WARDELL, HERBERT SAMUEL (1830-1912), born in London, was educated privately. After working in the office of a civil engineer and surveyor, he took up the study of art, and gained a Somerset House scholarship. He exhibited sculpture at the Exhibition of 1851 and for a number of years at the Royal Academy. Arriving at Auckland in 1855 by the Merchantman, he was appointed resident magistrate for the East Coast of the North Island (1855). He was subsequently appointed to the Wellington district (1860); to Wairarapa (1863), and again to Wellington (1884-88). In 1861 he was appointed a commissioner of native reserves and district judge. Retiring on pension in 1888, Wardell served on the Stoke industrial school Commission (1890), the police commission (1898), the native schools trust land commission (1905), and the North Island representation commission (1908). He was a founder and first president of the Wellington home for the aged needy, and president of the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts, and of the Wairarapa Racing Club. He married (1853) Harriet (d. 1887), daughter of Samuel Thorne, of Staines, England, and in 1890 Lucy Caroline, widow of John Sheehan (q.v.). He died on 6 May 1912.

Cycl. NZ., i; Who's Who NZ., 1908; Evening Post, 7 May 1912.

Reference: Volume 2, page 234

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