HOWELL, JOHN (1809-74) was born at Eastbourne and lost his father at an early age. His first employment yielded him threepence a week, and with a friend he ran away to sea on a smuggling vessel. On their return from France they were apprehended by the coastguard, but he was released on account of his youth, and with a companion (Luxford) stowed away on an emigrant ship for Australia. On being discovered they worked their passage. Howell shipped on whalers for some years and in 1829 was first mate under Captain Lovett. He spent some years in New Zealand waters and eventually took service with John Jones (q.v.) at Waikouaiti.

In 1836 Jones sent Howell with three ships to establish a station at Jacobs river to replace the abandoned station at Preservation Inlet. The settlement which he established at Falls Point was successful, and in a few years Howell purchased it for himself. By his marriage in 1838 with Koikoi, a daughter of Horomoana Patu, the Ngati-Mamoe chief of Centre island, he received a wide expanse of land between the Waimatuku and Jacobs rivers. While enjoying his honeymoon in Sydney Howell persuaded his half brothers and sisters (the Stevens family) to give up their unsuccessful farms in Australia and make their homes in Southland. They came in the whaler Success (1842), his half sisters being the first white women in Southland. Cattle and horses were brought across to stock the run and George Stevens took charge of the marine store which Howell established at Riverton. Theophilus Daniel, who arrived soon after, married the youngest Miss Stevens.

In 1844 Howell received visits from Bishop Selwyn and F. Tuckett. Developing his mercantile interests, he built the schooner Amazon (laid down in 1848), which on her first voyage carried some French colonists from Akaroa to Tahiti, and then went on to prospect the riches of California. On the return Howell brought 500 sheep from Sydney. His wife having died, he married a daughter of Captain Brown, a sealer at Codfish island. He now definitely left the sea and lived in a substantial house of Tasmanian hardwood. His grants aggregated 50,000 acres, extending from Fairfax to Wreys Bush, to which in later years he added the Burwood estate, Fairlight, south of Kingston, and some smaller properties. He built a fine new country house, Eastbourne, at Flints Bush. Howell continued to own and sail small ships, but he persuaded many whaler friends to forsake the sea and settle down on the land. He represented Riverton in the Southland Provincial Council (1862-69). He died on 25 May 1874.

Riverton; Roberts, Southland; Beattie, ii; Cycl. N.Z., iv; Southland Times, 24 Apr 1937.

Reference: Volume 1, page 225

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