produce at the southern ports. In 1851 the partners bought from John Jones 500 lambs at 10s per head, and sent them to Hopehill, East Taieri, where Smith took charge, Allan keeping on the store. Smith broke in bullocks, cleared and ploughed and sowed wheat, but before the harvest the partnership was dissolved. Allan took over the farm and Smith moved to the new district of Tokomairiro, where he bought the Springfield property (near the old town of Fairfax). There he harvested the first crop of wheat grown on the plain, threshed it with the flail, and sold it at 18s per bushel delivered at the head of Waihola lake. There was no road through the plain and Smith co-operated with other settlers to form a track from Tokomairiro to the lake which could be traversed by bullock drays. He was henceforth constantly carting to and from Clutha, and about 1856 (in company with Allan) he went to Riverton and drove back 30 head of cattle purchased from Captain Howell. There were no settlers between Popotunoa and the Oreti river.

As Fairfax showed signs of being superseded by a town in the middle of the plain, Smith in 1854 bought 50 acres and later another 175 acres near the new site. In 1856 or 1857, in partnership again with Allan, he took up a run between Milton and Evans Flat which included what was afterwards known as Gabriel's Gully. In 1857 they bought 1,500 acres and erected a woolshed, to which they drove their supplies from Waihola lake. About 1859 Allan sold out to Smith's brother-in-law, John Martin, and Smith and Martin worked in partnership until the outbreak of the diggings in 1861 compelled them to move their stock to an adjoining run, their own property having been declared a hundred. Martin sold his sheep to Smith, who acquired a run of 33,000 acres near Greenfield, much of which he soon made freehold. Meanwhile, the roads being crowded with diggers, Smith returned to Milton and to storekeeping, incidentally acting as banker for the convenience of settlers. It was a profitable interlude.

As a public man he took part in the affairs of the district, and was for a year (1860-61) member of the Provincial Council for Tokomairiro. In 1867 he left Milton and devoted himself to improving the Greenfield estate, which became one of the finest in Otago. In clearing it of wild cattle, he had to go to a great expense felling timber to construct a long lead to round them up. For many years he was a member of the local road board and of the Clutha river trust, and he also served on the Bruce county council. As an employer of labour he was exemplary and considerate. About 1900 Smith retired from the active management of his estate to live in Dunedin. He died on 18 Nov 1903.

Cycl. N.Z., iv (p); Parltry Record; John Wilson; McIndoe; J. A. Thomson; Hocken; Otago Daily Times, 19 Nov 1903 (p); Evening Star, 23 Mar 1898.

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John Smith

John Smith

SMITH, JOHN (1836-97) was born at Grantown, Scotland, emigrated to Victoria in the late fifties, and to Otago at the time of the Dunstan rush (1862). After participating in the excitement of the diggings, he carried on a business at Waikouaiti as watchmaker and jeweller until the inauguration of the Waikouaiti county council, of which he became clerk. He was four times mayor of Hawksbury and represented Waikouaiti in the Otago Provincial Council (1871-73). He died on 9 Jul 1897.

Otago Daily Times, 3 Aug 1897.

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John Alexander Smith

John Alexander Smith

SMITH, JOHN ALEXANDER (1813-89) came to New Zealand about 1850; spent a few years in Auckland and was an early settler in Hawkes Bay. He was in business as a merchant and took a leading part in local government. He represented Napier Town in the Provincial Council (1863-67) and Suburban South (1875); was a member of the first Napier harbour board (1875) and was afterwards on the hospital and charitable aid board. He died on 13 Jun 1889.

Parlty Record; Hawkes Bay P.C. Proc; Hawkes Bay Herald, 14 Jun 1889. Portrait: Napier Hospital

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John Gibson Smith

John Gibson Smith

SMITH, JOHN GIBSON (1862-1933) was born at Kilmarnock, Scotland, and educated at King's College, Aberdeen, and the Edinburgh United Presbyterian Hall. In 1887 he came to New Zealand, and he was for seven years in charge of St Stephen's, Dunedin, for nine years at First Church, Invercargill, and for 14 years at St Andrew's Church, Wellington. Retiring owing to indifferent health, he was appointed to the Eastbourne church, where he laboured for 16 years. Smith was an eloquent preacher, and was the author of Christ and the Cross and a theological poem Eden and After. He married a sister of the Rev James Gibb, and died on 23 Apr 1933. A son, DAVID STANLEY SMITH (1888-) became a judge of the Supreme Court.

The Dominion, 23 Apr 1933.

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John Valentine Smith

John Valentine Smith

SMITH, JOHN VALENTINE (1824-95) was born at Malta, his father being engaged under the Admiralty there. Educated at an English public school, he came to New Zealand in the late forties and about 1850 took up the Lansdowne property near Masterton. He represented Wairarapa and Hawke's Bay in Parliament (1855-58) and took a vigorous part in the demand for separation for the new province of Hawke's Bay. He was a justice of the peace and an enthusiastic volunteer officer, being captain of the Masterton Rifles in 1863. He was also connected with the Mataikona and Annedale runs, near Castlepoint. About 1883 Smith left Wairarapa to live in Patea, where he died on 10 Feb 1895. (See G. H. SMITH).

N.Z.P.D., 1855-58; N.Z. Times, 13 Feb 1895.

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Samuel Hague Smith

Samuel Hague Smith

SMITH, SAMUEL HAGUE (1840-1917) was born at Grantham, Lincolnshire, and came to Auckland in the Matoaka in 1859. He was in business with his brother as hardware merchants, but on the outbreak of the Thames goldfields he acquired two steamers, the Duke of Edinburgh and the Prince Alfred, to maintain a service with Auckland. He represented Newton in the Provincial Council in 1870, and shortly afterwards left for Sydney as the representative of the New Zealand Insurance Co. He was manager of the Colonial Mutual Fire Insurance Co. there when he died in 1917.

Auckland P.C. Proc., 1870; N.Z. Herald, 4 Jul 1917; Auckland Star, 3 Jul 1917.

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Stephenson Percy Smith

Stephenson Percy Smith

SMITH, STEPHENSON PERCY (1840-1922) was born in Suffolk and came to New Zealand with his parents in the Pekin at the age of 9. Leaving the ship at Wellington, his father walked and rode to New Plymouth, and in 1850 took the son there. Having completed his education, Smith in 1855 became a government survey cadet under Octavius Carrington. In 1857 he was appointed an assistant surveyor and in 1859 surveyor to the Native Land Purchase department. While still in his teens, he walked with three other young men from New Plymouth to Taupo, Rotomahana and Tarawera, thence down the Rangitaiki and back to Taranaki by the coast. In 1857 he climbed Mount Egmont, and in the early troubles in Taranaki he served in the militia (1857) and was a witness of the fighting at Waitara on 10 Mar 1858. In 1860 his family's home was burned by hostile natives. He was then in Auckland province, and he was sent on a hazardous errand by foot and canoe to summon help from friendly tribes at Kaipara (the Ngati Whatua) for the defence of Auckland. In the early sixties he was cutting the boundaries of native blocks at Coromandel and Tokatea, and he was engaged on military settlement surveys in lower Waikato. In 1863 he married Mary Ann, daughter of W. M. Crompton (q.v.). In 1865 Smith was stationed at New Plymouth, and in 1866-67 at Patea, where the surveyors were armed and took part in the engagements at Pokaikai and Manutahi.

In 1868-69 he carried out a trigonometrical survey of the Chatham Islands, and was there when Te Kooti escaped in the Rifleman to Poverty Bay. From his return to New Zealand Smith was engaged on the major triangulation of Auckland, Hawke's Bay and the north of Wellington province (1870-77). In 1871 he first made use of the steel band and chain measurement. In 1877 he was appointed as the first geodesical surveyor and chief surveyor in Auckland. In 1882 he became assistant surveyor-general, and in 1888 assumed also the position of commissioner of crown lands. In 1886, three days after the Tarawera eruption, Smith commenced a topographical survey of the region, in the course of which he descended the crater to a depth of 500 feet. In 1887 he assisted Captain Fairchild in taking possession of the Kermadec Islands, on which he made an official report. In 1889 he became Surveyor-general and Secretary for Crown Lands, a position which he held until his retirement in 1900.

Smith was much more than a mere surveyor. He was interested in botany, conchology and geology, and had some scientific knowledge of all. Throughout his career he made explorations and wrote reports of considerable value. He first applied Gale's system of co-ordinating traverses in 1862. In 1864 he used solar observations to check bearings. While at the Chathams in 1868 he observed the local effect of the earthquake at Iquique, in Chile. His magnum opus professionally was the triangulation of the greater part of the North Island, of which he supervised the portion from Mangonui to the Manawatu gorge and Ruapehu to Gisborne. After retiring, Smith was sent to Niue (1901) to establish a system of government suitable for the natives and to draft a constitution.

Thereafter he devoted his time to a careful study of Maori and Polynesian history, and founded the Polynesian Society (of which he was president). In 1898 he published the first edition of his Hawaiki; the Whence of the Maori, in 1904 The Wars of the Northern Maori against the Southern Tribes of New Zealand during the Nineteenth Century, and in 1910 he published in book form his contributions to the Maori history of the Taranaki coast. He collaborated with Tregear in his grammar and vocabulary of the Niue language (1907). Smith was awarded the Hector medal of the New Zealand Institute in recognition of his research work. He was a governor of the New Plymouth High School, a member of the Mokau river board, the New Plymouth recreation ground board and the Mt Egmont national park board. He died on 19 Apr 1922.

M. Crompton Smith, A Pioneer Surveyor, 1924; J. Cowan in N.Z. Railways Magazine, 1 Oct 1935; Jourdain; Baker; Cowan ii, p. 516; Polyn. Jour., v 31; N.Z. Surveyor, Dec 1900.

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William Smith

William Smith

SMITH, WILLIAM (1814-99) was born at Glentanner, Aberdeenshire, and was for 14 years employed by the Aberdeen harbour board before coming to New Zealand in the Larkins in 1849. He was an elder of First Church. In 1853 he took up a farm at Kuri Bush, and he represented the Western District in the Otago Provincial Council (1853-55). About 1857 he moved to north Clutha, but he afterwards returned and lived for many years in Dunedin. He died on 13 Jan 1899.

Otago Daily Times, 16 Jan 1899.

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William Cowper Smith

William Cowper Smith

SMITH, WILLIAM COWPER (1843-1911) was born in London, educated at the Royal Grammar School at High Barnet, and came to New Zealand in the Egmont (1862). He served through the Waikato war in the 1st Waikato Regiment, and in 1872 started business in Waipawa. A few years later he was a member of the Waipawa road board (1877-95), and for 14 years chairman. He was a member of the Waipawa county council (1879-95) and chairman (1886-95); a member of the Waipawa hospital board (1880-95) and chairman (1886-94). In 1881 (defeating Ormond) he was elected to the House of Representatives for Waipawa; in 1887 for Woodville, and in 1890 for Waipawa, sitting continuously to 1893, when he retired. He was Government whip under the Ballance ministry (1891-93). In 1895 Smith was called to the Legislative Council, in which he sat until his death (on 5 Mar 1911). He was chairman of committees 1902-03, 1905-06, and 1907-08. Smith moved in 1882 to increase the wages of railway servants. He several times carried a proposal to vote £6,000 a year to public libraries, and he moved the lease in-perpetuity clause in the land act.

N.Z.P.D., 27 Jul 1911; Who's Who N.Z., 1908; Cycl. N.Z. vi (p); Otago Daily Times, 4 May 1926.

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William Mein Smith

William Mein Smith

SMITH, WILLIAM MEIN (1798-1869) was born at Cape Town, the son of William Proctor Smith, of the Admiralty. He joined the army as a cadet in 1813 and was promoted as follows: Second-lieutenant, Royal Artillery 1822; first lieutenant 1827; second captain 1839. While serving in Canada he married (in 1828) Louisa, daughter of General Basgrove Wallace. He served later at Woolwich and Gibraltar.

Smith was a capable artist and made many sketches while serving in Gibraltar, besides collecting shells for the Geographical Society. In 1833 he was appointed master of plan-drawing at Woolwich, and he was still employed as a professor at the Royal Military Academy when he was appointed surveyor-general to the New Zealand Company (1839). He sailed in the Cuba with three surveyors (Carrington, Park and Stokes) and arrived at Port Nicholson on 3 Jan 1840. Having examined Lambton harbour, Smith preferred the Petone site (where he had been instructed to survey for a town), because there was ample room. This decision was reversed in consequence of a flood at Petone. He commenced accordingly to survey a town site at Thorndon, and submitted plans on 20 Jul.

Smith was a member of the provisional committee at Wellington for maintaining order (18 Apr 1840). In Aug 1841 he was gazetted a magistrate of the territory, and in Sep he proceeded to Wanganui to superintend the selection of lands there. He retired on half-pay (1842) and sold his commission (1843). After the termination of his appointment Colonel Wakefield sent him to report on the harbours of the South Island. He afterwards partly surveyed the Wairarapa and laid out the town of Featherston. In the native hostilities of 1845 Smith was captain of the Thorndon militia district, and he had command of a battery of three guns on Clay point. Later, with S Revans, he took up Huangarua station in south Wairarapa, which they worked together until 1869. Smith was a member of the Legislative Council of New Zealand in 1851, and in 1858 he was elected to represent Wairarapa in the Wellington Provincial Council, from which he retired in 1865.

He was a scholarly gentleman of simple tastes, quiet and unobtrusive and keenly interested in mathematics, art and natural science. He died on 3 Jan 1869.

WO, list of R.A. Officers, and 42-42-322; NZ.C., 1840-43, 1849, 1850; Bidwill; E J Wakefield; Ward; Marais; W. Lawrence (information); Wellington Independent, 5 Jan 1869.

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Robert Snell

Robert Snell

SNELL, ROBERT (1832-1908) was born in Devonshire and came to New Zealand in the early sixties, settling in Taranaki. He was a member of the Provincial Council for Grey and Bell (1866-69) and took a great interest in radical politics. He died at Hawera on 9 Jun 1908.

Taranaki Herald, 10 Jun 1908.

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George Matthew Snelson

George Matthew Snelson

SNELSON, GEORGE MATTHEW (1837-1901) was born at Ashby de la Zouch, Leicestershire, educated there and brought up to the ironmongery trade. He landed in Wellington in 1861, and spent 10 years in the employ of E. W. Mills and Co. Then he settled in Palmerston North as an auctioneer and commission agent. He was the first chairman of the Manawatu road board and first mayor of Palmerston North (1877-80); and was again mayor in 1889-92 and 1901; two years a member of the county council and chairman of the hospital board, and five years on the Wanganui education board. Snelson was a leading freemason and oddfellow, and was the first captain of the Palmerston North Rifles. He twice stood for parliament. He married (1865) a daughter of Henry Buck (Wellington), and died on 31 Oct 1901.

Cycl. N.Z., i; Manawatu Standard, 1 Nov 1901.

Reference: Volume 2, page 160

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William Wallace Snodgrass

William Wallace Snodgrass

SNODGRASS, WILLIAM WALLACE (1870-1939), who was born in Liverpool, arrived in New Zealand in 1880 with his parents, who settled in Nelson. On leaving school he joined his father's firm, R. Snodgrass and Son, merchants. In public life he was elected a member of the Nelson City Council (serving as mayor for four years, 1917-21), and of the harbour board. During the war of 1914-18 he was closely associated with Nelson patriotic societies. (M.B.E., 1919.) He was also a president of the chamber of commerce and a trustee of St Andrew's orphanage and of the Methodist Church. From 1921 until his death (on 20 Mar 1939) Snodgrass was a member of the Legislative Council. In 1894 he married Annie, daughter of Walter Frankham.

Who's Who N.Z., 1924, 1932; Nelson Evening Mail, 21 Mar 1939.

Reference: Volume 2, page 160

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Saul Solomon

Saul Solomon

SOLOMON, SAUL (1857-1937), the son of Abraham Solomon (sometime chairman of the Dunedin benevolent trustees), was born in Melbourne and came to Dunedin with his parents in 1861. He was educated at the old Stone School (afterwards Union Street) and at Albany Street (where Stout was teaching). A bright, studious pupil, he won a scholarship at the Otago Boys' High School, where in 1871 he tied for dux with A. J. Park and E. H. Wilmot. He won a junior University scholarship when too young to hold it and, proceeding to the University in 1872, had a brilliant career. In one year he gained senior scholarships in four subjects out of seven. He graduated B.A. in 1877, the second graduate of Otago University (the first being P. S. Hay 1876).

Solomon then took up the study of medicine, but after about a year decided to read law and was articled to the firm of Sievwright and Stout, in which he became head of the common law branch (Mondy being head of the conveyancing). He was admitted to the bar in 1879, and in 1883 commenced to practise for himself. Great ability and thoroughness, and a remarkable faculty for concentration quickly took him to a foremost place in the profession. He acted as counsel before important royal commissions; defended many criminals, including Carl Matson (charged with murder of his wife in 1896); and acted in celebrated libel actions (notably against The Globe 1893 and for W. F. Massey against the New Zealand Times). He also acted for the liquidator of the J. G. Ward Farmers Co. He was one of the first King's Counsel appointed in New Zealand (1907). He retired from the bar some years before his death. Solomon had many useful activities in public life. In 1907 he entered the Mornington borough council, and later was mayor (1912-13). He was chairman of the hospital trustees (1907-08). He was a keen horticulturist and was for some years president of the Dunedin society. He was an active member of the Dunedin Dramatic club, president of the Amateur Boating club and second president of Dunedin Rotary. On the turf Solomon had a successful career. He became a member of the committee of the Dunedin J.C. in 1896 and was vice-president 1899-1904. Amongst the horses that he owned were the St Clair gelding Blazer (who won £4,336 in stakes), Beadonwell and Britomarte. He also drove a crack team in double harness.

Solomon married Clara Mongredien, a well-known amateur singer. He died on 29 Jun 1937.

Otago Daily Times, 30 Jun 1937.

Reference: Volume 2, page 160

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Joseph Somes

Joseph Somes

SOMES, JOSEPH (1787-1845) was born of a family of Thames watermen and lightermen. His father, Samuel Somes, married the daughter of a coal meter and became himself a coal merchant. His mother was a woman of strong character and through his ancestor, Dr Thomas Dover (the 'quicksilver doctor'), who fitted out several privateers, he seems to have inherited some of the spirit of maritime enterprise. Somes was apprenticed to his father as a lighterman, and was associated with him later when he owned ships. One of these, the Samuel and Sarah, which was engaged carrying troops to North America, was captured by the U.S. frigate Essex.

Joseph married in 1811 Mary Ann, daughter of Thomas Daplyn, of Stepney. He soon engaged in shipping ventures, his first success being in the chartering of ships belonging to the East India Company. When the Company's fleet was broken up, he bought some of the best ships, paying £13,950 for the Lowther Castle, and £10,700 for the Earl of Balcarres. He carried on prosperously in the East India trade for some years, owning amongst others the Thomas Coutts, Java, Peeress, Merchantman, Star of India, Tyburnia, Europe, Eastern Monarch, Canning, Maria Somes, Dartmouth and Salisbury. He was one of the promoters of Lloyd's Register, and appears in the first issue as the largest individual shipowner in England. Later he acquired two or three fast tea clippers, including the Silver Eagle and the Leander; and he even engaged in whaling in the South Seas, the Perseverance having been owned by him. He was one of the first directors of the New Zealand Company (1838), and in 1839 he sold to the Company the barque Tory and at his own expense fitted out the Cuba. He later became governor on the death of Lord Durham (1840), and carried through much of the delicate correspondence with the British Government.

Somes was elected in 1844 M.P. for Dartmouth, and confirmed in the seat after an attempt to disqualify him as a government contractor. His wife having died (1835), he married secondly Maria, daughter of Charles Saxton. She established the Somes Foundation at Christ's College (1850). Somes died on 25 Jun 1845. The Times remarked of him: 'In the city he was very highly esteemed, and naturally enjoyed the great influence which arose from high character and ample capital.' His widow died on 26 Jul 1911.

Family information from Sir Thomas Colyer Fergusson, D.L.; N.Z.C. papers in N.Z. Archives and printed reports; G.B.O.P., 1842/569, 1843/323, 1844/56; Marais; Harrop, England and New Zealand; C. Fox-Smith, Ship Alley (1925); N.Z. Journal, 5 Jul 1845; Christ's Coll. Reg.; The Times, 26 Jun 1845. Portrait: General Assembly Library.

Reference: Volume 2, page 161

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Joe Reginald Sommerville

Joe Reginald Sommerville

SOMMERVILLE, JOE REGINALD (1843-1910) was born in County Armagh, Ireland, and came to New Zealand with his father (a private in the 65th Regiment), who settled at Turakina and afterwards at No. 2 Line. The son was educated privately and at the Wanganui state school. He eventually farmed at No. 2 Line until his death. In 1859 Sommerville joined the Wanganui Cavalry (Cameron's Yeomanry) with which he served through the Maori troubles. He got his first commission in the Prince Alfred Rifles 1868. (Cornet, Alexandra Cavalry 1877; lieutenant 1881; captain 1884; major, commanding Wellington Mounted Rifles 1895; lieut-colonel 1899.) He commanded the 4th New Zealand Contingent to South Africa (1900), and later was second-in-command of the 5th, joining the brigade staff (Nov 1900). In 1904 he retired as colonel.

Sommerville was an ardent advocate of rifle shooting and for many years was the mainstay of the New Zealand Rifle Association, of which he was president (1885-1903) and chief executive officer during the years when it languished before being taken over by the Government. He commanded the New Zealand teams to Bisley in 1897 and 1902, and was instrumental in the establishment of the Trentham range. Sommerville also took a prominent part in local government. He was a member of the Wangaehu highway board (1874), chairman of the Wanganui county council (1877-84) and the harbour board (1878-84), a member of the Parua road board (1901-07) and of the hospital board, and a justice of the peace (1881). He contested the Rangitikei seat in Parliament in 1905. He was first superintendent of the Veterans' Home in Auckland. Sommerville married (1869), Jane, daughter of T. D. Jones (Wales). He died on 23 Dec 1910.

Who's Who N.Z., 1908; Wanganui Herald, 23 Dec 1910.

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Herbert Southby

Herbert Southby

SOUTHBY, HERBERT (1854-1923) was for many years farming and sawmilling in Taranaki, where he was connected with most local governing bodies. On moving to Tauranga he became a member of the borough council, chairman of the county council and a member of the harbour board and the hospital board (some years chairman). He took an interest in acclimatisation and was secretary of the local society. Southby was a descendant of the poet laureate (Robert Southey) and himself published some verse. He died on 13 Jul 1923.

N.Z. Herald, 14 Jul 1923.

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Charles Southwell

Charles Southwell

SOUTHWELL, CHARLES (1814-60), edited a freethought organ, The Oracle of Reason, in England and suffered a year's imprisonment for an article which was held to be blasphemous. He then came to New Zealand and was a pioneer of free thought in the Colony (1856). He edited the Auckland Examiner from 1856 until three weeks before his death (on 7 Aug 1860). On 4 Oct the paper resumed with a new editor and publisher.

H. H. Pearce (information); Scholefield, Union Catalogue; Auckland Examiner, 1856-60.

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William Spain

William Spain

SPAIN, WILLIAM (1803-76) was born at Cowes, Isle of Wight, and trained for a legal career. He practised for a time, and as a supporter of the Liberal party was active during the passing of the Reform Bill, and worked as central secretary for Hampshire. For two years he served on the New Zealand committee; and in 1841 he was appointed by Lord John Russell to investigate land titles and claims in the Colony. He left for New Zealand in the Prince Rupert which being wrecked in Brazil he continued his passage in the Antilla. In spite of his best efforts to secure a just settlement, his decisions unavoidably led to dissatisfaction and disputes, and the failure to enforce some of them led ultimately to war. In 1845 he went to Sydney, where he practised until 1861. Spain was appointed by Sir Charles FitzRoy's government first Inspector-general of Police, and was a nominee member of the legislature. Retiring to the suburb of Waverley he died on 5 Apr 1876. His wife was a daughter of Sir Henry White.

G.B.O.P., 1846/203; Hist. Rec. Aust., series I, vol. xxvi; Mennell; Clarke; Sydney Morning Herald, 7 Apr 1876; Evening Post, 6 Jun 1933.

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William James Speight

William James Speight

SPEIGHT, WILLIAM JAMES (1843-1919) was born in Dublin and educated at the Bluecoat school there. After serving his apprenticeship with his father as a mechanical engineer, he came to New Zealand in the Maori (1865), and for some years worked as an engineer at Thames. He then conducted the Thames Advertiser. He was on the borough council for 18 years and on the school committee. In 1879 he stood as a Liberal for Auckland East and was elected, but standing for Thames in 1881 he was defeated by Sheehan, and in 1884 by Colonel Fraser. In 1886 he became district manager in Auckland for the Government Life Insurance department, and held the office until 1911, when he resigned to contest the Eden seat against Bollard. In Auckland he was secretary of the diocesan trust board (1913) and a governor of the Grammar School. Speight was one of the promoters of the Pacific Club. He was a strong advocate of temperance. He married (1872) a daughter of Isaac Speight (Parnell). His death occurred on 24 Apr 1919.

Who's Who N.Z., 1908; N.Z.P.D., 29 Aug 1919; N.Z. Herald, 25 Apr 1919. Portrait: Parliament House.

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William Isaac Spencer

William Isaac Spencer

SPENCER, WILLIAM ISAAC (1832-97), the third mayor of Napier, was born at Glossop, Derbyshire, the son of a Congregational minister. He attended various schools in his father's circuits and was apprenticed to a practising physician. He studied medicine at University College, London, qualifying as L.R.C.P. and M.R.C.S. At the age of 25 he entered the army as a staff-surgeon and saw something of the demobilisation after the Crimean war. In May 1858 he was appointed to the 18th (Royal Irish) Regiment, with which he came to New Zealand (1863). He served through the Maori war in Waikato and Wanganui and was mentioned for services at Orakau. As an amateur photographer, he rendered great service to the staff. While stationed at Wanganui he married Anna, daughter of Major Heatly.

In response to suggestions from residents of Hawkes Bay Spencer retired from the army (1879) and practised in Napier, where he had the reputation of a skilful surgeon. He took an active part in public life, and during his term as mayor of Napier (1882-85) steps were taken to construct a harbour. Spencer kept himself abreast of scientific developments and gave many public lectures, especially on microscopical research into plant and animal life. Several fresh-water algae bear his name. He contributed many papers to the Napier Philosophical Society (of which he was president). In 1887 he was elected F.L.S. He died on 22 Jun 1897.

A daughter, ANNA Jerome SPENCER (C.B.E., 1937), was principal of the Napier Girls' High School, and after her retirement organised the Women's Institutes in New Zealand.

War Office; Cycl. N.Z., vi; family information. Portrait: Hawkes Bay Herald, 22 Nov 1924.

Reference: Volume 2, page 161

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William Spinks

William Spinks

SPINKS, WILLIAM, arrived in Wellington by the "Ursula" (1843). He was a man of some education, and was on the committee of the Mechanics' Institute (1848). He represented Wellington City in the Provincial Council (1861-64). Spinks was the first wharfinger at the Queen's wharf.

Wellington P.C. Proc.; N.Z.C.; Ward.

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Wesley Spragg

Wesley Spragg

SPRAGG, WESLEY (1848-1930) was born in Madeley, Shropshire, a son of Charles Spragg (1819-90), an Auckland pioneer, and was educated at the local Wesleyan school. With his parents he arrived in New Zealand in 1863 by the Ulcoates. He took part in the Thames gold rush. In 1886, in partnership with J. C. Lovell and Christmas, he established the New Zealand Dairy Association, building their first factory at Pukekohe. The business, which was very successful, was sold in 1901 to the dairy farmers as a co-operative concern, Spragg being appointed manager. He was a member of the Congregational church, and a strong believer in temperance and supporter of the New Zealand Alliance. Before his death (on 15 Aug 1930), he made several gifts of natural bush land to the citizens of Auckland.

His brother, SILAS SPRAGG (1853-1935) was chief reporter of the Otago Daily Times for many years and of the Hansard staff from 1900 to 1924.

Cycl. N.Z., ii (p); Who's Who N.Z., 1908, 1924; Philpott; N.Z. Herald, 16 Aug 1930.

Reference: Volume 2, page 162

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John Chapman St George

John Chapman St George

ST GEORGE, JOHN CHAPMAN (1844-69) was a son of Mrs Mary George (who with her husband kept a school in Wellington 1844-46). On his father's death the family lived in Nelson, where he completed his education. His mother having married Alfred Domett (1856), the family moved to Wellington. St George took up land in Hawke's Bay.

On the outbreak of the Waikato war he joined the Hawke's Bay squadron of the Colonial Defence Force. (Sub-inspector, 11 Jul 1863). He was one of the few European officers engaged at Te Kopane (Jan 1866) and continued in service through the war. On 27 Jan 1868 he was gazetted captain. Early in 1869 he and his brother (F. N. George) took up a run near Taupo, and they were engaged stocking it when Te Kooti ordered the run to be pillaged and the stock killed. St George was stationed at Tapuaeharuru (Taupo), in command of the Arawa contingent. On receiving information of the affair at Opepe (Jun 1869), he set out with his force to cross the lake to reinforce the post at Tokaanu. Delayed by wind, he arrived too late for the fight at Tauranga-Taupo, from which Te Kooti had withdrawn to the southward, driving off the horses of the besieged force. St George displayed great skill and intrepidity in the operations at Ponanga (Sep). At the final engagement at Porere (3 Oct), leading the constabulary and friendlies up the slope to enter the work, he was killed by a bullet in the head. The body was buried on the field, but reinterred in Napier in 1872.

St George's brother, FREDERICK NELSON GEORGE, born about 1842 and educated at Nelson College (1856-58), joined the Forest Rangers. (Captain, Oct 1863.) He was slightly wounded, but distinguished himself at the relief of Pipiriki (Jul 1865) and was promoted brevet-major. He served later in Bay of Plenty. George was a well-known racing owner. He died in England 23 Oct 1914. He married Amelia Emma Sutton (1845-1931) of Otago.

Cowan, ii (P); Gascoyne; Gudgeon; Whitmore; Nelson Coll. O.B. Reg; Ward; Southern Cross, 4 Oct 1869.

Reference: Volume 2, page 138

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James Henry St Hill

James Henry St Hill

ST HILL, JAMES HENRY (1807-66), a prominent Wellington settler, reached New Zealand by the Adelaide on 7 Mar 1840. He was the son of Henry Charles St Hill, of Bradninch, Devonshire, who served many years in the British ordnance department, mainly in the West Indies, Ceylon and Hong Kong, retired and died at Wellington on 12 Mar 1861. (James) Henry was born at Trinidad, West Indies, and educated at Christ's Hospital, London. He was a member of the Church of England Society for the appointment of a bishop for New Zealand (1839), and also of the provisional committee set up by the settlers for their own government at Port Nicholson (1840). Early in 1841 he was gazetted a magistrate for the territory, and in Jan 1843 sheriff for the southern district. A few months later he was called on to accompany Wakefield and the magistrates to Nelson to investigate the circumstances of the Wairau clash. He went with Bishop Selwyn to Taranaki and with Martin to Taupo to investigate native reserves, of which he was commissioner (Nov 1843). In Apr 1845 St Hill was appointed magistrate and sheriff at Wellington, and he took a leading part in the enrolment and training of the militia in Port Nicholson during the hostilities of 1845-46. He was a trustee of the Mechanics' Institute (1848), sometime acting auditor-general and auditor for the Wellington Provincial Council (1854), and some years manager of the bank of issue. St Hill was a member of the Legislative Council (1853-56). At the opening sitting (27 May 1854) he moved that a clergyman of the Church of England should read prayers, but the Council, fearing the establishment of a precedent, decided that the Speaker should read them. On 6 Jun he moved a resolution in favour of an elective legislative council, as being more in accordance with the democratic spirit and more likely to command respect than a nominee chamber. Dillon Bell alone supported the motion, which was negatived. In 1858 St Hill was brought forward by the Reform party in Wellington province to oppose Featherston's re-election as Superintendent, but was defeated. His high character and social standing were of great service to the young community, which honoured him in 1864, when a fatal disease compelled him to retire and return to England. He was a close friend of Colonel Wakefield, Te Puni and Selwyn, a strong churchman and a lay member of the first general synod (1859). He died in London on 5 Jun 1866.

A brother, ASHTON ST HILL (1825-1904), arrived by the Glenbervie (1840), was a member of the Wellington Provincial Council for the Country District (1857-61) and settled in Hawke's Bay. He died on 18 Dec 1904.

Another brother, Harry WOODFORD ST HILL (1828-1907), was educated at Christ's Hospital and at St John's, Auckland (1850-53). He was ordained deacon (1852) and priest (1859); held several charges; was headmaster of the Crofton boarding school (1865-75); vicar of Havelock North and Clive; and canon of Napier Cathedral (1883). He died at San Remo on 15 Jan 1907.

Wellington P.C. Proc.; Ward; J. K. Davis; Jacobs; Wakelin; C. H. St Hill (information); N.Z. Spectator and Wellington Independent, pass. Portrait by Pickersgill in Magistrate's Court, Wellington.

Reference: Volume 2, page 138

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James Stack

James Stack

STACK, JAMES (1801-83) was born at Southsea, the fourth son of John Stack, and was descended from a Danish family which settled in South Wales and afterwards in Kerry. Sent out to New South Wales by his father, James was unable to make a living on the land and took a position in a merchant's office in Sydney. There he met Marsden, and in 1823 he volunteered for service in the Wesleyan mission in New Zealand under Samuel Leigh. He was the only member of the mission at Wesleydale who understood the Maori language. When the station was raided by hostile Maori (1827) Stack with one man walked to Kerikeri for help and returned at once. He went to Sydney with the other members of the mission, but soon returned to New Zealand and under promise of protection from Patuone he chose Mangungu for the re-establishment of the mission by Mr and Mrs Hobbs (1827).

In 1831 Stack visited England with a view to taking holy orders, but accepted lay service under the Church Missionary Society. He married Mary West (1833) and sailed for the colonies in the Royal Sovereign. He was appointed to the station at Mangapouri, at the junction of the Waipa and the Puniu, under the Rev James Hamlin, and Mrs Stack took charge of the girls' school. There the first child (James West Stack, q.v.) was born. The threatening conduct of Awarahi caused them to remove to Bay of Islands, where they remained until Nov 1837, when they went to a new station at Tauranga. While there Stack assisted Bidwill and Dieffenbach (q.v.) in their explorations in the interior, and in 1842 he went to East Cape as locum tenens for William Williams. Persevering in the midst of turbulent tribes, Stack reported at the end of 1844 that 34 of his natives could read the Scriptures. In 1846 he took over also the duties of Kissling's station at Hicks Bay, but his health broke down under the strain and anxiety and in 1847 he went to England. Mrs Stack died in 1850 and Stack worked in connection with the Wesleyan Church in various capacities. In his later years he ministered to the navies and dock labourers at his native Portsmouth, where he died on 18 Apr 1883.

Stack was a stern Calvinist, and as a preacher almost fanatical. In later life he lived in considerable poverty, bathed in the sea every morning and held open-air services for sailors.

Carleton; Stack, More Adventures.

Reference: Volume 2, page 162

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James West Stack

James West Stack

STACK, JAMES WEST (1835-1919) was born at Puriri, Thames, and received his education first at St John's College, Auckland, and from 1846 at Sydney College. In 1848 he went to England, where he attended a commercial school and was confirmed by the Bishop of London. In 1849 he was appointed a junior clerk in the Church Missionary Society. He was accepted to train as a schoolmaster and spent a year at Highbury Training College under Dr Ryan, afterwards Bishop of Mauritius.

While in London Stack became acquainted (1854) with Archdeacon William Williams and Tamihana te Rauparaha (q.v.), with whom he returned to New Zealand in the Slains Castle (Aug 1852). In 1854 he became a catechist, and with Volkner joined the Rev Robert Maunsell at Waikato Heads. He did good service in the removal of that mission to Te Kohanga, nine miles up the river; in draining land and cultivating vegetables, and in the erection of the church. In 1859 Stack received an invitation from Bishop Harper to take charge of the Maori population in Canterbury. Though the salary was larger, he was reluctant to leave the Society's service; but it was eventually arranged. Williams accordingly ordained Volkner (q.v.) instead of him for the post at Opotiki. Stack was ordained by Harper in Dec 1860, and a few months later married Eliza, sister of Humphrey Jones, Commissary-general to the Forces in New Zealand. He visited the Waikato with Gorst to assist in the establishment of a school for native girls, and then settled at Tuahiwi, Canterbury, the headquarters of a district which extended as far as Stewart Island. There he remained diligently engaged in his pastoral duties and his studies of Maori lore until 1870, when, his house having been burned down, he removed to Christchurch. In 1880 he accepted the cure of Duvauchelles Bay. After visiting England (1884), he was appointed vicar of Kaiapoi, and two years later of St Barnabas, Fendalton.

Stack contributed many papers on Maori lore to the Philosophical Society, and published several books, including The Sacking of Kaiapohia and The South Island Maoris; a Sketch of their History and Legendary Lore. After 1898 he lived in Italy. He died 13 Oct 1919 at Worthing, England, and his wife on 2 Dec 1919.

Stack, op. cit.; Adventures and More Adventures.

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Edward William Stafford

Edward William Stafford

STAFFORD, SIR EDWARD WILLIAM (1819-1901) was born at Edinburgh, the eldest son of Berkeley Buckingham Stafford, of Maine, county Louth, Ireland, and Anne, daughter of Lieutenant-colonel Duff Tytler. (Burke gives 1820 as the date of birth.) His mother's cousin was Patrick Fraser Tytler, at whose home in Edinburgh Stafford formed friendships and entered a cultured circle which widened his intellectual horizon and had a lifelong influence upon him.

Educated at Trinity College, Dublin (where he was first in Greek at matriculation), Stafford lived a country gentleman's life in Ireland for some years, riding to hounds regularly and racing his own horses. Cutts, the trainer, is said to have declared Stafford to be the best jockey in New Zealand and unsurpassed as a judge of horses. He won his first steeplechase at the age of 14, and with his two brothers (including Hugh, who died at Nelson in 1880) he was chosen to represent the Louth hunt in a match against the best three of Westmeath. Stafford was adept also at boxing, swimming, long-distance running and long jumping. After hunting with the Louth for one season he visited Australia, where he bought, trained and rode the winner of a steeplechase, judged thoroughbred stallions at the first show in Victoria, and helped to lay out the old Flemington racecourse. In New Zealand Stafford won many races, Springbok being his most famous jumper and Queen Bee on the flat. He rode his mare Symphony to victory sixteen times, and won the Canterbury and Nelson Derbies with Strop and Opera. At the Canterbury meeting in 1862 (when he was 43) he won the Canterbury Cup on Ultima. On the second day, riding the same mare, he was beaten by Revoke, and on the third day he won two races in succession on Ultima.

Arriving in New Zealand just after the Wairau affray (1843) and settling in the province of Nelson, Stafford from the first took a prominent part in public affairs. With his relatives, the Tytlers, he took up land in that province and in Marlborough, and in 1844 he went to Tasmania and brought back sheep from Launceston. He made many journeys in Nelson and Canterbury provinces, and in 1847 accompanied Crawford and Clifford on a journey to the Wairarapa. Crawford was much impressed with his bump of locality. In 1846 he married Emily Charlotte (d. 1857), only daughter of Colonel W. H. Wakefield (q.v.). Stafford was active in the demand for self-government put forward by the Constitutional Association, and when the constitution was put into operation he was nominated for the superintendency of Nelson and elected on 1 Aug 1853. (Stafford 251; Saxton 206; Jollie 130). His administration of this office, without any precedent to follow, was unique. Under him Nelson observed forms and ceremonial for which few of the other provinces had any regard. He wore a cocked hat when opening the Council and sat covered to deliver his speech. For more than three years he directed the affairs of the province. In 1855 he resigned the superintendency to free himself from an undertaking not to stand for Parliament. He was re-elected unopposed on 29 Nov. Stafford had no experience at all of sitting in council, but with a revenue of less than £5,000 he accomplished an amazing amount of public works and made provision to educate every child in the province. Saunders pays a tribute to the efficiency and economy of his regime. The most noteworthy measures were the education ordinance (which was used as a model for other provinces and to some extent for the legislation of Parliament in the seventies), and a roads ordinance.

In 1855 Stafford was elected to represent the town of Nelson in Parliament, and he remained its member through various vicissitudes until 1868. His entry into Parliament presaged the close of his provincial career, for he became at once involved in the leadership of the House. When the new Parliament met on 7 May 1856 to put into operation the boon of responsible government, Sewell was invited to form a ministry. He asked Stafford to join him, but without success. Domett, Fox and Featherston also declined, and Sewell took office with Bell, Whitaker and Tancred. When he resigned a few weeks later Stafford refused to accept the responsibility of governing with an equally divided house, and Fox took office as a strong provincialist (20 May). The arrival of Travers, a new member who consistently voted against Fox, sealed his doom, and on 2 Jun Stafford became Premier. Carefully avoiding for the present the extremes of centralism and provincialism, using his facility with figures and finance prudently, Stafford soon drew to his side a working majority. Bound to some extent by the demands of territorial representation, he chose as his colleagues Sewell (Colonial Treasurer), Whitaker (Attorney-general), and C. W. Richmond (Colonial Secretary), with J. L. Campbell to represent the province of Auckland without portfolio. Stafford's knowledge of the world and of parliamentary experiments elsewhere was of great service. He was neither ambitious nor imaginative, but practical, solid and always active. The House, tired of party demonstrations, settled down to practical legislation and, led by a bevy of capable lawyers, compiled a very creditable statute book of 36 acts. Fox's series of resolutions, proposed on 14 May, under which the provinces were to retain two-thirds of their customs revenue, was for the time allowed to stand, and the financing of the government and the provinces was further provided for in Stafford's loan proposals, which involved the borrowing of £500,000 in England for a term of 30 years and a further £100,000 for immediate purposes, the provinces agreeing to share the responsibility for the loans. The customs act in general taxed luxuries and left free such imports as were necessary for development of the country or were difficult to assess. This done, the Treasurer (Sewell) left for England to raise the money, Richmond succeeding him at the Treasury, while Stafford became Colonial Secretary. He finally resigned the superintendency of Nelson in Oct 1856. In the session of 1858 Parliament considered 88 bills, most of which passed. The absence of almost half the members, through abstention of the southern provinces, enabled Stafford to carry his business with some despatch through an attenuated House which was little more than a committee.

Cycl. NZ, i (p); Cox; Arnold; Bowen; Col. Gent; D.N.B.; The Times, 15 Feb 1901; N.Z. Times, 21 Aug 1875, Mar 1901; The Press, 16 Feb 1901; Lyttelton Times, 2 Apr 1874, 16 Feb 1901; N.Z. Herald, 30 Mar 1901; The Sportsman, Feb 1901.

Reference: Volume 2, page 163

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George Staines

George Staines

STAINES, GEORGE (1823-1905), a native of England, arrived in Auckland in 1862 and carried on business as a secondhand dealer. He represented Auckland West in the Provincial Council (1868-69); was a member of the Auckland City board (1868) and of the City Council (1871). Staines was always associated with the advanced side of politics and was called the 'people's champion' and 'the poor man's friend.' He died on 24 Apr 1905.

Auckland P.C. Proc.; Auckland Star, 25 Apr 1905.

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John Stallworthy

John Stallworthy

STALLWORTHY, JOHN (1854-1923), a son of the Rev. George Stallworthy, was born in Samoa and educated at the Blackheath school in London. He came to New Zealand in the City of Auckland (1872), was employed for a while in a sawmill at Whangaroa, and then teaching under the Auckland education board, at Newmarket (1880) and Aratapu (1884). He established the Aratapu Gazette (1884) and in 1890 retired from teaching to enter journalism. Besides conducting the Aratapu Gazette he acquired the Te Kopuru Bell (afterwards the Wairoa Bell). Stallworthy was the first chairman of the northern Wairoa hospital board, was a member of the Auckland education board from 1903; and local president and a member of the executive of the Farmers' union. He was postmaster at Aratapu, formed a branch there of the Knights of Labour, and was president of the timber workers' union. A strong Liberal, he contested the Kaipara seat against A. E. Harding in 1902. He was elected to Parliament in 1905 and again in 1908, and was defeated by J. G. Coates in 1911. Stallworthy was a Methodist local preacher. He died on 10 Nov 1923.

His son, ARTHUR JOHN STALLWORTHY (1877-) was M.P. for Eden (1928-35), and Minister of Health (1928-31).

N.Z.P.D., 1 Jul 1924; N.Z. Herald, 12 Nov 1923.

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Arthur Standish

Arthur Standish

STANDISH, ARTHUR (1838-1915) was born at Pontefract, Yorkshire, and came to Taranaki with his parents. Receiving his education in New Plymouth, he studied law with Merriman and Jackson (Auckland) and was admitted to the bar. He served in the Taranaki volunteers during the war, and continued in the militia until peace came, when he retired as a captain. He commenced practice in New Plymouth in 1861, and two years later was appointed crown solicitor. He married (1868) a daughter (d. 1929) of the Rev H. Brown.

In 1873 Standish became a member of the Provincial Council and a few months later he joined the executive, in which he had as colleagues T. Kelly and H. A. Atkinson. He was deputy-superintendent (Jun 1874), acting provincial treasurer in 1875, and a member of the executive until Jun 1876. In May 1874 he was appointed secretary of the waste lands board. Standish had a unique record in public service. He was last chairman of the town board and first mayor of New Plymouth (1876-78) and president of the Agricultural Society; and a member of the first harbour board, the education board (20 years) and the land board (20 years). He secured 2,000 acres as a borough endowment and interested himself also in the creation of the Egmont national park. Standish was a keen sportsman and horseman, riding many of his own horses to success. He died on 24 Jun 1915.

Cycl. N.Z., vi; Taranaki Herald and Budget, 18 Dec 1926; Taranaki Herald, 24 Jun 1915; Evening Post, 28 Aug 1929.

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Robert Loftus Stanford

Robert Loftus Stanford

STANFORD, ROBERT LOFTUS (1839-1909) was born at Chetwade Priory, Buckinghamshire, and educated at Cheltenham College and Exeter College, Oxford, where he graduated B.A. He was ordained priest and in 1864, having married a daughter of the Dean of Leighlin, Ireland, he came to New Zealand in the Chili. He was for some years vicar of St John's, Milton, and then of All Saints, Dunedin (1873); and in 1878 opened a school for boys at Waitati. While there he decided to study law and in 1883, having been admitted a barrister and solicitor, he commenced to practise in Dunedin in partnership with Dr W. D. Milne. In 1885 he graduated LL.B. In 1894 Stanford was appointed resident magistrate at Napier, being transferred later to Palmerston North and Napier and eventually to Wanganui (1904), where he retired in 1909. He was a facile writer and engaged in journalism for some time as editor of the Mining and Finance Journal. In Wanganui he was a director of the public library and a member of the vestry of Christ Church. He was a member of the Otago University Council (1869-94). Stanford's death occurred on 23 Oct 1909.

Who's Who NZ., 1908; Wanganui Herald, 25 Oct 1909.

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Owen Stanley

Owen Stanley

STANLEY, OWEN (1811-50), a brother of the Dean of Westminster, was born in Cheshire, and in 1825 joined the Navy as a midshipman from the Naval College. For some years he was engaged in marine surveying, first under King in the Adventure and afterwards in the Terror on Arctic exploration (1836-37). He served in the brig Britomart in northern Australia and in the fighting in Burma. He was appointed commander in 1840, and arrived in Bay of Islands in July 1840, a few days before the French corvette Aube arrived to protect the French settlers at Akaroa. Governor Hobson requested Stanley to convey a magistrate to Akaroa before the Aube reached that port. The Britomart arrived there on 10 Aug, five days before the French ship. Stanley's execution of this duty and establishment of friendly relations with the French settlers was highly commended by the Admiralty. He was promoted captain in 1844. His death occurred in Sydney on 13 Mar 1850, from a disease which he contracted on a scientific expedition to New Guinea and Torres Strait in command of the Herald.

G.B.O.P., 1841/311, 1842/569; Buick, Waitangi and French at Akaroa; Scholefield, Hobson; Cant. O.N.; New Zealander (Auckland), 13 Mar 1850.

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George Stannard

George Stannard

STANNARD, GEORGE (1803-88) was born in Yorkshire. He was one of the party of Irish Methodists who came to New Zealand at the invitation of Dr Day in 1841 to settle in the Kaihu valley. Stannard left the Sophia Pate at Bay of Islands to walk overland to Kaipara with another of the party. They were the only ones to reach their destination, as the Sophia Pate was totally lost off Kaipara heads, all but one boy being drowned. In 1844 Stannard was ordained in the Methodist ministry, in which he held missionary charges in Taranaki, Waikouaiti (1853-54) and Wellington. He died at Wanganui on 8 Dec 1888.

Buller; Morley; W. J. Williams; N.Z. Herald, 3 Jul 1883.

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Charles Stapp

Charles Stapp

STAPP, CHARLES (1825-1900) was born in Ireland, and joined the 58th Regiment at Dublin in 1842. He came with it to New South Wales in the following year, and to Bay of Islands at the time of Heke's war (Mar 1845). Stapp was present at the attack on Okaihau pa (8 May 1845) and the storming of Ohaeawai (1 Jul), when he carried a wounded man off the field under fire. He was also at the night attack on the positions on the Waikare river (16 Jul) and the destruction of Kawiti's pa at Ruapekapeka (11 Jan 1846).

Returning to England just when the Crimean war commenced, he volunteered for service, received his ensigncy (Mar 1855), and was promoted lieutenant (in 1857). He acted as staff officer under Lord William Paulet and General Storks (commanding on the Bosphorus and Dardanelles), and was superintendent of hospitals there. In Oct 1858 he retired from the service and settled in New Zealand, being appointed lieutenant and adjutant of the New Plymouth militia and of volunteers in 1859 (captain, 2 Apr). He distinguished himself at Waireka (Mar 1860), where the command of the local forces devolved upon him, by maintaining the fight throughout the afternoon and withdrawing in good order at nightfall. He was present also at Huirangi, and Kaikihi, and in Jul 1864 at the capture of Kaitake. Promoted brevet-major in 1865, he became second-in-command of the Opotiki expeditionary force and received the thanks of the Government for his services in this campaign, in which he was frequently in action. Later he succeeded to the command. After the peace he returned to Taranaki as adjutant to the military settlers. He was in command of the permanent staff from 1866 until Mar 1872. In 1869 he organised the force to recover the bodies of those massacred at White Cliffs.

In 1879 he swore in volunteers in view of Parihaka trouble. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel in the militia in 1885, and retired as colonel on 31 Aug 1891. His wife, who was a daughter of James Webster (arrived 1841) died on 27 Apr 1889. He then married a daughter of William Milner (Derbyshire). Stapp died on 6 Aug 1900.

War Office records; Cowan, Wars; Wells, Hist. Taranaki; Gudgeon (p); Taranaki Herald, 23 Mar 1872, 29 Apr 1889, 7 Aug 1900.

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Henry Powning Stark

Henry Powning Stark

STARK, HENRY POWNING (1827-70) was born at Exeter, England, and came in the fifties to Hawke's Bay, where he owned property. In 1861 he was elected to Parliament for Napier (defeating Colenso). Having made remarks about the Wellington debt which his constituents objected to, he resigned without having taken his seat, and moved to Auckland, where he was for 14 years in business as an auctioneer, sharebroker and land agent. He was elected to the Provincial Council for Onehunga in 1867, but again seems to have resigned without taking his seat. He owned the Courthouse hotel, which was burned in 1868. Stark then moved to Thames, where he was a land agent and auctioneer, and for a time managed the McIsaac Mining Co. He died on 5 Jul 1870.

Hawkes Bay Herald, 16 Feb 1861, 12 Jul 1870; Thames Advertiser, 6 Jul 1870.

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George Gatonby Stead

George Gatonby Stead

STEAD, GEORGE GATONBY (1841-1908) was born in London, and educated there and at St Andrew's College, Grahamstown, South Africa. He came to New Zealand in 1865 by the Talbot. For five years he worked in the Christchurch branch of the Union Bank of Australia and in 1870, with William Royse, he commenced business as a grain and export merchant. Stead was chairman of directors of The Press Newspaper Co.; a director of the Christchurch Gas Co., of the New Zealand Shipping Co., and the Blackball Coal Co. He was three times president of the chamber of commerce, and played an important part in the establishment of the Tai Tapu and Central Dairy Co. In 1890 he was defeated for the Avon seat in the House of Representatives. He was a member of the Canterbury College board of governors (1891-99). In 1900 he was responsible for equipping and providing 110 mounted men for the South African war, and in 1903 he was elected to the first tramway board.

Stead bought the Coringa station in 1880. He was a prominent and successful racehorse owner, and treasurer of the Canterbury Jockey Club for many years. In 1876 he married Lucy, daughter of T. Wilkinson of Hartlepool. He died on 29 Apr 1908.

Cycl. N.Z., iii (p); Who's Who N.Z., 1908; Acland; Philpott; Lyttelton Times, 30 Apr 1908.

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David Pike Steele

David Pike Steele

STEELE, DAVID PIKE (1827-93) was born in Glasgow and spent most of his boyhood in Rothesay, where he attended the parish school and Scougall's academy. Emigrating to New Zealand in the Lady Nugent (1850), he took up land at Wingatui, Taieri, but removed in 1853 to Warepa, where he was a neighbour and close friend of Sir John Richardson. Steele was elected to the Provincial Council in 1859 to represent Clutha (with Richardson as a colleague). He resigned in 1864 to go to Victoria, where his mother lived, and died at Heidelberg, in that colony, on 22 Aug 1893.

Otago P.C. Proc.; John Wilson; Otago Daily Times, 3 Oct 1893.

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Louis John Steele

Louis John Steele

STEELE, LOUIS JOHN (1843-1918) was born at Reigate, Surrey, the son of Dr John Sesson Steele, and was educated at Reigate Grammar School. He studied art at the Royal Academy and at the Ecole des Beaux Arts (Paris), and in 1867 entered the Royal Academy in Florence. On returning to England he gained some prominence as an etcher, his most notable picture being 'Napoleon on the Bellerophon.' About 1886 he came to New Zealand, and for 30 years he was associated with the art life of Auckland. Steele collaborated with C. F. Goldie in the picture of the Maori migration to New Zealand, which was exhibited at the St Louis Exposition, and designed the postage stamps for the Christchurch Exhibition (1905-06). Two of his best pictures are 'The Story of a Saddle' (which is in France), and 'The Death of Captain Starlight' (which is in Australia). He also painted some pictures of Maori life for Sir J. Logan Campbell. He died on 12 Dec 1918.

John Barr, Art; Auckland Star, 14 Dec 1918.

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William Steele

William Steele

STEELE, WILLIAM (1831-98) was born in Shropshire, and in 1847 left for Australia. He took part in the gold rushes in New South Wales, Victoria and California, and in 1853 came to Auckland, later settling at Lucas Creek, Wairoa. He became a lieutenant in the Wairoa Volunteers, and on the outbreak of the Maori War was commissioned by the Government to raise men in Sydney for the Waikato campaign. When hostilities ceased, he settled in the district as a land and estate agent, and in 1864 founded the settlement of Hamilton. His first wife died in 1887, and in 1894 he married a daughter of J. Runciman (q.v.). Steele died on 20 Sep 1898.

Cycl. NZ, ii (p).

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Walter Steins

Walter Steins

STEINS, WALTER (1810-81) was born at Amsterdam, Holland, and educated there, at St Acheul, Amiens, and at Fribourg (Switzerland). He entered the Dutch province of the Society of Jesus (1832), pronounced the vows of his profession (1849) and obtained permission to proceed to Borneo. He went instead to Bombay, where he worked with zeal and earnestness to 1861, when he was consecrated bishop. He founded the college of St Francis de Sales. In 1867 he was translated to the archbishopric of Calcutta. There he built another college, which was affiliated to the university, established the order of the Daughters of the Cross, the St Vincent's home refuge and many schools and orphanages. He began also the Bengali mission and missions to the Sonthals and other eastern tribes.

While visiting a remote Indian village he fell and injured himself so severely that he was advised to go to Europe (1878), and he spent some time recuperating at Conflans, the novitiate of the nuns of the Sacred Heart in Paris. There Steins so far recovered as to wish to return to duty, and in 1879 he was appointed Bishop of Auckland. He arrived on 3 Dec 1879 and was 15 months in the country. He died on 7 Sep 1881 at Sydney. Steins was a distinguished theologian and linguist; broadminded and tolerant. He was prominent at the Oecumenical Council of 1870.

Sydney Morning Herald, 8 Sep 1881; N.Z. Herald, 12 Sep 1881; Auckland Star, 8 Sep 1881; Zealandia, 16 Sep 1937 (p).

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John Stenhouse

John Stenhouse

STENHOUSE, JOHN (1842-1929), born in Biggar, Lanarkshire, Scotland, was educated at the Stirling parish school, and after pupil teaching at the Calder parish school entered the Glasgow Normal Training College and the University. He taught in several Scottish schools.

Arriving at Port Chalmers in 1864 by the City of Dunedin, he went to Lawrence and opened the district high school. For over 40 years, with conspicuous success, he held the position of headmaster. He influenced and assisted a large number of his pupils to enter the public service, many of them rising to high positions. Stenhouse was a vice-president of the Otago Educational Institute and president of the Tuapeka branch. He retired in 1905 and died on 12 Jul 1929.

Registrar-general's office (information); Cycl. N.Z., iv (P); Otago Daily Times, 28 Dec 1891

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Sidney Stephen

Sidney Stephen

STEPHEN, SIDNEY (1797-1858) was born in 1797, the son of John Stephen, of Somerleaze, Somerset (afterwards puisne judge and acting chief justice of New South Wales) and cousin of James Stephen, Under-secretary for the Colonies. His father practised at St Kitts in the West Indies and in 1800 was appointed solicitor-general of the Leeward Islands. Sidney probably received some of his education at the Honiton Grammar School, Devon, and possibly also at the Charterhouse. He entered at Lincoln's Inn in Jan 1816, when his father was practising at St Kitts.

Called to the bar in 1818, he married at St Kitts Margaret Adlam, and practised there for some years. Then, his father having been appointed a judge in New South Wales, he proceeded there and entered into practice. Legal business in Sydney was then in the hands of a close monopoly, and Stephen first emerged from obscurity by undertaking the unpopular side in a libel case in which a Sydney newspaper was involved and which the monopoly would not take up. He was made commissioner of the court of claims in 1834, the year in which his father died. Five years later he moved to Hobart, where his brother (afterwards Sir Alfred Stephen) was Attorney-general. There he practised with some success until Dec 1842, when an unfortunate collision with Mr Justice Montague led to his being disbarred and inhibited from practising in any of the courts of the colony. The case was referred to the Home Government; but meanwhile Stephen, with a wife and seven children to provide for, had to leave the colony. For a while he was engaged in farming at Twofold Bay. On selling out he was called upon in the courts to fulfil his agreement to sell the farm 'with all stock and assigned labour' and came under severe censure by Judge Willis for pleading his own illegal act in covenanting to sell human beings. He went into practice in Melbourne in 1844 and was granted a provisional admission in 1845. Courteous and fluent, he attained considerable popularity and had soon a good practice, especially in the lower courts. He was a staunch supporter of the Wesleyan Church and frequently participated in their devotional meetings. Between 1847 and 1849 he addressed many anti-transportation meetings in Melbourne.

Meanwhile, after a lapse of four years, the appeal to the Queen in council was decided by the Privy Council's judgment (29 Mar 1847) reversing the order of the Tasmanian supreme court and declaring that Stephen's 'private character and professional conduct were unimpeached.' An appeal was now made to the Colonial Office to find Stephen suitable public employment by way of compensation for loss sustained in consequence of being disbarred.

Earl Grey recommended that a post be found for him at Port Phillip, but no opening occurred, and it was not until Jan 1850 that he was appointed by royal warrant to be puisne judge in New Zealand. He took the oath in Aug and was assigned the Otago district, but found nothing to do from the time of his arrival until his departure in Mar 1852. He took a keen interest in the affairs of the settlement; was president of the Horticultural association (and of the Otago Agricultural association, into which it developed), and presided at public meetings demanding road communication with Port Chalmers and the disposal of the surplus customs revenue of the port for local works. In Otago also Stephen did not entirely escape the acerbities of party feeling. He opened his court with due ceremony in Jun 1851, fining jurors for failing to attend, and receiving counsel and others at a levee. A few months later he was indiscreet enough to bring an action against several magistrates and others for conspiracy, and in turn became defendant in a charge before the magistrates for assault upon one of them. The bench found the assault not proved, and one of the aggrieved challenged the judge to a duel.

A few weeks later he left the province to relieve Martin in the northern district. From Sep 1853 he was acting as chief justice. He administered the oath to members of the second Parliament (15 Apr 1856). He was still employed as sole judge in the Colony pending the arrival of the new Chief Justice (Arney), when he died at Auckland on 13 Jan 1858.

Stephen had his good qualities. He was accessible, frank and genial; thoroughly independent and abounding in generosity to the poor, whom he freely assisted with legal advice. On the other hand evidence has already been adduced that he was litigious to a degree. Throughout his residence in Australia he was in difficulties over titles to land. In 1829 he acquired at Argyle the full 2,560 acres which a settler could hold under certain ordinances. In the previous year he had purchased at auction 360 acres at Windsor. No title was issued and he made no payments. When the department discovered in 1842 that the land had been awarded in 1804 to another grantee Stephen was offered £100 compensation, but declined it, and pursued his fruitless claim. In 1852 he declared illegal a proclamation of Governor Grey offering land for sale at less than a pound an acre. Grey ignored the judgment as being contrary to law, and the Secretary of State supported him (Mar 1853).

Family information from Mr Justice Milner Stephen and Miss M. E. Carre-Riddell; Lincoln's Inn registry; Col. Gent.; Hist. Rec. Aust. (notably ser. i, vol. xxv, p. 530); Public Library of Victoria; Mitchell Library; Victorian Law List; Alfred Stephen, Jottings from Memory (1891); Garry Owen, The Chronicles of Early Melbourne; George Stephen, Life of Sir James Stephen (c. 1870); Wakelin; Hocken, Otago; James Barr; Otago Witness, 6 Jun 1851; Wellington Independent, 24 Feb 1858. Portrait: General Assembly Library.

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Samuel Stephens

Samuel Stephens

STEPHENS, SAMUEL, was born at Southampton, England, and qualified as a surveyor and civil engineer. He came to Nelson in the Whitby as surveyor with the preliminary expedition, and was appointed senior assistant to Tuckett (Apr 1841). After the collision at Wairau he became chief surveyor in succession to Tuckett, and carried out the surveys of Motueka, explorations in the Sounds and the laying-out of Picton. He was one of the earliest runholders in the Wairau. Stephens represented the Town of Nelson in Parliament (1854-55) and Motueka and Massacre Bay in the Provincial Council (1853-58). He died at Riwaka on 26 Jun 1855.

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John Stephenson

John Stephenson

STEPHENSON, JOHN (1830-1900) was born at Everton, Liverpool, and brought up on his father's farm in Yorkshire. Educated at Nearfield Academy, near Bawtry, he developed a taste for hunting and field sports. In 1854 he emigrated to Victoria in the Falcon, and tried his luck on the Ballarat fields and at roadmaking contracts. In 1856 he became a stock dealer, making constant expeditions through the Murray, Darling and Lachlan country in search of cattle. When his firm sold out to Shadrach Jones, Stephenson came to Otago with the resident partner (Bird). He became auctioneer to Wright, Robertson and Co. and on the retirement of Robertson took his place in the firm. He was one of the promoters of the meeting called to found the Otago Agricultural and Pastoral Society (1876) and was its second president. Stephenson had an exceptional knowledge of stock and land matters. He was a pioneer racing owner in Otago and one of the founders of the Otago Jockey Club and the Dunedin Jockey Club (of which he was president in 1875-79 and for many years a steward). In partnership with James Hazlett he bought Taiaroa and Mata in Australia, followed by a long string of horses which they raced with great success. Stephenson died on 9 Aug 1900.

Otago Daily Times, 29 Aug 1900.

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Edward Glaves Stericker

Edward Glaves Stericker

STERICKER, EDWARD GLAVES (1830-1914), who was born in Yorkshire, was the son of a farmer, and was brought up as a tea taster. Arriving in Lyttelton in 1853 by the John Taylor, he went to South Canterbury, and in 1857, in partnership with George Hall, took up The Pass, in the Mackenzie Country. In 1866-67 he represented Seadown in the Provincial Council. He was a captain in the first Timaru volunteer corps, an active member of the local agricultural society, and a freemason in Lodge Globe Star. For many years he kept the local weather records at Sutton farm. Several features in the Mackenzie Country, including Mount Edward and Stericker's Mound, are named after him. He died on 20 Mar 1914.

Cycl. N.Z., iii (p); Anderson; Timaru Herald, 21 Mar 1914.

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Edward Cephas John Stevens

Edward Cephas John Stevens

STEVENS, EDWARD CEPHAS JOHN (1837-1915) was the youngest son of the Rev. W. E. Stevens, rector of Salford, Oxfordshire. Educated at Marlborough College (where he naturally became a cricketer), he proceeded to the Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester, where he obtained a thorough grounding in the staple industry of the country to which he was to come. At the age of 21 he sailed for New Zealand (Jun 1858) in the Zealandia (arriving at Lyttelton on 20 Sep). After spending a short period on the Peninsula, Stevens established himself in Christchurch as a land agent and the agent in New Zealand of a number of absentee landowners. Before long he joined R. J. S. Harman as Harman and Stevens. In Dec 1863 Stevens entered provincial politics (without entering the Council) by accepting office in the Tancred executive. He served almost throughout Bealey's superintendency. In Mar 1866 he was elected to the Council unopposed as member for Rakaia, but when Bealey retired two months later, Stevens severed his connection with provincial politics altogether. In Feb 1866 he had been returned without opposition as member of Parliament for Selwyn. A supporter of Weld, he came into Parliament when the separation of the two islands was a leading question. With his shrewd financial sense, he took a strong stand against it as tending to weaken the credit of the Colony. He went further and demanded the abolition of the provinces, the consolidation of provincial loans and the erection of true organs of local government in the form of county councils. In Jul 1869 he brought forward a motion with that object, but after debate an amendment proposed by Ormond was carried by 38 votes to 22, declaring that the time was inopportune to consider far-reaching constitutional changes. In 1869 Stevens married the widow of J. H. Whitcombe (q.v.).

Stevens had strong views on the tariff question, and at the general election in 1870 he stood as a free trader, opposing the grain duty. His opponent, Reeves, won the seat by a single vote. At the general election of 1875, Stevens was returned at the head of the poll for Christchurch City. His opinions were distinctly democratic. He supported the triennial parliament; he objected to the separation of the two islands; and after his re-election in 1879 he moved for the setting up of a committee to consider the best means of relieving the manufacturers of the Colony by reducing duties. His motion was carried with some amendment. Stevens took a great interest in hospitals and charitable aid, and supported the Hall Government's bill in 1880. Some years later he introduced a bill with a view to endowing hospitals and charitable aid with reserves of 1,000,000 acres of land. It passed the House of Representatives, but was defeated in the Council by 30 votes to 6. In 1882 Stevens was called to the Legislative Council, in which he sat until his death (on 6 Jun 1915). Though a life member himself, he supported the bill in 1885 by which it was proposed to limit the number of members of the Council and the duration of their office. He favoured votes for women, and supported measures for the protection of the property of married women and for the guardianship of infants. As a member of the ministry later, he moved to improve the method of dealing with neglected children. In 1887 he became a member without portfolio of the Atkinson ministry, in which he served until 1891. He took a lively interest in the affairs of the native race, especially in the South Island, and had an accurate knowledge of their land claims. In 1889 he was chairman of the joint committee on native affairs. In 1891 he proposed a new clause in a bill to allow holders of perpetual leases to acquire the freehold, but the lower house would not accept the amendment. He always opposed the compulsory acquisition of lands for settlement, but withdrew his opposition when the Liberal victory of 1893 indicated the feeling of the country. It was at the instance of Stevens that Vogel established the Public Trust office. Stevens was a man of culture, and delighted in English and French literature. His interest in art was lifelong. In 1863 he was a member of the committee for the establishment of the Art Society, of which he was president until his death. He was on the board of governors of Canterbury College (1875-93). In 1894 he was re-elected, and he retired in 1899. When Lincoln College was placed under an independent board (1897), Stevens was elected a member and he was chairman for some years. He was a director of the Christchurch Press Co., and succeeded George G. Stead as chairman. A keen horticulturist, Stevens was for many years chairman of the Horticultural Society. He was interested also in acclimatisation and helped to form the society. He also helped to found the Permanent Loan and Investment association, of which he was manager and afterwards a director, and took part in forming the Christchurch Gas Co., of which he was provisional secretary and afterwards secretary, till 1866.

No account of Stevens would be complete without mention of the part which he took in fostering cricket in Canterbury. In 1863, with J. H. Bennett, he arranged for the visit of the All-England team, for which object they raised £500 in one day. Both of them played in the match on 9 Feb 1864, when the English eleven defeated a Canterbury twenty-two by an innings and two runs. Sale and A. F. N. Blakiston also played. Stevens helped to inaugurate the Otago-Canterbury matches, and played in them until the end of the seventies. He again played against England in 1878, making top score for Canterbury. He played in the North Island with the Wanderers, and last wielded the bat for Canterbury against Wellington and Auckland in 1883. He was for many years president of the Canterbury Cricket association and chairman of the management committee for visiting tours. He was one of the promoters of Lancaster Park and an early director, and was for some years president of the New Zealand Athletic association.

Canterbury P.C. Proc.; N.Z.P.D., 25 Jun 1915; Gisborne; Reeves; Saunders; G.H. Scholefield (p); The Press, 23 Aug 1930 (p).

Portrait: Parliament House.

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John Stevens

John Stevens

STEVENS, JOHN (1845-1916) was born on Thorndon Flat, Wellington, and educated at Buxton's school and later at Bonnefelt's and Freeth's. In 1854 he went to Rangitikei. He saw active service under General Cameron in 1864-65, and later organised and was captain of the Rangitikei Cavalry volunteers. In 1873 he was engaged as an interpreter in the native land court, and later went into business with Lieutenant-Colonel Gorton as an auctioneer in Rangitikei. Defeating Sir William Fox (by two votes) Stevens entered the House of Representatives as Liberal member for Rangitikei in 1881. He was defeated in 1884 but returned again for the same district (1893-96). Thereafter he sat in three Parliaments for Manawatu (1896-1902, 1905-08). For three years (1899-1902) he was senior government whip. In 1885 he was elected a member of the Wanganui education board; he was for 10 years on the Wellington land board and in 1895 was a member of the royal commission set up to consider the revision of the customs tariff. He died on 30 Jul 1916.

N.Z.P.D., pass (notably 1 Aug 1916); Cycl. N.Z. i; J. G. Wilson; Who's Who N.Z., 1908; Manawatu Times and Manawatu Standard, 31 Jul 1916. Portrait: Parliament House.

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William Stevens

William Stevens

STEVENS, WILLIAM (1825-97), who was born at Eastbourne, in Sussex, came to Sydney in the Alfred in 1841 with his parents. Two years later he crossed to New Zealand, where he joined his half-brother (Captain John Howell) in the whaling industry, and was one of the founders of Riverton. He assisted Captain Richards in the survey of the coast, and afterwards passed as a master in Australia and a pilot in New Zealand. Abandoning the sea about 1860, Stevens took up the Beaumont sheep station on the Aparima river, and a large farm at Gummie's Bush, near Riverton. For 18 years he was a member of the Bluff harbour board, for 21 years chairman of the Gummie's Bush school committee, and he was a founder and first chairman of directors of the Aparima dairy factory. Stevens was twice married, and had 20 children. He died on 2 Aug 1897.

Cycl. N.Z., iv; Riverton Record; Southland Times, 3 Aug 1897.

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William Stevenson

William Stevenson

STEVENSON, WILLIAM (1864-1935), a son of John Stevenson, of the Henley estate, Taieri, was educated at the Taieri Ferry, the Oamaru Grammar, the Dunedin Normal and the Otago Boys High schools. Taking up farming, he became manager of the Braemar estate. After experience on a number of share-milking farms, he managed Wairuna, in south Otago, for three years, farmed on his own account for five years, and then joined the Dresden Piano Co. at Invercargill. Eight years later he entered the motion-picture business, starting a circuit in Southland, and became associated with several coal companies in the Nightcaps area. He retired in 1927. Stevenson served for many years as chairman of the Invercargill Liberal committee, of the Southland Liberal-Labour association and of the United party. He was chairman of the Southland High School board of governors and president of the Caledonian society. He was appointed to the Legislative Council in 1930, and died on 5 Oct 1935. In 1890 Stevenson married Lillias A., daughter of John Lamont, of Oamaru.

N.Z.P.D., 8, 9 Oct 1935; Who's Who N.Z., 1932; Evening Post, 5 Oct 1935 (p).

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John Manwaring Steward

John Manwaring Steward

STEWARD, JOHN MANWARING (1874-1937), son of the Rev. C. E. Steward, vicar of New Shoreham, Sussex, was born in Southampton and educated at Radley College, at Oxford University (where he graduated M.A.), and at Ely Theological College. Ordained in 1900, he was curate of St John's, Watford, till 1902; missionary at Guadalcanar (1902-06) and at Florida (1911-12), and priest in charge of the Maravovo Theological College (1912-19). In 1919 he was appointed Bishop of Melanesia, and in 1928 he retired. He died in England on 13 Sep 1937.

Who's Who N.Z., 1932.

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William Jukes Steward

William Jukes Steward

STEWARD, SIR WILLIAM JUKES (1841-1912) was born at Reading, Berkshire, and educated at King Edward VI Grammar School at Ludlow, Shropshire, and at Dr Benham's commercial school at Gloucester. In 1862 he came to Canterbury in the Mersey (in preference to joining the Albertland expedition) and obtained employment with Peacock and Co. He afterwards entered into partnership with Axup and Bell, but before long became interested in journalism and joined the staff of the North Otago Times (Oamaru). In 1871 he became M.H.R. for Waitaki (including Oamaru), which he represented until being defeated in 1875 by Hislop and Shrimski. He represented Oamaru Country in the Otago Provincial Council and was in the executive in 1875, and mayor of Oamaru (1876-78). In 1879 Steward moved to Waimate, where he purchased the Waimate Times, and in the same year he was elected to Parliament. He represented Waimate (1881-93) and the adjusted district of Waitaki (1893-1911). Steward was later associated with the Ashburton Mail and Guardian. He always attended punctually to the business of Parliament and of his constituents, and showed great perseverance in introducing private bills of a social nature which were eventually adopted. The deceased wife's sister marriage bill, which he first introduced in 1872, was carried through the lower house in 1876 but only adopted many years later. Later he introduced a bill to abolish cumulative voting in school committee elections. This measure, which was rejected seven times before being adopted, he regarded as the first step towards one-man-one-vote. Three times also he introduced an amending licensing bill (to make elections triennial instead of annual) before the Legislative Council would accept it. He twice introduced a bill to make the executive elective. By continued perseverance he achieved many reforms in the franchise and land settlements law. Steward was a member of the South Canterbury education board, the Ashburton and Waimate High Schools boards, and of the royal commissions on federation, friendly societies and tariffs. From 1891-93 he was Speaker of the House. In 1912 he was called to the Legislative Council, of which he was a member till his death (on 30 Oct 1912). He was knighted in 1902.

Steward in 1887 published a pamphlet on parliamentary representation, proposing a modification of the Hare system of voting. He published a volume of verse Carmina Varia (under the nom de plume of 'Justin Aubrey'), in 1867; The Rhyme of the Mapourika in 1903 and The Vision of Aorangi in 1906. As a volunteer Steward took part in the formation of the Christchurch city guards (of which he was captain) and the Oamaru, the Hampden and the Otepopo Rifles. For some years as major he commanded the North Otago military district (1873-79). He married (1873) Hannah, daughter of the Rev Caleb Whitefoord (Burford, Shropshire).

Otago P.C. Proc.; N.Z.P.D., pass.; Cycl. N.Z., i; Col. Gent.; Otago Daily Times, 1 Nov 1912. Portrait: Parliament House.

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Francis Edward Stewart

Francis Edward Stewart

STEWART, FRANCIS EDWARD (1833-1904) was born at Clifton, England, the son of Captain Thomas Stewart, R.N., with whom he came to Van Diemen's Land in his own ship, the Anna Watson, in 1839. In 1847 he accompanied the Barney expedition to found the Gladstone colony, and he was in the wreck of the Lord Auckland on Facing Island. For some time he was in the chambers of Robert Lowe (afterwards Lord Sherbrooke). In 1849 he came to Auckland in the service of the Union Bank, of which he became Auckland manager in 1854. In 1856 he opened the Christchurch branch. Returning to New Zealand in 1863 from a two years' visit to England, he married Agnes, daughter of Robert Park (q.v.). He represented Rakaia in the Provincial Council (1865-66) and Papanui (1866-68), being provincial treasurer and for a while deputy superintendent. In 1869 Stewart sold his Racecourse Hill property and returned to Sydney, where he became chief inspector of the National Bank in 1879. He was for some years till 1891 general manager of Goldsborough, Mort and Co., and later managing director of Younghusband, Row and Co. He died on 10 Jul 1904.

Family information; Parltry Record; Canterbury P.C. Proc. and Gaz.; Col. Gent.

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George Vesey Stewart

George Vesey Stewart

STEWART, GEORGE VESEY (1832-1920) was born in Martray, County Tyrone, the son of Captain Mervyn Stewart. His early education, owing to his mother's indifferent health, was obtained mostly on the Continent. His parents intended that he should become a lawyer, but he preferred an open-air life, and entered the College of Civil Engineers at Putney (1848). Weak eyesight interrupted his studies. In 1852 he became an undergraduate at Trinity College, Dublin, where he had a brilliant career, graduating in 1856 with honours in classics and many prizes. He then married and settled down as an estate agent, also farming successively at Altmore, Lisbeg and Gortmore, all in his native county.

Having lost much money in linen mills, Stewart had to face the world in 1870 almost bankrupt. A fluent speaker and a facile writer, widely experienced, resourceful and industrious, he was nevertheless spendthrift and impatient of routine. In the early seventies he turned his thoughts to the colonies and in 1873 made his first tentative proposal to Dr Featherston (then Agent-general for New Zealand in London) for the establishment of a special settlement of Ulstermen in New Zealand. Featherston threw cold water on the proposal, and eventually Stewart made a new approach through Farnall (q.v.), the immigration agent in Belfast for both the Colony and the Auckland Provincial Council. Without waiting for confirmation of Farnall's encouraging discussion, he proceeded to enlist 40 families for the settlement, each to receive a free grant of 40 acres of land, with a maximum of 300 acres per family. Stewart favoured acquiring an area of from 10,000 to 20,000 acres in the vicinity of Tauranga, and in Nov 1873 he came to New Zealand to select the land. He travelled from end to end of the country seeking land of first-class quality close to a town and not far from a goldfield, which he hoped would provide a good market. Eventually he made application for 10,000 acres in the Katikati block. The agreement was drawn up by O'Rorke and Stewart on 24 Jun 1874, Stewart agreeing to bring out not less than 40 families, and he himself as leader receiving 500 acres and 40 acres for his wife and each child.

The expedition sailed from Belfast on 8 Jun 1875 in the Carisbrook Castle, which had on board 238 Katikati settlers and 125 Government immigrants. In 1877 Stewart organised a second expedition, the majority of whom sailed in the Lady Jocelyn (May 1878). These were largely people with capital and included Stewart's parents and his brother, Captain Hugh Stewart, R.A. His biographer says that Stewart's profit from the whole scheme was not more than £6,000 and 3,500 acres of land. In 1880 he bought from the government for £19,700 an area of 16,000 acres at Te Puke, which he sold in Ireland at £3 an acre. These settlers all sailed by the end of 1880. Having organised a company to construct a railway from Tauranga to Rotorua (1883) he went to England to raise £250,000 capital and had practically succeeded when differences amongst the directors destroyed the prospect. Stewart opened an immigration office in connection with the Shaw Savill and Albion Co. and remained till 1888 in London, where he prepared a new edition of the New Zealand Yearbook. On his father's death he moved from Mount Stewart to Martray. Stewart was a member of the first school committee at Katikati (1876) and chairman of the highway board (1876), of the succeeding road board (1883) and a member of the Tauranga county council during the whole of his residence at Katikati (chairman for several years) and again after moving to Tauranga. He was also on the harbour board and the hospital board. He contested the Tauranga seat against Morris (1881) and announced himself as a candidate many years later, but withdrew. In 1882 he was elected the first mayor of Tauranga, where he owned the Bay of Plenty Times for a considerable period. In 1919 he retired from all public bodies except the road board (of which he was chairman 1893-1920). His death occurred on 3 Mar 1920.

Stewart, pamphlets published at Omagh and London, 1877-84; App. H.R., 1874-81; Gray, pass. (p); Bay of Plenty Times; Adda B. Stewart.

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Hugh Stewart

Hugh Stewart

STEWART, HUGH (1884-1934), a son of the Rev. John Stewart, was born in Aberdeenshire, and educated at Fettes College, at Edinburgh University (John Walsh classical scholar), and at Trinity College, Cambridge (foundation scholar). He graduated B.A. in 1908 with first-class honours, and M.A. (1912). He was a master at Rugby (1908-09), lecturer at Liverpool University (1909-12), and in 1912 was appointed professor of classics at Canterbury College, Christchurch. From 1914-19 he served in Gallipoli and France with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, commanding the 2nd battalion of the Canterbury Regiment (1916-18). (C.M.G., D.S.O. with bar, M.C., Croix de Guerre with palms). In 1919 he resumed his position at Canterbury College. He was elected local president, and for two years Dominion president of the Returned Soldiers' Association. In 1926 he was made professor of Latin at Leeds University, and in 1929 principal of Nottingham University. He died on 28 Sep 1934. His first wife was Alexandrina Kathleen (d. 1920), daughter of W. Johnson, of Liverpool. He married (1927) Rosamund (d. 1929), daughter of J. A. Poulton, of Christchurch. Stewart's publications include editions of Zielinski's Our Debt to Antiquity (1909), Niedermann's Latin Phonetics (1910), Provincial Russia (1913), and the Official History of the New Zealand Division (1921).

Who's Who N.Z., 1924, 1932; Hugh Stewart, Memories, 1930; Hight and Candy (p); The Dominion, 2 Dec 1929; Evening Post, 29 Sep 1934.

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James Stewart

James Stewart

STEWART, JAMES (1832-1914) was born in Perthshire and received his education there. He served his engineering articles and was chief assistant to P. D. Brown, Perth. In 1859 he came to Auckland in the Joseph Fletcher, started practice as a civil engineer, and shortly gained a premium offered by the provincial government for a design for the Auckland waterworks. In conjunction with Samuel Harding, he surveyed the line for the Drury railway. In 1862 he was appointed engineer to the Auckland city board, but in the following year he received a militia commission and was sent to Sydney to acquire two towing steamers for the Waikato river service. He carried out special works in Waikato and was appointed with Harding as engineers for the Auckland-Drury railway. The work was stopped for want of money in 1867, and Stewart became inspector of steamers for the Government. He designed the Bean Rock lighthouse and the light in the Ponui pass. In 1872 he was appointed resident engineer for the Auckland-Mercer railway, and two years later for the whole of the railway works in Auckland province. Afterwards, in private practice, he built the Thames and Rotorua railways and the Te Aroha county tramways and (with Ashley Hunter) laid the Auckland tramways and designed the pumps for the Calliope dock. He was a strong advocate of development by railways and an active member of the Auckland League. Stewart died on 12 Feb 1914.

Cycl. N.Z., ii; N.Z. Surveyor, Mar 1914; N.Z. Herald, 13 Feb 1914.

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Mervyn Stewart

Mervyn Stewart

STEWART, MERVYN (1794-1886) was a son of Sir John Stewart, of Athenree and Balygawley, county Tyrone, Ireland. Entering the Navy as a midshipman, he served in the Dreadnought and Temeraire. Owing to the illness of his brother he retired from the Navy and the war being not yet over, he entered Trinity College, Dublin, to take the necessary course for an army commission. He was appointed captain in the Tyrone militia, from which in 1815 he received his cornetcy in the 21st Light Dragoons. The battle of Waterloo having terminated the Napoleonic wars, Stewart saw service in Cape Colony and India until 1821, when the regiment was disbanded and he retired on half-pay. He married Fanny, daughter of the Rev George Vesey, of Derrabard, Tyrone, and settled down to the life of an Irish gentleman. In 1829 he was high sheriff of the county. He took part in conservative politics and was a grandmaster of the Orange lodges. In 1879 Stewart came to New Zealand with the second expedition organised by his son (G. V. Stewart, q.v.) for the Katikati settlement. He was a justice of the peace here. Stewart died on 13 Sep 1886.

A. B. Stewart; Bay of Plenty Times, 16 Sep 1886

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William Stewart

William Stewart

STEWART, WILLIAM (1767-1851) is believed to have served in the Royal Navy (1793-97), being for two years master's mate and two years master. He reached New South Wales from Calcutta in 1801. He was commanding the sloop George when she went ashore in Bass Strait in 1804 but, obtaining carpenters from New South Wales, he got her off and brought her back to Sydney. While in command of the Edwin he helped to capture Duce's gang in Tasmania. He owned the Fly in 1803 and in that year commanded the Pegasus when she took a gang to Stewart Island (which some authorities claim that he discovered and named). While first officer of the same ship in 1809, he took observations and made a chart of Port Pegasus, which was published in the Oriental Navigator in 1816. It was used until 1840 and was considered even then a fine piece of work. Returning to England about 1824, Stewart floated his scheme (a timber and flax company) at Stewart Island, for which T. and D. Asquith bought the Prince of Denmark and the Lord Rodney. He made three trips to Stewart Island, but the venture failed and he was in financial difficulties in Sydney. Meanwhile a party of sawyers which he had taken from Bay of Islands built the schooner Joseph Weller, the first vessel known to have been built at Stewart Island. Stewart lived there for many years and acted as pilot to H.M.S. Herald on her visit to proclaim sovereignty in 1840. He died at Poverty Bay late in 1851.

G.B.O.P., 1840/238; Buick, Waitangi; Thomson; Scholefield, Hobson; McNab, Murihiku; N.Z. Spectator, 21 Feb 1852

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William Downie Stewart

William Downie Stewart

STEWART, WILLIAM DOWNIE (1842-98) was born at Blair Drummond, near Stirling, Scotland. He began the study of law in Stirling and sailed for New Zealand in 1862. On arriving in Dunedin he entered the office of Richmond and Gillies. About two years later he was articled to (Sir) James Prendergast (q.v.). On 12 Jun 1867 he was admitted to the bar and began practice on his own account. Among those associated with him in partnership were Joyce (later M.P. for Lyttelton), J. E. Denniston (later a judge), Allan Holmes (who helped to draw the Supreme Court code of procedure) and C. J. Payne. Robert Stout was an articled clerk in Stewart's office and W. C. Macgregor was also trained there.

In 1879 Stewart was elected to the House of Representatives for Dunedin, and on the request of Stout, Grey offered him the attorney-generalship (which he declined). On the defeat of the Grey administration he was returned a second time in the same year. At the election of 1881 he was defeated by eight votes for Dunedin West by Dick, whom he defeated in 1884 and again in 1887. In 1890 he retired, and in 1891 was called to the Legislative Council, this being the last life appointment.

Stewart was keenly interested in law reform, and twice visited the United States and Canada to study legal procedure. His lecture on English and American Law was published in the United States. Most of the reforms he advocated have become law. He proposed a code of procedure; that costs of an action should be fixed by scale; that prisoners should be allowed to give evidence on their own behalf; that a poor prisoner should have counsel paid by the State; that confessions to clergymen and communications to physicians should be privileged; the abolition of primogeniture; the fusion of law and equity and other reforms. In 1879 he brought in a bill to enable a woman to whom unchastity was imputed to sue for slander without proof of special damage. This did not become law till 1897. In 1885 he carried the evidence amendment act, by which the courts could take judicial notice of laws of foreign countries and an action for seduction could be brought without proof of loss of service. In 1879 he carried a law by which deeds could be proved in the magistrate's court without calling the attesting witness and in 1884 a law making the publication in a newspaper of a false notice of birth, death or marriage punishable by fine or imprisonment; in 1885 an amendment by which acknowledgment of deeds by married women was abolished and a bill by which executors and administrators may resign or be removed; and in 1890 he carried to a second reading a bill to settle labour disputes by voluntary arbitration. He was an early supporter of women's franchise, protection and Bible-reading in schools.

Stewart helped to found the Patients and Prisoners' Aid society in 1877. He was a director of the Colonial Bank, the Mosgiel Woollen Co., the Perpetual Trustees and other companies.

He married first (1868) Rachel (d. 1878), daughter of George Hepburn (q.v.), and second (1881) Mary, daughter of John Thomson, provost of Irvine, Ayrshire. He died on 25 Nov 1898.

A son, WILLIAM DOWNIE STEWART (1878-), was educated at the Otago Boys' High School and Otago University, where he graduated LL.B. in 1900. He was Mayor of Dunedin (1913-14), M.P. for Dunedin West (1914-35) and Minister of Internal Affairs (1921-23), of Customs (1921-28), of Finance (1926-28) and Attorney-general (1926); and was acting Prime Minister (1926).

Cycl. NZ., iv (p); Ross; W. D. Stewart; Otago Daily Times, 26 Nov 1898. Portrait: Parliament House.

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Andrew Stobo

Andrew Stobo

STOBO, ANDREW (1832-98) was born at Strutherhead, Avondale, Lanarkshire, educated at Sandford and Lesmahagow and Strathaven, and went in 1847 for his theological course to Glasgow University. He started a Free Church School at Strathaven and then continued his studies at the New College, Edinburgh (1852). After serving as a missionary at Uddingstone, he was licensed by the presbytery of Hamilton, had charge of a territorial mission at Castle Street, Montrose, and in 1859 was appointed by the colonial committee to Invercargill. Arriving in the Storm Cloud in Apr 1860, he was inducted on 29 Jun, the first ordained minister in Southland after the missionary Wohlers. His health failing in 1880, Stobo undertook mission work in South Invercargill. He died on 2 Dec 1898.

Cycl. NZ., iv (p); Southland Times, 27 Dec 1898.

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Arthur Stock

Arthur Stock

STOCK, ARTHUR (1823-1901) was born in Bow parish, Mile End Road, London, and educated at the Merchant Taylors' School and at Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. (1845). He became a master at the Bath Grammar School and was ordained deacon (1847) and priest (1848). After ministering at Prescott, Cloudesley Square, London, and Clapham Road, he offered his services to the Church Missionary Society and came to New Zealand in the Hamilla Mitchell (1854). He was appointed to have charge of the Maori school at Otaki, and spent nine months also at Wanganui. In 1856 he was appointed vicar of St Peter's, Wellington, where he remained until his retirement (1888). In 1872 he was appointed archdeacon. Stock was of low church tendencies and was a keen astronomer. It was mainly due to his intervention in the Tricker case that Tricker was finally acquitted of the murder. Stock died on 23 Sep 1901.

J.G. Wilson; Cycl. N.Z., i (p); Evening Post, 23 Sep 1901.

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Margaret Olrog Stoddart

Margaret Olrog Stoddart

STODDART, MARGARET OLROG (1865-1934), a daughter of Mark P. Stoddart (q.v.), was born at Diamond Harbour, Canterbury, and received her education at the Edinburgh Girls' College. She studied painting at the Christchurch School of Art; in England under Norman Garstin, Charles Lasar and Louis Grier, and on the Continent. Miss Stoddart was one of the first members of the Canterbury Women's Club and of the Society for Imperial Culture, and was on the council of the Canterbury Society of Arts and the advisory committee of the Art Gallery Society. She painted chiefly in water-colours; the work which gained her a place among New Zealand's leading artists consisted principally of flower studies and landscapes. She exhibited at the Royal Academy, the Royal Institute of Water Colours, the Society of British Artists, the Society of Watercolours (Rome), the Beaux Arts and the Societe des Artistes Francaises (Paris), and at numerous exhibitions in New Zealand. She died at Hanmer on 10 Dec 1934.

The Press, 11 Dec 1934; Art in N.Z., Dec 1935.

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Mark Pringle Stoddart

Mark Pringle Stoddart

STODDART, MARK PRINGLE (1819-85) was born in Edinburgh, the son of Admiral Stoddart. He was educated there and entered the Military Academy, but at the age of 18 emigrated to Port Phillip, where the town of Melbourne was being laid out. After travelling for some years in the East, he bought a station in the Victorian Pyrenees. In 1850 he sold out and with E. M. Templer (q.v.) chartered the German barque Australasia and sailed for New Zealand, arriving in Lyttelton (Jan 1851) to find the first four ships at anchor. Stoddart bought land in a bay he named Diamond Harbour. He also established himself on the Terrace station of 20,000 acres on the Rakaia. This he sold to Hall (1853) and he was managing partner for Waitt in Teviotdale. Glenmark was named after him. He afterwards moved to Diamond Harbour, where he lived for many years. He was one of the first party to explore Lake Coleridge.

Stoddart was something of a poet, some of his verse being included in Canterbury Rhymes. He was keenly interested in angling and acclimatisation, and his home was noted for warm hospitality. Stoddart represented the Bays in the Provincial Council (1863-66). He died on 28 Aug 1885. M. O. Stoddart (d. 1934) was a daughter.

Acland; Alpers, Cant. Rhymes; Lyttelton Times, 30 Aug 1885.

Reference: Volume 2, page 171

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John Lort Stokes

John Lort Stokes

STOKES, JOHN LORT (1812-85) entered the Navy in 1826 as a midshipman in the Beagle, then proceeding to South America on a surveying cruise which lasted (with a short visit to England) for four years. Part of the time he commanded the hired schooner La Paz. Captain Robert FitzRoy, who took command after the death of the first commander, had Stokes with him again in the same vessel in 1831-36, when she visited New Zealand. Promoted lieutenant in 1837, Stokes continued to serve in the Beagle under Commander Clements Wickham for the survey of the Australian coasts. On Wickham being invalided (1841) he succeeded to the command, and for two years was engaged in surveying Timor and New Zealand. In 1843 he returned to England after about 18 years spent in this vessel. In 1846 he published his Discoveries in Australia, with an Account of the Coasts and Rivers Explored and Surveyed during the Voyage of the Beagle, 1837-43. Advanced to post rank in that year, he was appointed to command the steamer Acheron, which was employed on the coast of New Zealand for four years, paying off at Sydney in 1851. After a few years on half-pay he was employed surveying the coasts of the English channel (1860-63). (Rear-admiral, 1864; vice-admiral 1871; admiral 1877.) Stokes in 1851 contributed a report on the survey of southern New Zealand to the proceedings of the British Association and a narrative of the cruise of the Acheron to the Naval Chronicle. He was elected in 1872 an honorary member of the New Zealand Institute. He died on 11 Jun 1885.

D.N.B.; Darwin; Joan Barlow; Stokes, op. cit; A. Mackay; King; Proc. Royal Geog. Soc., new ser., vii; Stokes journals in Star (Christchurch), May 1926; Pasco, A Roving Commission, 1897 (p); The Times, 13 Jun 1885.

Reference: Volume 2, page 171

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Robert Stokes

Robert Stokes

STOKES, ROBERT (1810-80) was born in England and trained as a surveyor. He practised as an architect in Cheltenham and London. He appeared before the directors of the New Zealand Company on 10 Apr 1839, asking for employment on the survey staff. A month or two later he sailed in the Cuba as one of the survey assistants. They reached Wellington on 3 Jan 1840. Stokes was engaged about Port Nicholson for some time and left his name on Stokes valley. In Aug he was sent by Wakefield to make a survey towards Wanganui to ascertain its capabilities for settlement. He was accompanied by Park, Heaphy, and Jerningham Wakefield, and after an adventurous journey submitted a report, which fully satisfied the Company as to the projected settlement of Petre. Early in 1842 he left the employ of the Company and went into business in Wellington. On his town section in Woolcombe street he built his residence, St Ruadhan, and he soon had a good clearing and vegetable garden. He had living with him his brother (Dr John Milbourne Stokes), who came to New Zealand as surgeon of the Aurora and gave gratuitous advice to the sick. About 1843 Stokes paid a visit to South America. He gave much encouragement to agriculture and horticulture, and was treasurer of the Horticultural and Botanical society.

In Aug 1844 Revans ended his connection with the New Zealand Gazette, which ceased publication at the end of Sep. On 12 Oct a new paper, the New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, appeared. Clifford was chairman of the committee of management and Stokes a member. On 16 Aug 1845 his name appears on the imprint as printer, Lyon being the publisher. Stokes also appears in the roll of 1847 as a printer in Manners street. Some time later he became proprietor. In 1850 the Spectator was the only paper which supported Sir George Grey. At the end of Mar 1858, Stokes's name disappears from the imprint, but according to one authority he owned the paper until it ceased publication in 1865, and he sold the type.

In 1848 Stokes was a speaker at a public meeting called after the earthquake. In 1851 he reported the proceedings of the Legislative Council. He entered the Provincial Council in 1857 as one of the representatives of the City, which elected him until 1865. Though a critic of Featherston, Stokes took a cautious part in the imbroglio. In 1858 he carried in the Council a bill to establish a municipal corporation for Wellington, and in the same year he advocated a railway across the Rimutaka to Wairarapa. This was considered Utopian, but Stokes persevered and in 1863 secured the passage through the Council of a series of resolutions in favour of the line and recommending the acceptance of the offer of Robert M. Marchant to construct the first 18 miles for £150,000, on a guarantee of 7 per cent on the outlay or a land grant of 100,000 acres. This fell through, but Stokes was undaunted. In 1867 a public meeting co-operated with the Provincial Council and made headway. In 1870 Vogel took the line up as a government undertaking. Stokes was badly defeated at the general election for the Council in 1865, but a few months later he was elected one of the members for the Wairarapa, which he represented to 1867.

Stokes's brother, after a few years, gave up the practice of medicine and took up a freehold run in the Ruataniwha district before the separation of Hawkes Bay. Robert first appeared as a landowner in the same district in 1861, having bought out Robert Pharazyn. Later they held properties together at Clive and at Te Aute, their main homestead, at Manganuka, being called Milbourne. Both were justices of the peace. For some years Dr Stokes was a warden of the North Ruataniwha highway district, and in 1877 chairman. Robert Stokes was in 1862 one of the commissioners for the city reserves in Wellington. In the same year he was called to the Legislative Council, and in the ensuing session he moved the address-in-reply. He continued a member of the Council until 1878, when he forfeited his seat by absence. He was a member of the University senate (1871-78). Stokes died on 20 Jan 1880.

Wellington P.C. Proc.; Cycl. N.Z., i; Wakelin; E. J. Wakefield; Ward; Daily Telegraph, Napier, 16 Oct 1925; Evening Post, 4 Nov 1929 (p). Portrait: Parliament House.

Reference: Volume 2, page 172

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Captain James Stone

Captain James Stone

STONE, CAPTAIN JAMES (1816-85) was born at Stepney, brought up in Epping Forest, and educated at Waltham Abbey school and Harlow. He was first in an accountant's office in London; then with a solicitor. In 1834 he arrived in Hobart and obtained employment in the legal office of Gamaliel Butler. While there he learned the building trade and, having married in 1838, he moved to Port Phillip, invested in town sections and erected a brick store in which he established himself as an ironmonger. Attracted by the chance of speculating in New Zealand lands, he came to Port Nicholson by the Earl Stanhope (Mar 1840), and in Jan 1841 arrived in Auckland and camped on a vacant section. When the town lots were sold (Apr 1841) he purchased sections in Shortland and Queen streets and erected buildings. The timber was sawn for him in the Hutt valley and shipped by the schooner Patriot to Auckland. With Langford and Gardiner as partners, the firm took up contracts for supplying spars to the Royal Navy. They made shipments by the brig Erin for Melbourne (1847), by the River Chief and Maukin for Sydney, and by the Camilla for Hobart. They also shipped timber, potatoes and onions to California, but with disastrous financial results. With several others Stone was interested in the building of the first steamer ever owned in Auckland, the Governor Wynyard. She was sent to Melbourne at the opening of the goldfields and ran successfully on the Yarra river until sold. Stone went to Victoria in the brig Moa and remained there several years, running two brigs, the Drower and Kirkwood, in the New Zealand trade. In 1855 he returned and resumed business in Shortland street.

Stone was interested in many companies and financial institutions. He was one of the founders of the New Zealand Insurance Co., the Bank of New Zealand, the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Co., the Auckland Gas Co., and the New Zealand Land Mortgage Co., and was a director of the Northern Boot Co., the Shortland Sawmill Co., and the Union Oil, Soap and Candle Co. He was also interested in mining companies on the Thames field, and with his son-in-law (John Bycroft) in a flour and biscuit manufacturing company. He was a staunch Wesleyan, and introduced the services of that denomination in the Hutt valley. Stone died on 15 Apr 1885.

Cycl. N.Z., ii; N.Z. Herald, 14 Jan 1882, 16 Apr 1885.

Reference: Volume 2, page 172

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William Stones

William Stones

STONES, WILLIAM, as a young man made a voyage to New Zealand in the James (1839), spent a year or two in the country and, after returning to England, published in the Journal of the Society of Arts (1858) an interesting article "My First Voyage." This was awarded the Society's prize and afterwards republished (1859). Stones married a daughter of Sir Sydney Waterlow, Lord Mayor of London. He was drowned many years later when crossing the Channel.

Hocken; Gideon Smales in N.Z. Herald, 6 Jan 1894.

Reference: Volume 2, page 172

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Henry Butler Stoney

Henry Butler Stoney

STONEY, HENRY BUTLER (1816-94) was born in County Mayo, Ireland. He was appointed ensign in the 19th Regiment in 1837, and in 1840 went to Malta. For some time he acted as resident for the island of Cirago. Five years later, in the West Indies, he was port adjutant and superintendent of roads for Tobago, where he received special thanks for his exertions in saving life during the hurricane of 1847. In 1848 he distinguished himself in Canada by holding an outpost against an overwhelming rebel force. He returned to England to a staff appointment, and later became paymaster to the 98th Regiment. He came to Australia with the 40th Regiment, and witnessed the riots at Ballarat, upon which he published a book. Coming to New Zealand in 1860, he saw service in Taranaki and Waikato, and when the regiment was ordered home he sold out and took up land at Wade. He represented Northern Division in the Auckland Provincial Council (1872-73) and was prominent in local affairs. For some years he was at Kawakawa, and held the appointment of inspector of roads. Besides the book mentioned Stoney wrote A Residence in Tasmania and Taranaki. He died on 4 Jul 1894.

Parlty Record; Hocken, Bibliog.; N.Z. Herald, 13 Jul 1894.

Reference: Volume 2, page 172

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Robert Stout

Robert Stout

STOUT, SIR ROBERT (1844-1930) was born at Lerwick, Shetland Islands, the son of Thomas Stout, a merchant and landed proprietor. He was educated in the parish school and at Lerwick Academy, where at the age of 13 he acquired such a sound grounding in general education, Greek, Latin and French that he was appointed a pupil teacher. At 16 he had passed his qualifying examinations, and two years later he completed his apprenticeship. He then determined to seek wider fields, chose New Zealand, and landed at Dunedin from the ship Lady Milton in Apr 1864. His first intention was to become a land surveyor, for which his study of mathematics and aptitude for that science specially fitted him. Finding no opening, however, he accepted a post as second master in the Dunedin Grammar School, with special responsibility for the teaching of mathematics. Soon he transferred to the North Dunedin district school (better known as the Stone school), which was at the corner of Union and King streets. He took part in the organisation of the profession and helped to found the Otago schoolmasters' association, which developed into the Otago Educational Institute.

In 1867 Stout decided to study law, and with that object entered the office of W. Downie Stewart (q.v.). In Jul 1871 he was admitted a barrister and solicitor, and shortly afterwards he entered into partnership with Basil Sievwright. Later he was head of the firm of Stout, Mondy and Sim, with which the most important part of his legal career was associated (his partners being George Mondy and William Sim, q.v.). Stout at once stepped to the forefront of the profession as a pleader. He was particularly successful in addressing juries, upon whose emotions he was able to work with consummate effect. Otago University having opened its doors in the year he was admitted to the bar, he lectured in law and also continued his studies. Attending the lectures in mental and moral science, he gained first honours for essays in these subjects but was defeated for distinction by R. Wilding. In the second session he was first in the political economy class. For three years (1873-75) he lectured in law.

In 1872 Stout made his first appearance in political life, when he was elected to represent Caversham in the Otago Provincial Council. He remained its member until the abolition of the provinces in 1875. In 1873 he became provincial solicitor (under Donald Reid) and he held that post throughout. He was a staunch supporter of the provincial system and to the end of his life believed that its maintenance would have conduced to the advantage of New Zealand. In 1875 Stout was elected to the House of Representatives for Caversham (defeating Larnach at a by-election following the resignation of Tolmie). At the general election at the end of 1875 he was second amongst eight candidates, his colleagues being Macandrew and Larnach, and the defeated candidates being Reynolds, Macassey, Sise, Grant and Armstrong. Entering politics from the first as an advanced Liberal, Stout made his first speech on 27 Aug 1875, a telling defence of the provincial system. His strong principles and undoubted ability were soon recognised by the Liberal leader (Sir George Grey), and in Mar 1878 he was invited to become Attorney-general in the first Liberal ministry. Macandrew was a member from the beginning, and Ballance had joined a few weeks earlier. In Jul Stout took also the portfolios of Lands and Immigration, and he administered these offices until 24 Jun 1879. It was an open secret that Ballance and Stout had seriously disagreed with the administration of Grey, and wished to escape from their responsibility. The ill-health of his partner at this time prompted him to resign in order to devote more attention to their practice, and he withdrew from Parliament a few months before the dissolution.

Stout remained out of Parliament for five years. At the general election in Jul 1884 he was again returned (defeating M. W. Green for Dunedin East by 755 votes to 515). Of the 91 members of the new Parliament only 4 desired Grey as leader, 33 wished for Vogel, 32 for Atkinson, and 15 for Montgomery. Seven had not declared their preference. Vogel was sent for, and after a week's consultation he submitted the following cabinet for the Governor's approval: Vogel, Stout, Richardson, Macandrew, Montgomery, Ballance, Morris and Whitmore. Taking office on 16 Aug, they survived only until the 28th, when they were defeated by the resentment of Auckland province, which had only one member in the ministry while Otago had three. There was no question of resigning office for good. Montgomery generously withdrew and Stout, who had been sent for, then took office as Premier, with Vogel as Treasurer and Postmaster-general, E. Richardson (Public Works), Ballance (Native Affairs, Lands and Defence), Tole (Justice), Buckley (Colonial Secretary) and Reynolds (without portfolio). On his return to the colony in Jan 1885 Larnach took over Mines and Marine. This arrangement, which placed the impetuous enthusiasm of Vogel in apparent subordination to the intellectual Premier, satisfied the uneasiness of the country on the point of expenditure. But Stout was not a sufficiently sound economist, or leader enough to curb him, and Vogel proposed in his financial statement to borrow a million and a half each year for the prosecution of public works. He also carried through a loan conversion and released certain accrued sinking funds. Ballance and Stout put through a reasonable instalment of Liberal legislation in the social sphere, notably the married women's property act, the police offences act and the workmen's wages act, together with useful goldmining legislation. Ballance tried some experiments in land settlement in the form of village groups, but these were to have their main utility as experience for the legislators of the next decade. His democratic convictions did not forbid Stout to accept a title, and he was created K.C.M.G. in 1886.

The general election of 1887 found the country still labouring under the depression, and again it was almost inevitable that the government of the day should suffer defeat. The action taken by the electors was drastic. Stout himself, standing for Dunedin East, was opposed and narrowly defeated by a brilliant, though almost unknown, opponent, James Allen. Several followers of the late ministry offered to resign their seats to enable him to return to Parliament, but he was again willing enough to enjoy a few years of respite, especially as the demands of his legal practice continued to grow. Ballance became the actual leader of the party in opposition. On this occasion Stout was six years out of politics, and in that period developments occurred which completely altered his prospect of future eminence. His Liberalism was directed mainly towards reform in legal, constitutional and political directions. He was an admirer of Bradlaugh as a champion of free thought, but did not share his fear of a new tyranny arising in the name of the state. In a policy speech on 10 Mar 1893 he declared himself a New Liberal, who believed in the state as an agent in the uplifting of humanity. His political attitude was, however, rather academic. If he had become the Liberal leader it would not have been socialism without doctrines, but more likely doctrines without socialism. In 1884 he did not approve of national insurance or giving all workers pensions; that should be left to voluntary societies. In 1892, when the subject had become a matter of practical politics, he proposed a liberal development of annuities through the Government Insurance department and companies, making it as simple for the thrifty man or woman to buy an annuity as to buy a pound of sugar or tea. He objected to single tax, and opposed the sale of crown lands.

The Liberal party coming back into power in 1890, Ballance took office as Premier, with adequate talent to take charge of all the portfolios. When he died (Apr 1893) there was a good deal of speculation in some quarters as to the prospect of Stout's returning to the leadership of the party, but his long abstention from Parliament during the formative years of the late eighties made that impracticable. An opportunity of re-entering the House did occur in a month or two, when R. H. J. Reeves resigned the Inangahua seat. Stout was returned.

He represented Inangahua only until the dissolution at the end of the year, when he was elected for Wellington City (with Bell and Duthie). Again in 1896 he was returned (with Fisher and Hutcheson). From the time of his re-entry into politics Stout held aloof from the Liberal party and with a few personal followers gradually drifted into opposition. He had stood for election in opposition, and his group might almost have taken the place of the Conservative party, which was at the time in a moribund condition. But at heart he was a Liberal. He saw much being done by the Government of which he fully approved, and his own interest was being diverted from general politics into the temperance movement, of which he was a leading advocate for many years. His rivalry with Seddon was never a real factor in politics, and any hopes his friends might have had of his return to the premiership faded towards the end of the nineties. It then became apparent that he was likely to transfer from politics to the Supreme Court bench, for which his personal qualities and his distinguished legal career better suited him. On 10 Feb 1898 he resigned his seat in Parliament, thus bringing to a close a political experience in the elective sphere extending over 26 years. A consistent Liberal throughout, he had enacted many measures for the amelioration of social conditions, for the improvement of the system of education and even in land legislation. His handling of the land act of 1877 had so impressed Atkinson that he appointed Stout to the Otago land board in 1882, and thus gave him an opportunity of fighting the system of dummyism that was prevalent in the province at the time.

Education commanded from Stout all the fervour and enthusiasm of the intellectual Scot. In the debate on the education bill in 1877 he made an eloquent plea for a secular system, on the ground that every one of the 90 religious sects in his own province would have their conscience violated if their taxes were used to teach what they believed to be religious error. As early as 1885 he advocated technical education. He was a member of the council of Otago University from 1891 until 1898, when he went to live permanently in Wellington. There he was one of the founders of Victoria University College, a member of its council (1900-15 and 1918-23), and chairman in 1900, 1901 and 1905. He was a member also of the senate of the University of New Zealand continuously from 1884, and chancellor from 1903 until his retirement in 1923. Though his interest in academic education was profound, Stout was throughout life a free thinker and an agnostic. During the early years of his legal career in Dunedin he was leader of the agnostic school of thought and spoke at many public meetings in the Lyceum hall (afterwards known as the Alhambra). He was a prominent freemason, but in 1891 became dissociated from the order on account of a manifestation of intellectual freedom. When he was a past assistant grand master of ceremonies and district grand master of Otago and Southland he came into conflict with the grand lodge by obtaining from the Grand Orient of France a warrant to open a lodge in Wellington (of which he was master). Apart from his offence against the constitution in acting without the warrant of the grand lodge of England, Stout was held blameworthy in that he had taken part in an invasion of British territory by a foreign masonic body many of whose members had been declared by the grand lodge of England not to be true and genuine brethren, inasmuch as they had admitted to the craft professors of atheism (1878). Stout admitted his fault, but was deprived of his rank under the English grand lodge. Throughout life he remained a freethinker. His Liberalism in politics persisted, but his active interest after returning to Parliament in 1893, and even after he was appointed Chief Justice, was in the temperance movement. In that he and Lady Stout were staunch and outspoken, demanding complete abolition of the liquor traffic. In an interview with W. T. Stead in 1909, Stout declared himself against the nationalising proposals in England: 'I am absolutely against it. I would have no parley or truce with the sale of poison even if it be labelled alcohol.' In 1893 he favoured direct local control of the traffic by local option, which would remove the question from the sphere of general politics.

Appointed Chief Justice on 22 Jun 1899 (in succession to Sir James Prendergast) Stout administered the office with distinction for 27 years, until his voluntary retirement on 31 Jan 1926. His broad scholarship, his profound knowledge of the law, and his humane and practical approach to its administration eminently fitted him for the highest judicial position. The Supreme Court act of 1882, he contended, made court procedure here simpler and more effective than in any other British possession. He had had charge also of the bill adopting Stephen's criminal code. He constantly proposed legal reforms and was insistent that in criminal cases (including murder) a majority verdict should be sufficient. The unanimous verdict required in New Zealand he considered tended to defeat the ends of justice. He was interested also in the reform of the procedure for appeals to the Privy Council. When that tribunal delivered its judgment in the Porirua appeal, Stout denounced in strong terms the dangers of a system of sending appeals from dominion tribunals to be decided by an empire court which was not acquainted with the law of the dominion and was therefore unable properly to interpret it. The outcome of the agitation thus initiated was an arrangement that in hearing cases remitted from dominion courts the Privy Council should, if possible, have sitting with it a judge from the dominion interested. In 1913 Sir Joshua Williams was appointed to represent New Zealand in this capacity on the judicial committee of the Privy Council. In 1921 Stout was similarly appointed, and he took his seat with the judicial committee and as a Privy Councillor after 1924. On four occasions while Chief Justice Stout acted as administrator of the government during the absence of the governor or governor-general (1910, 1912, 1920 and 1924). When he retired from the bench he was still, at 82 years of age, in full possession of his faculties and able to suggest further amendments in the law. Stout was for 15 years chairman of the prisons board until he was called to the Legislative Council. He was keenly interested in the Maori race, and acted as a royal commission with Sir Apirana Ngata (1907-09) to consider the best methods of dealing with native lands. While in the Government he was much interested in the Polynesian question, and urged repeatedly that the Pacific island peoples should be brought under British rule, and preferably under New Zealand administration. In 1885, when he was Premier, the Samoan chiefs begged for annexation to New Zealand. Stout and his colleagues were anxious to accede to their request, but were restrained by the earnest warnings of the Colonial Office from taking any action which might antagonise Germany. Stout was afraid that New Zealand and Samoan interests might be subordinated to distant considerations, and warned the Colonial Office that Samoa was likely to fall into German hands - a prediction that was fulfilled during the Boer war.

Devoted to literature, Stout was himself a graceful and forceful writer. During a visit to Great Britain in 1909 he attended the Darwin centenary at Cambridge and the tercentenary of Geneva University. He was made an honorary LL.D. of Manchester and Edinburgh Universities and an honorary D.C.L. of Oxford.

Stout married (1876) Anna Paterson (1858-1931), daughter of John Logan (1819-95). Born in Dunedin, she was keenly interested in the feminist and temperance movements, and during a stay in England (1909-12) took part in the female suffrage campaign. She was one of the founders of the Society for the Protection of Women and Children and of the Plunket Society. Stout died on 19 Jul 1930, and his widow on 10 May 1931.

Otago P.C. Proc.; N.Z.P.D., pass. (notably 27 Aug 1875); N.Z. Law Reports; Brett's Auckland Almanac, 1879; Review of Reviews; Gisborne (p); Saunders (p); Reeves; Condliffe; Scholefield, Pacific; Who's Who N.Z., 1908; Beaglehole, Rossignol and Stewart; Otago Daily Times, 19 Jun 1879, 8 Jul 1884, 8 Mar 1895, 20 Jul 1930; N.Z. Times, 20 Jun 1879, 18 Aug 1911; N.Z. Herald, 14 Apr 1885, 15 Apr 1891, 24 Sep, 22 Oct 1892, 1 Mar 1893; Evening Post, 11 May 1931. Portrait: Parliament House; Supreme Court, Wellington.

Reference: Volume 2, page 173

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Leonard Stowe

Leonard Stowe

STOWE, LEONARD (1837-1920) was born at Tring Hall, Buckinghamshire, the son of a surgeon. He came to Nelson in the Lady Alice (1858). In 1864 he was appointed clerk of the Marlborough Provincial Council; in the following year clerk of the Legislative Council; and in 1889 Clerk of Parliaments. Stowe died on 25 Apr 1920.

N.Z.P.D., 29 Jun 1920; Who's Who N.Z., 1908.

Reference: Volume 2, page 173

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Robert Rodger Strang

Robert Rodger Strang

STRANG, ROBERT RODGER (1795-1874) was born in Scotland and for some years practised law in Glasgow. In 1840 he came to Wellington by the Bengal Merchant as solicitor to the New Zealand Company, and in 1841 he was appointed clerk of the peace. He became deputy registrar of the Supreme Court in 1846, and registrar in 1850, holding that position until he retired in 1870. Strang was a registrar, trustee and lay reader of St Andrew's Church. He died on 22 Sep 1874. His daughter, Susan Douglas, married Sir Donald McLean (q.v.).

Ward; N.Z. Times, 23 Sep 1874.

Reference: Volume 2, page 173

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Samuel John Stratford

Samuel John Stratford

STRATFORD, SAMUEL JOHN (1802-71) was trained for medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons in London. After graduating he served in the army, with the 72nd Highlanders. About 1830 he went to Canada where he spent many years in practice. Stratford arrived in New Zealand about 1854. He contested the superintendency of Auckland in 1861, but otherwise took little part in politics beyond representing Parnell in the Provincial Council in 1871. He was deeply interested in scientific inquiry, and was an active member of the Auckland Institute. He died on 4 Oct 1871.

Auckland P.C. Proc., 1871; Southern Cross, 7 Oct 1871.

Reference: Volume 2, page 173

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John Strauchon

John Strauchon

STRAUCHON, JOHN (1848-1934) was born at Swinton, Berwickshire. His father being factor to the Duke of Portland at Kilmarnock, he was educated at the Academy there and at Pryde's private academy, the Normal School and the School of Arts, all in Edinburgh. He came to Otago with his father and brother by the Pladda (1862) and was employed for a short time on the Otago Daily Times. In 1862 he was appointed to the provincial public works department as timekeeper at Oamaru and later at Hampden. He worked with G. M. Barr and Adam Johnston, and pegged out the telegraph line to the Waitaki. In 1865 he joined the Survey department and, having passed his examinations in 1868, was in the head office in Dunedin until 1870, when he took charge of the Martin's Bay settlement. He was district surveyor in South Otago to 1891, and was then chief surveyor and commissioner of crown lands in Westland (1891), Taranaki (1893), Wellington (1902) and Auckland (1908). In 1909 he became Surveyor-general, in 1910 Under-secretary for Lands and in 1912 also for Immigration, retiring from the service in 1914. (ISO. 1912.) Strauchon was on the recruiting commission (1915-16), the war relief society (1918-20), the native grievances commission (1920), the timber royalties commission (1923), the North Island representation commission, the National Park board, the Egmont reserves board and the New Zealand Institute of Surveyors (president 1919-20). He died on 24 Dec 1934.

Jourdain; Who's Who N.Z., 1932; Cycl. N.Z., vi (p); The Dominion, 27 Dec 1934. Portrait: Lands and Survey Department.

Reference: Volume 2, page 175

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Charles Henry Street

Charles Henry Street

STREET, CHARLES HENRY (1824-87) arrived in Otago in 1853 and took up land at Warepa, where he was a neighbour of T. B. Gillies (q.v.). Not succeeding on the land, he moved to Dunedin and accepted a post in the provincial treasury, but in 1859 resigned to join Robert Gillies in the well-known firm of Gillies and Street, land and estate agents. He was a member of the Provincial Council for North Harbour (1864-67) and was in the executive in 1866. He was for many years superintendent of Knox Sunday school. Street retired from the business in 1877 to live in Auckland, where he was recognised as a man of high integrity and business capacity, but declined to enter public life. He died on 18 Aug 1887.

Otago P.C. Proc., 1864-67

Auckland Star, 18 Aug 1887

Reference: Volume 2, page 175

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Alfred Rowland Chetham Strode

Alfred Rowland Chetham Strode

STRODE, ALFRED ROWLAND CHETHAM (1823-90) was the son of Admiral Sir E. Chetham, K.C.B., of South Hill House, near Shepton-Mallet, Somersetshire, who took the additional name of Strode on inheriting property. Strode arrived in Wellington in 1842, apparently accompanied by a brother. A few years later he was clerk to the magistrates in Wellington, and then sub-inspector of police. While he held this position the settlement was threatened by a Maori rising at the Hutt, and all the male inhabitants were enrolled in the militia. Strode, who held the rank of ensign, had extended authority as sub-inspector of police, and under his instructions a stockade was erected at Karori as a refuge for settlers in case of attack. He showed himself a brave and resourceful officer. At one point he garrisoned the residence of H. S. Chapman at Karori. He took part in the fighting in the Hutt valley and in the pursuit of the natives across the hills and up the Horokiwi valley; and he was close to Blackham when he was mortally wounded. Strode received the New Zealand medal for his services.

Two years later (1848) Sir George Grey appointed Strode deputy-inspector of police for the new settlement about to be established at Otago. He arrived there in the schooner Perseverance on 20 Apr with a small detachment of armed police. Three months later he was appointed resident magistrate and sub-treasurer for the province. When the emigrants arrived Strode found himself in the position of sheriff and chief magistrate. There being no local government, he was called upon as chairman of the local magistrates to preside at the meetings at which it was decided what works were necessary to be carried out. A man of pronounced ability and irreproachable character, he was nevertheless not one of the body of settlers, and appeared to them somewhat out of sympathy. As a member of the Church of England he presided at the first meeting, held in 1851, to organise that congregation. He was a churchwarden of the church in Moray place. When he stood for the Provincial Council in 1860 he was defeated for both a town and a country seat. As sheriff, he was the first warden appointed for the Otago goldfields.

A few years later (1865) he was appointed to the Legislative Council by the Weld Government. When the Stafford Government came into office Strode got the impression that they looked to him to assist in passing a taxing bill, and he resigned his seat (Nov 1867). He lived in Otago about 35 years. He was a founder of the Otago benevolent institution, and for many years chairman. He was also for some years to 1878 a member of the Otago land board. In 1869 he became a member of the Otago University council and treasurer, and he remained on the Council until 1884. Strode and W. Fraser (q.v.) owned the Earnscleugh run in 1862. In 1873, after holding the position of magistrate for 25 years, he resigned on pension. He went to live for a time at Waikouaiti, and then to England, where he spent the remainder of his life. He died on 13 May 1890.

Strode married (1851) Emily, daughter of William Borton (Banbury, Oxfordshire). She died in 1890.

G.B.O.P., 1846; N.Z. Gaz.; N.Z.P.D., 1865-67; Don; Cowan, i; Ross; Ward; Hocken; McIndoe; Independent, 9 Jan 1864; Otago Witness, 21 Jun 1862; Otago Daily Times, 26 Jun 1890, 20 Jun 1930 (p).

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Donald McNaughton Stuart

Donald McNaughton Stuart

STUART, DONALD McNAUGHTON (1819-94) was born in a small hamlet on the banks of the Tay. At the parish school at Kenmore he was under a university man named Armstrong, who taught him Gaelic, English, Latin, Greek, and mathematics, a solid grounding for the ambitious village boy. He was a great reader, and did not fail to profit in his education when he was appointed to read for an old couple who took in the Scotsman at the expense of a son who had prospered in England. By teaching, and by acting as local correspondent of the Fife Herald, Stuart earned money to take him to college. Two summers he spent in England to improve his speed. In 1837 he purchased the goodwill of the 'adventure' school in Leven, Fifeshire. Starting with one scholar at threepence a week, he did so well that in two years he was able to go to St Andrew's University. There by means of a bursary and slight financial help from home he maintained himself for four years as an undergraduate, and clubbed with others to purchase the Edinburgh Witness.

As he drew near the end of his University career Stuart encountered a setback. Taking umbrage at the activity of some students in securing the election of Thomas Chalmers as rector in opposition to their own candidate, the senate expelled Stuart from the University (to which he was eventually restored by a royal commission). Stuart went afterwards to New College, Edinburgh, to study theology under Chalmers. In 1844 he took a position as class master in a good school near Windsor, where he shortly became principal. While there he carried on his theological studies in London under Drs Lorimer, McCrie, and Hamilton, and completed them at Edinburgh. He was licensed to preach by the Free Church presbytery of Kelso, and shortly after received a call to the parish of Falstone, in North Tyne, near the border of Scotland, where he remained for 10 years.

In 1858 the opportunity arose which brought the young divine to Otago. A second Presbyterian church having been established in Dunedin (known as Knox Church), a commission consisting of Dr Bonar, Dr Guthrie, and Professor Miller (of Edinburgh University) was set up to select a man for the charge. 'A pious, energetic, and godly man,' said the order of reference, 'one who would take a particular interest in securing the hearts of young men for the public good, and who would visit and allure people to church-going habits.' Guthrie had met Stuart while he was ministering to his parish in Northumberland, and chiefly on his recommendation the commission chose him. In Jan 1860 Stuart, with his wife and children, landed in Dunedin from the ship Bosworth. Burns, in a spirit of helpful generosity, went away to Invercargill and left the pulpit at First Church to be occupied for seven weeks by the new minister, in order to permit him to influence as many as he could to join the new congregation. In May Stuart was inducted to his charge, and he entered on his duties with energetic cheerfulness. He remained there for the rest of his life, steadily strengthening his parish and widening his influence in the congregation and the community. In the pulpit and out, his utterances were marked by breadth of view and simplicity and homeliness of expression.

Stuart's activities extended far beyond the narrow limits of the church. He was keenly interested in all phases of education. He was a strong advocate of the establishment of a divinity hall in connection with the Presbyterian synod, and in the first year of its existence he was tutor in church history. The whole of the salary he received for that post he devoted to the foundation of two annual prizes. In 1875 he was a member of the board of advice to recommend reforms in connection with the Boys' High School. Two years later a board of governors was established to control both the Boys' and the Girls' Schools, and he was one of its members. He was chairman until his death. He was an original member of the council of Otago University. In 1871, 1874 and 1877 he was vice-chancellor, and he was chancellor from 1879 until his death. Though he was never reconciled to the surrender by Otago University of its power of conferring degrees, he became a member of the senate of the University of New Zealand in 1873, and remained so until 1881. Stuart always considered it a grave defect in the education act of New Zealand (1877) that it excluded the study of the Bible from the public schools, and both on the platform and in the pulpit he spoke vigorously as a leading member of the Bible in Schools' league. He was a strong supporter of the Patients and Prisoners' Aid society, of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, of the Benevolent institution, and the Industrial school.

In 1872 the University of St Andrews conferred upon him the honorary degree of doctor of divinity, a pleasing recognition of his services by the alma mater which 30 years earlier had expelled him on a point of conscience. In 1888, while on a six months' visit to Great Britain for the benefit of his health, he was elected moderator of the synod. In the following year the Rev A. P. Davidson was appointed co-pastor to assist in the work of the parish, and Stuart commenced to take a less strenuous part in public and church affairs. He died on 12 May 1894. His wife (Jessie Robertson, whom he married at Slough in 1850) died in 1862.

Cycl. N.Z., iv (p); Hocken; Ross; McIndoe; Herrington; Chisholm; Thompson; Otago Daily Times, 13 May 1894, 17 Jan 1930 (p); 12 May 1930.

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Edward Craig Stuart

Edward Craig Stuart

STUART, EDWARD CRAIG (1827-1911) was born in Edinburgh, the son of A. Stuart, writer to the signet, and received his early education at the Academy there. He was later at Trinity College, Dublin (1847), where he received the vice-chancellor's prize for divinity (1849), and graduated (1850) as junior moderator in ethics and logic and first-class in divinity. Ordained in 1850, he offered his services to the Church Missionary Society, and was sent to India with the Rev Valpy French to establish a mission college (now St John's) at Agra. In 1855 he went on to Jabalpur. He was secretary to the C.M.S. Calcutta committee (1860-72), and chaplain to Bishop Cotton. In 1874 health compelled him to seek change, and he visited Australia and New Zealand. Two years later he was proposed for the see of Waiapu, to which he was eventually elected on 24 Sep 1877. His consecration took place on 9 Dec. Stuart was Bishop of Waiapu for 16 years, and then resigned to go to Persia as a missionary. There he laboured for 16 years, mainly at Julfa and Ispahan. Stuart married a daughter of the Rev Dr M. de Courcy (Westmeath). He died on 15 Mar 1911.

Who's Who NZ., 1908; Jacobs; The Times, 20 Mar 1911; N.Z. Graphic, 19 Dec 1891 (p)

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James Meliss Stuart

James Meliss Stuart

STUART, JAMES MELISS (?-?) came from Port au Prince, Haiti, to Napier, where he became a partner in the firm of Stuart, Kinross and Co.

In 1861 he married Mary, a daughter of James Gordon of Glasgow. He was a member for the Town of Napier in the Provincial Council (1865-66).

Wellington Independent, 27 Dec 1861.

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Robert Stuart

Robert Stuart

STUART, ROBERT (1833-83) was born in Scotland. He arrived in New Zealand in 1852, and after gaining some experience settled on a run at Maorirua, on the Edendale plain. In 1857 he brought his first heavy Clydesdale horse from Australia and he bred many fine draught animals. Stuart was a member of the Otago Provincial Council (representing Murihiku) from 1858 to the end of 1859. Southland being then created a separate province, he represented Invercargill (1861-64) in the Southland Provincial Council, and was speaker of the Council all the time. In the late sixties Stuart left Southland and made his home in Hawkes Bay. There again he took a part in local government. He was elected the first mayor of Napier, holding office 1875-78; and was member of the Provincial Council for Suburban North from June 1875 until the abolition. In 1876 he contested the parliamentary election against W. R. Russell. Stuart was afterwards appointed resident magistrate at Napier. He was noted for his public spirit and charitable activities. His death occurred on 7 Jul 1883.

Beattie, ii; Proc. of P. Councils Otago, Southland, Hawkes Bay; Roberts, Southland

Daily Telegraph (Napier), 9 Jul 1883

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William Stuart

William Stuart

STUART, WILLIAM, settled in Southland about 1861 and sat in the Southland Provincial Council representing Wallacetown (1863-64) and Waikiwi (1864-66). He was an executive member some of the time, and provincial treasurer in 1865. For a number of years before his death (in 1881) he served as a deputy property tax commissioner.

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James Frederick Stuart-Wortley

James Frederick Stuart-Wortley

STUART-WORTLEY, JAMES FREDERICK (1833-70) was a son of the second Lord Wharncliffe, and came to Canterbury in the Charlotte Jane (1850). He took up land at Ellesmere in 1852 and later became a partner in the Hawkeswood estate at Waiau. From 1853 to 1855 he sat as member for Christchurch Country in the House of Representatives. In 1854 Wortley travelled from Taranaki to Rotorua with Weld, and in 1855 they visited Hawaii to see the effects of the volcanic eruption. Shortly afterwards he returned to England, where he died on 27 Nov 1870.

Cycl. N.Z., iii; Burke, Peerage; Lovat; Acland.

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John Studholme

John Studholme

STUDHOLME, JOHN (1829-1903) was the second son of John Studholme, of Morton House, near Carlisle. The family, which was of Scandinavian origin, first settled at Hinchcliffe, in Durham, and moved into Cumberland some centuries ago. Studholme was educated at Sedbergh school, in the West Riding. While he was there his father died. Nevertheless he went on to Oxford, entering at Queen's College. He was an exhibitioner of his College and a promising classical scholar. He rowed in his college eight; was in the winning boat in the University competitions, and a winner in rowing competitions at Henley (in company with Gordon Rich, q.v.). Among the fellows of Queen's College then were Henry Jacobs (q.v.) and William Thomson (afterwards Archbishop of York).

At Oxford Studholme became attracted to the colonies and had almost decided to go to Queensland when the Canterbury scheme came under his notice. He stopped short in his university course, purchased land orders, and with his brothers Paul and Michael sailed in Apr 1851 in the Labuan. The first land they selected, at Governor's Bay, was too restricted for their purpose, and before long they acquired The Terrace, and The Point, between the Rakaia and Selwyn rivers. In 1852, with George Brayshaw, they went to the Australian diggings, where they were associated for a while with Moorhouse. Having no luck, they returned to Nelson, and John walked alone to Christchurch. Finding the Waiau in flood, he went back to Kaikoura, and persuaded the whalers to row him to the south side of the mouth of the river. Having bought out Brayshaw's interest in The Terrace and taken temporary sub-leases of other blocks, the brothers worked nearly the whole country between the Selwyn and Rakaia, from the sea to the hills. John indulged his passion for exploring, making long journeys on foot and generally alone. Once he walked from Nelson to the Bluff. With the exception of Valpy, the Studholmes were the first white overlanders between Christchurch and Dunedin, and they were the first to cross cattle over the Waitaki river. On one occasion (1853) John and Michael walked to Dunedin to purchase cattle. The dealer sought to escape his bargain by declining to accept a cheque on a Christchurch bank. There being no way out of the difficulty, the brothers tossed a coin and the lot fell to John to walk to Christchurch for the money, with which he returned in less than three weeks.

In 1854, with Dr Menzies and Captain E. H. W. Bellairs, Studholme walked through south Otago to inspect the country which had been purchased by the Government from the natives. His two companions stopped at the Oreti, and Studholme continued alone as far as the Waiau. He selected a cattle station near Riverton, some country on the upper Taieri (afterwards Hawkdun station), and a tract between Makikihi and Waihao in south Canterbury. The last-named, known as the Waimate run, was taken up by Michael, and he drove his effects there in Jul 1854. Three years later the brothers took up an additional 25,000 acres in the forks of the Waihao. John, as the business partner, supervised the distant properties; Paul managed the Hororata run, and Michael at Waimate. Paul sold out in 1858 to live in Ireland, and John made his headquarters on the Rakaia run and built a new homestead on the Hororata river. In 1867 the brothers sold their interest in the Rakaia land and acquired the goodwill of the Coldstream run, then a government leasehold. They paid particular attention to their holdings in south Canterbury, improving the land and constantly importing stud sheep and cattle.

In 1875 John, Michael, Edward Moorhouse and others took up a large block of native leasehold in the Murimotu country, south of Ruapehu. This was at that time cut off by impenetrable bush from Wellington and Taranaki, and all wool and stores had to be carried on packhorses 120 miles on a Maori track between Murimotu and Napier. The Studholmes afterwards acquired the goodwill of the Maori leasehold of the Owhaoko block, in inland Patea, where a homestead was established 3,000 feet above sea-level. When these proved to be good country there were protracted disputes between different sections of the natives, and the Murimotu wool was held up for two years owing to this obstruction. The expense of litigation caused the partners to withdraw, and Studholme was left in alone until the end of the Murimotu lease, when the Government cut the land up for settlement. The Owhaoko lease expired some years later. Studholme had a share also in the Te Akau run, north of Raglan, and the Morrinsville run in the Thames valley, and spent much money fencing and draining. By 1878 the Studholmes had sold their Otago properties and Hororata and were concentrating on Coldstream and Waimate. Their total shearing tally on all their properties was about 115,000.

Studholme was not too much engrossed in his properties to play a part in public life. He went into politics several times unostentatiously and modestly, speaking as seldom as he could, and declining the invitation of Fox to join one of his cabinets. He was one of the earliest justices in the province. In 1857 he was elected to the Provincial Council as the first member for Timaru (which extended from the Ashburton to the Waitaki), but retired at the end of 1858. In 1861 he was elected to represent Rakaia, but retired in 1861. In 1869 he was elected for Ashburton, which he represented to 1874, when he retired to visit England. In Parliament Studholme represented Kaiapoi (1867-74) and Gladstone (1879-81). He was only once opposed, and the only time he ever addressed his constituents was at Waimate in 1879. In politics he supported Fox, Hall, and Atkinson, and he regarded Grey as a harmful politician. In 1864 Studholme was elected to the first Waitangi road board, of which he was chairman. In 1874 he and his brother presented to the town of Waimate an area of 83 acres, which bears the name of Knottingley Park. The Studholmes took a great interest in racing, and were for many years prominent owners. Such names as Knottingley (who won the Canterbury Cup twice), Magenta, Stormbird, Nebula, and Belle of the Isle were associated with the Waimate stables. Studholme was honorary secretary of the Canterbury Jockey club for some years, and for many more a steward and member of committee. In the business world he was a promoter of the New Zealand Shipping Co., of which he was a director for many years and finally on the London board. He also helped to establish the Union Insurance Co. (afterwards absorbed by the Alliance). Broad-minded, large-hearted, and generous, he was modest and retiring in disposition; a good citizen, and a bold and enterprising venturer.

Studholme died on 7 Mar 1903. He married (1862) Lucy Ellen Sykes, daughter of William Moorhouse, of Knottingley, Yorkshire, and sister of William Sefton Moorhouse. She died in 1926.

Canterbury P.C. Proc.; Cycl. N.Z., iii; Acland; Roberts; Andersen; Woodhouse; Australian Pastoralists' Review, 17 Apr 1903; Lyttelton Times, 29 Sep 1886; G. H. Scholefield in The Press, 10, 21 Mar 1903, 12 Jul 1890 (p). Portrait: Parliament House.

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John Studholme

John Studholme

STUDHOLME, JOHN (1863-1934), son of the above, was born at Hororata and educated at Farnborough, England, Christ's College (N.Z.) and Christ Church, Oxford (M.A.). He farmed for 40 years in the North Island and at Coldstream, Canterbury. He took an active part in local government, was president of the Farmers' Union (1901) and was prominent in the Bible-in-Schools movement and the Pan-Anglican Congress (1908). Studholme established a chair in home science at Otago University (1909). He served in the war of 1914-18, being assistant adjutant-general. (D.S.O. 1916; C.B.E. 1919.) He published: Some Records of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (1928), The Work of the Church among the White Settlers of New Zealand (1908) and Religious Instruction in the State Primary Schools of Great Britain (1930). Studholme married first a daughter of Archbishop Thomson, and second Katherine, daughter of Sir Charles Bowen. He died on 26 May 1934.

Who's Who N.Z., 1932; Studholme, op. cit.; Christ's Coll. List.; The Press, 27 May 1934 (p).

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Charles Suisted

Charles Suisted

SUISTED, CHARLES (1810-60), who was born in Karlstad, Sweden, travelled widely, and having become a naturalised British subject, settled in New Zealand in 1841. He took over what had been Barrett's hotel in Wellington and turned it into a first-class establishment. Successful in this venture, in 1855 he purchased the Goodwood station in Otago from Nairn and Pharazyn, and imported good stock. In 1858 he sold out, intending to return to business in Wellington, but he died on 19 Sep 1860. His wife, a daughter of Captain Patrick Richmond, died in the same year.

A son, James (born in 1844), was mayor of Westport for many years from 1888, and chairman of the harbour board. He married (1864) Laura Jane Eyre, who contributed to many magazines and papers, both in New Zealand and in England, and in 1884 was one of the first women to sit in the parliamentary press gallery. In 1894 she published From New Zealand to Norway. Mrs Suisted died in Westport in Sep 1903.

Beattie, ii; Pyke; Roberts, Southland; Ward; Otago Daily Times, 20 Sep 1860, 8 Sep 1903.

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George Sumpter

George Sumpter

SUMPTER, GEORGE (1836-1900) was born in Middlesex, England, emigrated to South Australia as a young man, and in 1861 came to Oamaru, where he was in business as a grain merchant and land and estate agent for many years. On the incorporation of the borough he became town clerk. He represented Waitaki in the Provincial Council (1871-75) and was for some time a member of the executive (1875). He was one of the first governors of the Waitaki Boys High School (1879); chairman of the public school committee, 15 years chairman of the harbour board and some time mayor of Oamaru. For 30 years he held a commission in the volunteers, rising from ensign (1871) to lieut-colonel (1889) and commanding the district for a while. Sumpter married (1858) a daughter of R. S. Newell (Chichester, England). He died on 11 Nov 1900.

Cycl. N.Z., iv; K. C. McDonald (p); Otago Daily Times, 12 Nov 1900.

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Robert Maxwell Sunley

Robert Maxwell Sunley

SUNLEY, ROBERT MAXWELL, was a settler in Bell Block, Taranaki, in the early fifties. He defeated J. C. Richmond for the Grey and Bell seat in the Provincial Council in 1857 and held it till 1861. He afterwards moved to Nelson province.

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Andrew Burn Suter

Andrew Burn Suter

SUTER, ANDREW BURN (1830-95) was born in London and was educated at St Paul's School and at Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating B.A. (senior optime) 1853, M.A. 1856. He was ordained deacon in 1855 and priest in 1856. For five years (1855-60) he was curate of St Dunstan's-in-the-West, and for six years vicar of All Saints, Mile End.

On 24 Aug 1866 Suter was consecrated at Canterbury Cathedral as Bishop of Nelson and created D.D. On 26 Sep 1867 he reached Nelson in the Cissy with four clergy. With the discovery of gold in 1866 the diocese had expanded in the direction of Westland, making extra demands upon his energy and resources, and calling for arduous and dangerous journeys. In his first years in New Zealand Suter created the archdeaconry of Marlborough (1868) and established the theological training college at Bishopdale. In 1873 he took to England for ordination his two first students (T. S. Grace and J. P. Kempthorne, q.v.) and there created a tutorship fund. On his return he founded the board of theological studies and revived the archdeaconry of Waimea (dormant since Archdeacon Paul's resignation in 1860). At the meeting of general synod in Nelson (1877) John R. Selwyn, son of the first Bishop of New Zealand, was consecrated as Bishop of Melanesia. Consolidation of diocesan institutions, the foundation of St Andrew's Orphanage and the opening of new churches marked the later years of Suter's bishopric. He was a good citizen as well as being a good bishop, with scholarly interests in art and general culture. He was a vigorous supporter of the rights of Nelson under the Midland railway contract. During the labour difficulties of 1890 he organised meetings for the discussion of social problems. In 1889 he was proposed for the primacy. Two years later, stricken with paralysis, Suter resigned his office. He died on 29 Mar 1895.

The Colonist, 30 Mar 1895; Nelson Diocesan Gazette, Oct 1933. Portrait: Nelson Evening Mail, 11 Dec 1926.

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Henry Suter

Henry Suter

SUTER, HENRY (1841-1918) was born in Zurich, Switzerland, educated there and at Munich, and trained as an analytical chemist. Having managed his father's silk works for some time, he decided to try his fortune in a new country and came to New Zealand with his family in 1887. He later took up bush land near Eketahuna, worked in Christchurch and as manager at Mount Cook, and acted as curator of the Auckland Museum during the absence of Cheeseman. An expert conchologist, he was engaged about 1910 to arrange the shells in the Canterbury and other museums. As a palaeontologist he did much work amongst the New Zealand molluscs of the tertiary period, on which he wrote bulletins for the Geological Survey (1915-21). His great Manual of New Zealand Mollusca (1913) described 1079 species, and marked an extraordinary advance in conchology. He had also many articles in the transactions and journal of the Malacological Society of London. Suter died on 31 Jul 1918.

Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol 51 (p); Suter, op. cit.; The Press, 2 Aug 1918.

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Donald Sutherland

Donald Sutherland

SUTHERLAND, DONALD (? 1840-1919) was born at Wick, Scotland. He went to sea and was still a young man when he landed in New Zealand, taking part in the Maori war (1863-70) in the militia, the water transport and the Armed Constabulary. He served in all the campaigns. He was a sailor before the mast in the Government steamer, and he afterwards sought for gold on the Thames field and followed the same occupation in the back country of Westland. He was settled for a short time at Jamestown, Martin's Bay. From there he landed about 1877 at the head of Milford Sound, and continued prospecting for gold. Three years later he was joined by a younger man, John Mackay, who assisted him in his explorations and sealing for sustenance. Sutherland occupied for about 12 years a flat of six or seven acres, part of which he cultivated. In 1878 he explored the Arthur river and discovered Lake Ada. By means of a small boat he examined much of the broken coastline and in Nov 1880 discovered the highest falls in New Zealand (1904 feet) which were named after him. In 1890 he found McKinnon's pass (which he named Balloon pass, unaware that McKinnon had already discovered it), and camped on the site now known as Quintin's. About 1890 he married a widow and for many years they kept an accommodation house at Milford. Sutherland made a remarkable collection of natural curiosities and was a close student of the bird life of the Sounds. When he died (24 Oct 1919) his wife declined to leave the accommodation house. He had few relatives in New Zealand.

J. Mylne, Pictorial New Zealand; Southern Cross, 15 Feb 1930; J. Cowan in N.Z. Railways Magazine, Apr 1933 (p); Otago Daily Times, 6, 12, 29 Oct 1888, 28 Nov, 1 Dec 1919; Evening Star 29 Nov 1919.

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James Hutchinson Sutter

James Hutchinson Sutter

SUTTER, JAMES HUTCHINSON (1818-1903) was born at Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, and took to a seafaring life, becoming a master mariner at the age of 21. For 15 years he sailed the world in command of trading ships, including a China clipper. He was part owner and commander of a ship engaged in the Greenland whale fisheries. When he was able to leave the sea with a small competence he came to New Zealand in the Alpine (1859). Sutter was four years in business in Dunedin and on the goldfields, and in 1863 settled in Timaru, where he opened a general store, timber yard and commission agency. He prospered continuously, and was able to retire in 1880. In the following year he became M.H.R. for Gladstone, which he represented to 1887, when he retired. Sutter was a moderate conservative, but in his second term maintained his independence. He was a member of the Timaru road board, of the harbour board (chairman twice); was 13 years on the borough council, and six times mayor of Timaru. He was also chairman of the Permanent Building society for 14 years, of the cemetery board five years, and of the Timaru Gas Co. Sutter died on 13 Apr 1903.

Cycl. N.Z., iii (p); Andersen; Timaru Herald, 14 Apr 1903. Portrait: Parliament House.

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Frederick Sutton

Frederick Sutton

SUTTON, FREDERICK (1836-1906) was born in Cambridgeshire and educated at Royston school. Coming to Hawkes Bay in 1857, he entered into business in Napier, and a few years later became interested in land on the Heretaunga plains. In 1867 he was elected to the Provincial Council for Napier Town, which he represented till 1875. For the last few months of the provincial period he was the representative of Napier City East. He was a member of the first Napier harbour board (1875). On the death of McLean he won the Napier seat in Parliament, holding it until 1881, and then defeating Sir William Russell for the Hawkes Bay seat, which he held 1881-84. He was chairman of the Hawkes Bay county council (1877-79) and a member of the education board. Sutton died on 26 Jan 1906.

Cycl. N.Z., vi; Daily Telegraph, 16 Oct 1925; Hawkes Bay Herald, 27 Jan 1906. Portrait: Parliament House.

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William Swainson

William Swainson

SWAINSON, WILLIAM (1789-1855) was born at Newington Butts, London, the eldest son of John Timothy Swainson. His family belonged originally to Welford, Kirkby Ireleth, Furness, Lancashire. His grandfather held a high position in the customs, and his father, who was lord of the manor of Hoylake, Cheshire, was collector of customs at Liverpool (1807-24). William conceived a taste for natural history from his father's collection of British shells and insects, and as a boy neglected his education for that hobby. His progress in languages was hindered by a serious impediment in his speech, and at the age of 14 he was appointed a junior clerk in the Liverpool customs. His passion for natural science developed into a strong desire to go abroad, and in 1806 he was appointed to a junior position on the staff of Commissary-general Wood. In 1807 he proceeded to Malta, and later to Sicily, where he spent eight years with the army of occupation. He had much leisure, which he devoted to the study of zoology and botany both there and in Greece. An outbreak of plague at Malta enforced upon him a new period of leisure, during which he completed his Greek and Sicilian sketches and arranged his collections. Swainson accompanied the army before which the French withdrew from Calabria. He was promoted unusually early to deputy-assistant commissary general (1810), and assistant (1813) and was then appointed chief of the department in Genoa. In 1814 he rejoined headquarters in Palermo. Under the guidance of Baron Bivona and other naturalists, he continued his work for the Flora Sicula and his study of the ichthyology of western Sicily.

In 1815 Swainson was compelled for health reasons to return to England, and he retired on half-pay to devote himself to scientific pursuits (1816). (F.L.S, 1816.) He now prepared to enter upon scientific exploration in South Africa; but took the opportunity of joining an expedition to Brazil with Koster (which sailed Nov 1816). The revolution of 1817 detained him in the Olinda district, and he accordingly proceeded to Rio de Janeiro, and there made the acquaintance of Dr Langsdorff and other members of the Austrian scientific expedition. With them he made many short journeys, and returned to England with rich collections of plants. (F.R.S., 1820.) He took an active interest in the use of lithography for the production of the Zoological Illustrations (1820-23) and in order effectively to superintend this work, in monthly parts, he moved to London, where he spent the next three years. The reception of this publication encouraged him to go on with the early numbers of Exotic Conchology (1822-25), but owing to technical difficulties, he could not finish the work. He was disappointed in his hope of a post in the British Museum (in place of Dr Leach). In 1823 he married Mary, only daughter of John Parkes, of Warwick, and in Paris he met Cuvier, St Hilaire and others. Thrown back upon authorship by the death of his father (1826), Swainson revised the entomological portion of Loudon's encyclopedias of agriculture and gardening, and afterwards wrote a companion volume on zoology, for which he made the drawings on wood. To be able to do this work, he left Warwick and lived at Tittenhanger Green, in Hampshire. There he spent six years working out his system of zoological classification, which eventually appeared in the Preliminary Discourse. After spending six months (1828) sketching in the Jardin des Plantes in Paris, he gave an outline of his views on their natural arrangement. Amongst his publications were the zoological portion of Murray's Encyclopedia of Geography, Birds of Brazil (1834); the birds of the Northern Zoology; The Birds of Western Africa (1837); and a volume on the natural arrangement of the flycatchers (1838).

Swainson in 1835 became a widower. Disappointment and financial losses in Mexican mines caused him to become interested in colonisation as an escape, and in 1839 he purchased land in New Zealand. He became a member of the committee of the New Zealand Company and of the Church of England committee to negotiate for the appointment of a bishop to New Zealand. Here ended his scientific literary work. Before leaving England he married (1840) Anne, daughter of Joseph Grasby, of Bawtry, Yorkshire. Swainson sailed with his family in the Jane which, after being laid up for repairs in Bahia for some weeks, reached New Zealand in Jun 1841. He selected three country sections of 100 acres each at the Hutt, and established there his estate of Hawkshead (named after his ancestors' home in Westmoreland). A few months later, when he had his property well in hand, many of his exotic plants established, and two acres sown in wheat, Taringakuri (q.v.) and his followers, who had erected a pa on the bank of the river, claimed the land and commenced to fell trees. For the next few years Swainson was in constant dread of interference. During the trouble at the Wairau he could not move from his farm, though he was a magistrate of the territory. Being on half-pay, he refrained from taking part in political matters, but he did duty as an officer of the militia and had charge of a body of friendlies in the operations of 1846. Besides his Hutt property he took up a considerable area of pastoral land in the Rangitikei. He made little out of his properties, being dependent for some years on his half-pay.

In the early fifties Swainson spent some time, at the invitation of Australian governments, exploring the flora of New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. The Australian trees were a difficult task for the naturalist, even after the work of Robert Brown and Cunningham. Swainson devoted himself entirely to gum trees, and before Jul 1852 claimed to have discovered the principle of their variation. He described altogether 1,520 species and varieties. Late in 1852 he commenced work for the government of Victoria. As a botanical draftsman he showed considerable skill and as an artist in water colours he made many sketches in the Hutt and Wellington districts during the years 1841-49. Swainson died at Lower Hutt, on 6 Dec 1855. He was a member of many learned societies abroad. In addition to the works mentioned, Swainson published Instructions for collecting and preserving subjects of natural history (1808; reprinted 1822 as The Naturalist's Guide); a description of birds collected on Sir John Franklin's voyage (1831); and papers before the Royal Society (1850, 1854). Mrs Swainson died on 23 Oct 1868. (See J. W. MARSHALL and A. W. F. HALCOMBE.)

Family information from Ian B. M. Hamilton, Lincoln's Inn, and J. W. Marshall; Leg. Council of Victoria, Proc., 1852; Cowan i; Ward (p); Arnold; Wakefield; Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopedia, vol. xi (biog. and p.); Victorian Naturalists' Society Jour., Nov 1908; Royal Society of Tasmania, 1855; Swainson, op. cit; Taxidermy, with the Biography of Zoologists, 1840; Mitchell Library Swainson papers.

Reference: Volume 2, page 179

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William Swainson

William Swainson

SWAINSON, WILLIAM (1809-84) was born at Lancaster, the eldest son of William Swainson, merchant. Educated at the Grammar School there, he was admitted to the Middle Temple in 1836 and called to the bar in 1838. After practising for some years as a conveyancer, he was nominated by Lord John Russell for the Attorney-generalship of New Zealand (1841). Fellow passengers in the Tyne were W. Martin (the Chief Justice) and Outhwaite, a solicitor who afterwards became registrar of the Supreme Court in Auckland.

On the long voyage, which terminated at Auckland on 25 Sep (after a call at Port Nicholson), Martin and Swainson spent much of their time drawing up rules for the procedure of the courts which they were charged to establish, and drafting some of the acts which would have to be passed by the colonial legislature as early as possible. Swainson displayed a disposition, quite unusual amongst lawyers of his day, to simplify the language of the English statutes so as to make them intelligible to the ordinary man. He was no slave to subtle technicalities, and in drafting conveyancing laws he swept away a mass of cumbrous English precedent. His influence in this respect is very marked in the subsequent legislation of the Legislative Council of New Zealand (1841-51) and of Parliament. Swainson had not merely to draft the legislation, but to steer it through the Council. Rusden remarks that he passed measure after measure which would excite the admiration of law reformers. Finally he had to appear in the courts of the Colony and plead them. He was a very competent advocate. His first appearance as Attorney-general was in the Legislative Council of pre-parliamentary years, and it is possible from the published reports of the session of 1851 to discern his political opinions on a variety of social and constitutional questions. He was an ardent advocate of open voting as against the ballot; he opposed the property qualification for membership of the Legislative Council as tending in a small community to limit the choice of the electors; and he advocated and provided in a bill a statutory qualification to enable natives to enjoy the franchise.

When the constitution of 1852 was brought into operation Swainson was the first member appointed to the Legislative Council (1853). Wynyard (acting-Governor) designated him Speaker of that chamber, and it was thought that he would conduct the business of the Government as well, but the standing orders adopted by the Council precluded his acting in the dual capacity or taking part in the debates of the Council. During the constitutional disputes of 1854-56 Swainson was the principal adviser of Wynyard and the main channel of communication between E. C. Wakefield and the Government. He became hopelessly embroiled in the struggle over responsible government. Naturally prudent and conservative, he carefully guarded himself against being drawn into too close association with Wakefield. He took the stand that in view of the royal instructions and the constitution itself the Administrator could not introduce responsible government on his own initiative. He felt strongly that continued sittings of the House only exacerbated the feelings of members and prevented cool reflection; and that it was advisable to adjourn while his Excellency communicated with the Colonial Office. The House was prorogued accordingly on 16 Sep 1854, and shortly afterwards Swainson went to England on leave. While he was away the Colonial Office decided, against his opinion, that there was no necessity for special instructions to enable responsible government to be brought in. It was accordingly put into effect, and in the session of 1856 provision was made for the retirement on pension of the three permanent officials (Swainson and one other having been appointed by the crown). He had been superseded as Speaker (8 Aug 1855), and he retired from his official position on 7 May 1856. He remained a member of the Legislative Council until 1867, but his last appearance in the Council was in Dec 1864.

In Parliament Swainson's attitude was strongly legalistic. For instance, when he intervened in 1863 and brought about the downfall of the Domett Government his real object was merely to protest against the absence of a government representative from the Council. Swainson was naturally retiring. He had a prudish horror of publicity and of the profane crowd. Gisborne remarks that he was an able lawyer, but an indifferent politician. His advice was not always sound, as for instance when he advised Shortland that England by the Treaty of Waitangi had acquired sovereignty only over a portion of the islands. He was sharply rebuked by the Colonial Office for suggesting that the royal commission under the great seal could be impugned by a subject, and even by a servant. That opinion he fully recanted in the Legislative Council on 26 Jul 1851, when he declared that the action of the crown was inviolable.

Swainson shared with Martin and Selwyn a passionate zeal for the rights of the Maori, and lost no opportunity of using his influence on their behalf. He appealed to Parliament to recognise and appreciate their regard for the laws of muru and tapu and their feeling of degradation and loss of prestige if they were imprisoned. He said: 'If but half of the forces which became necessary for the safety of the country had been stationed in New Zealand from the outset; and if the cost of the other half had been employed throughout the same period in maintaining a schoolmaster in every native pa and village charged with the instruction and the moral and intellectual training of the native people, it may be too much to say that the peace of the Colony would never have been disturbed, but it is certainly not too much to say that the foundations would have been laid on which alone the permanent peace and prosperity of the Colony could ultimately be secured.' Swainson played an important part in drafting the constitution of the Church of the Province of New Zealand (1857), and in getting it passed through the general synod (1859). He was for many years a member of the Auckland synod and from 1866 until his death chancellor of that diocese.

He had a distinct literary gift, and besides his polished legal opinions he wrote a number of books. Before leaving England he published a pamphlet on the climate of New Zealand (1840). In 1852 he published anonymously at Auckland a small book on the city and its neighbourhood, which was afterwards reprinted in England as Auckland, the Capital of New Zealand, and the Country Adjacent (1853). Visiting England two years later, he gave many lectures to encourage people to emigrate, and these were published in 1856, followed in 1859 by New Zealand and Its Colonisation. Like Martin, he felt impelled to make public his views on the Maori wars. In New Zealand and the War (1862) he showed the impolicy of going to war on account of the Waitara block, to which the Government's title was not a good one. Amongst Europeans Swainson had the character of a cultured and amiable gentleman, simple and unostentatious in his mode of life. For 30 years he lived in a small house (which he brought from England) at Tauraroa, Judge's Bay, close to the home of Martin. In his early years in New Zealand he made many journeys on foot in the Maori districts, visiting friends of the native race belonging to many tribes and missions. Swainson died at Auckland on 1 Dec 1884.

NZ.P.D., 1854-64; App. H.R., 1854-56; Thomson; Rusden; Saunders; Hight and Bamford; Reeves; Martin; Morton; Swainson, op. cit.

Sinclair papers; Richmond papers; GB.O.P., 1842-56; Cycl. NZ., ii (p); Purchas; NZ. Gaz.

N.Z. Herald, 26 Jan, 2 Dec 1884, 13 Jul 1929; N.Z. Spectator, 21 Jun, 26 Jul, 2 Aug 1851.

Reference: Volume 2, page 180

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George Henry Swan

George Henry Swan

SWAN, GEORGE HENRY (1833-1913) was a native of Sunderland, England, where he was educated; and he trained as a chemist in Newcastle-on-Tyne. He went to Australia (1851) and was in business at Dunolly. Arriving in Wellington in 1857, he started a photographer's establishment in partnership with Wrigglesworth, and in 1864 opened a branch at Napier, which was afterwards sold to S. Carnell (1870). In 1869 he purchased the White Swan brewery, of which he had been a shareholder and managing director since 1866. He was on the borough council from 1876 and was mayor of Napier (1885-1901). During his term he originated the esplanade project as a protective work and also the salt-water swimming baths. He was M.H.R. for Napier (1890-93), chairman of the hospital board and the Hawkes Bay united charitable aid board, and 17 years a member of the harbour board. In 1904 he moved to Wanganui.

Who's Who N.Z., 1908; N.Z.P.D., 30 Jul 1913; Cycl. N.Z., vi (p).

Reference: Volume 2, page 180

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William Turnbull Swan

William Turnbull Swan

SWAN, WILLIAM TURNBULL (1828-75) was a son of the Rev. T. Swan, of Birmingham. In 1868 he defeated W. T. Buckland for the Franklin seat in the House of Representatives, but he was defeated by him in 1870 for the Thames seat. From 1872 to 1875 he sat in the Auckland Provincial Council as member for Thames. Swan died on 15 Mar 1875.

Thames Advertiser, 6 Dec 1871, 15 Mar 1875.

Reference: Volume 2, page 180

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William Swanson

William Swanson

SWANSON, WILLIAM (1819-1903) was born at Leith, orphaned when quite young and brought up by his grandfather, who apprenticed him to a shipbuilder. Shortly after attaining his majority, Swanson emigrated to Auckland (1844), where he worked for wages for a while. He then built himself a vessel of 14 tons, and prepared to sail for California. The customs at Auckland refusing him a clearance owing to the small dimensions of the vessel, he proceeded to Bay of Islands and thence made his departure. Assisted by the knowledge of one of his passengers, Swanson reached Tahiti and afterwards Honolulu, where he sold the schooner and took land in payment. He worked for some time at four dollars a day and then proceeded to California, where he obtained regular employment at from 16 to 25 dollars a day. In 1852 he returned to New Zealand and took up land at a place which was afterwards called Swanson, where he entered energetically into the timber business and prospered for many years.

Swanson was a reserved type of man, reluctant to speak in public, but was held in high esteem and persuaded to offer his services in local government. He was a member for West Ward in the first city board of Auckland (1863). In the Auckland Provincial Council he represented the Northern Division (1863-65) and Auckland West (1865-75). He also represented Newton in Parliament (1871-84). Saunders describes him as "singularly bold, clear-sighted and courageous, but painfully conscious of his own educational deficiencies." Holding Liberal views, he was a foundation member of the reform league in 1879. For a few weeks in that year he was a member without portfolio of the Grey ministry, and he took a prominent part in the formation of the Hall cabinet later in the year. Swanson was one of the four Auckland Liberals who supported the Hall Government. He would never solicit votes, and at the general election of 1884 was defeated. A few months later he accepted the Stout-Vogel invitation to the Legislative Council, with the reservation that he must be entirely independent of party ties. He continued a member until his death on 23 Apr 1903. Swanson was a man of deep human sympathies. He supported many charities, strongly championed secular education, and for many years entertained public school pupils. He married Ani Rangitunoa (d. 4 Jan 1897).

Cycl. NZ., ii (P); Saunders, ii; Morton; N.Z. Herald, 24 Apr 1903.

Reference: Volume 2, page 180

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William Neilson Syme

William Neilson Syme

SYME, WILLIAM NEILSON (1829-99) was born in Scotland. He came to Otago in 1861 and to Taranaki in 1863. After serving as sergeant-major in the Military Settlers he took up land at Okato, being the pioneer of that district. He represented Omata in the Provincial Council from 1869 to the abolition, and was a member of the first Taranaki harbour board and New Plymouth education board (1874), the land board and the hospital and charitable aid board. He became a storekeeper in Okato and was chairman of the road board and the school committee. He died on 21 May 1899.

Taranaki Herald, 22 May 1899.

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Walter Symes

Walter Symes

SYMES, WALTER (1852-1914) was the son of a Somerset farmer, and came to Canterbury with his parents in the Ann Wilson (1857). He was educated at the public school in Nelson, the Wesleyan school in New Plymouth, and finally (his parents having removed to Wanganui in 1864), under Godwin, of the Wanganui collegiate school. Articled to H. B. Roberts (1869), he was unable to complete his term owing to the death of his tutor. He spent four years auctioneering in Wanganui and Palmerston North, and then went farming on D'Urville island. While in Wanganui he was lieutenant in the Alexandra Cavalry (1877; captain 1881), but resigned his commission on leaving the district to take up land at Waverley. There Symes was chairman of the Wairoa road board, and afterwards a member of the Patea county council (1883-95) and chairman (1886-95). He was also a member of the Patea harbour board (1885-95), the hospital board (1880-95), the licensing bench (chairman 1890-96) and honorary secretary of the Waverley and Waitotara racing club (1883-96). In 1890 Symes bought property at Toko, to which he removed in 1896. He was on the Stratford county council (1896-99). In 1896 he was elected M.H.R. for Egmont, which he represented to 1902 (defeating Monkhouse twice). From 1902 he sat for Stratford. He was chairman of the A-L petitions committee (1900-06). Symes formed the Stratford Mounted Rifles (1900), of which he was captain to 1901 (and thereafter life captain). He married (1882) Elizabeth Anne, daughter of John Treweek (Tokomairiro and Kai-iwi), and died on 14 Oct 1914.

Who's Who NZ., 1908; Cycl. NZ., vi (p); N.Z.P.D., 19 Oct 1914. Portrait: Parliament House.

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William Charles Symes

William Charles Symes

SYMES, WILLIAM CHARLES (1845-1919) was the son of a Somerset farmer and was born at Bridgwater. He came to Canterbury with his parents in the Ann Wilson (1857), and proceeded to New Plymouth. Owing to the war he was sent to Nelson to school (1861). In 1864 the family went to Wanganui, and about 1873 to Patea. Symes obtained a block of 1,500 acres at Manutahi, where he bred shorthorns and Lincoln sheep and did a good deal of cropping. In public life he was 19 years chairman of the Patea West road board, and 19 years a member and 11 years chairman of the Patea county council, besides being on the Patea harbour board and licensing bench and the hospital and charitable aid board for the combined district. Symes's chairmanship of the county council was marked by the rebuilding of practically all the bridges. He was also chairman of the Patea Jockey club, a steward of the Egmont Racing club and vice-president of the Hawera Hunt club. He married (1886) a daughter of Peter Hume (Wairarapa). He died on 28 Nov 1919.

Cycl. NZ., vi (p); Taranaki Herald, 2 Dec 1919.

Reference: Volume 2, page 180

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John Jermyn Symonds

John Jermyn Symonds

SYMONDS, JOHN JERMYN (1816-83), the youngest son of Sir William Symonds, surveyor to the Navy, was recommended by Lord Normanby in 1839 for employment in the survey department of New South Wales, and was appointed a draughtsman. He left before the end of 1841 to join his brother (Captain W. C. Symonds, q.v.), in New Zealand. He was appointed acting-protector of aborigines, and was engaged in the survey and purchase of native lands. In 1844 he was sent as police magistrate with F. Tuckett to purchase the Otago Block, and he signed the deed of purchase on 31 Jul 1844. The following year he volunteered for service with the 99th Regiment in Heke's war; received a commission, and was present at Ohaeawai and Ruapekapeka. In 1846 he was appointed private secretary to Governor Grey. He afterwards exchanged into the Ceylon Rifles, and proceeded to England with a staff appointment. He returned to New Zealand in 1849 in the Berhampore, in charge of a detachment of the New Zealand Fencibles, and settled with Kenny's company at Onehunga. G. S. Cooper found him a first-class bushman on the trip with Grey to Taupo (1849-50). He was appointed a justice of the peace in 1853. In Mar 1855 Symonds was appointed Native Secretary and a year later resident magistrate at Onehunga and principal returning officer. He was also magistrate at Kaipara, but resigned in 1858 on being elected to represent the Pensioner Settlements in the House of Representatives (1858-60). In 1861 he was again appointed magistrate and some years later a judge of the native land court, from which he retired in 1882. He died on 3 Jan 1883.

N.Z.P.D., 1858-61; G.B.O.P.; N.Z. Gaz.; Hocken; Cooper; N.Z. Herald, 5 Jan 1883.

Reference: Volume 2, page 181

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William Cornwallis Symonds

William Cornwallis Symonds

SYMONDS, WILLIAM CORNWALLIS (1810-41) was a son of Sir William Symonds, surveyor-general of the Navy. He received his commission in the 38th Regiment (1828), rising to a captaincy in 1839 in the 96th Regiment, with which he served for about seven years in the Indies. His father being a prominent member of the New Zealand Association (1837), Symonds was commissioned in that year to bring from France the Maori seamen, Nayti and Jackey, who had arrived at Havre in a French whaler.

Symonds is said to have visited New Zealand first about 1836. Two or three years later he came, by way of Sydney, as agent of a Scots company, the New Zealand Manukau and Waitemata Company, which had acquired a title to land on the Auckland isthmus by purchase from the executors of T. Mitchell. He was living at Kaipara before the settlers of the New Zealand Company arrived. He met Colonel Wakefield there when the Tory was wrecked (Dec 1839) and accompanied Dieffenbach in some of his explorations in the interior, towards Taupo and Tongariro. The land acquired by the Scots company was on the north shore of Manukau harbour, and Symonds laid out the town of Cornwallis near Puponga point. Having been instructed by his directors to afford every facility to Governor Hobson in establishing his government, Symonds assisted in getting signatures to the Treaty of Waitangi (including those of the Waikato chiefs at Mangere). He was appointed police magistrate at Waitemata and was present at the official occupation of the site (18 Sep 1840). As deputy-surveyor-general he co-operated in laying out the town of Auckland, and as police magistrate he witnessed the deed of sale by Apihai te Kawau and his colleagues to the Government (20 Oct). He was appointed member of the Legislative Council of New Zealand on 3 May 1841. Meanwhile the Scots company published its prospectus; and the first emigrants were despatched in the Brilliant (which arrived at Manukau on 28 Oct 1841). Symonds lost his life through drowning (23 Nov) while proceeding in an unseaworthy boat to take medical help to Mrs Hamlin at Manukau. Hobson regretted deeply the loss of one whose energy, zeal, manly bearing and urbane manners were qualities much wanted in a new colony. A powerfully built man, fond of outdoor exercises, Symonds was equally popular with both races.

Army List, 1840; Wakefield; Dieffenbach; Brett; Scholefield, Hobson; John Barr.

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