POPE, JAMES HENRY (1837-1913) was born at St Helier, Jersey, educated there at private schools and emigrated with his parents to Victoria (1852). He was engaged mainly on the gold diggings, but devoted much attention to self-education and was appointed in 1858 headmaster of a large primary school at Ballarat. He gained the highest qualifications of the Victorian denominational board of education. In 1863 he came to Otago and was assistant master at the Boys' High School till 1871. In 1872 he joined the staff of the Girls' High School as senior assistant and four years later he was appointed headmaster of the Ballarat college. Ill health compelled him to relinquish this post, and he returned to the Girls' High School as senior assistant till 1880, when he was appointed inspector of native schools under the act of that year. For 25 years Pope occupied that position. A scholar, a philosopher and a highly trained teacher, he succeeded in establishing the present system of Maori education and incidentally doing much to arrest the decline of the race. He retired in 1903.

Pope's publications included Health for the Maori (1884); The State (1887), and several class books. He was an accomplished linguist, an astronomer and a botanist and was keenly interested also in music and mental science. He married (1862) Helen G. Rattray. His death occurred on 3 Aug 1913.

Cycl. NZ. i (p); Who's Who N.Z., 1908; Butchers; Otago B.H.S. List; Fifty Years of National Education (1928); N.Z. Times, 4 Aug 1913; Otago Daily Times, 11 Feb 1864, 30 Jun 1876.

Reference: Volume 2, page 92

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