MORSE, NATHANIEL GEORGE (1822-82) was born at Exeter. He came to Nelson in the second ship (1842), and was one of the earliest settlers in the Motueka district. He afterwards took up Wantwood, a run of 20,000 acres, and was the first settler to establish himself on the Marlborough side of the mountains. In 1846 he fixed his sheep station at Tophouse, at the head of the Wairau valley. Fox in his report on Nelson (1848) describes him as well fitted for pioneer life. He had taken his sheep to the new country even before Sir George Grey arrived to effect the purchase from the natives. Morse eventually returned to the Waimea and remained there till 1873, when he removed to Wanganui. There he died on 16 Nov 1882. He took a great interest in breeding sheep and thoroughbred horses, and won many races with horses he bred, including Ladybird, Revoke, Atalanta and Day Dawn. He was a member of the Wangaehu highway board.

Morse was a member of the Legislative Council from 1866 to 1869, when he resigned. He was a keen volunteer, being for some time senior officer in command of Nelson district (from 1866), and he won the champion belt of New Zealand for shooting.

Parlty Record; Cycl. N.Z., v; C. A. Macdonald; Wanganui Chronicle, 17, 20 Nov 1882.

Reference: Volume 2, page 55

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