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.

Reference: Volume 2, page 148

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