HADFIELD, OCTAVIUS (1814-1904) was born at Bonchurch, Isle of Wight, the last of the family of sixteen of Joseph Hadfield. He spent 10 years of his boyhood abroad, mainly in Brussels, Lille, Tours and Paris, and during this time gained a good command of languages and was so influenced by the doctrine of the Atonement as to wish to become a missionary.

Returning to England in 1828, he entered Charterhouse School the following year, but in 1831, owing to delicate health, had to leave and spend his time in the open. He entered Pembroke College, Oxford, in 1832, occupying rooms once tenanted by Samuel Johnson. Here again his studies were interrupted, and he spent a year in the mild climate of the Azores. In 1835 he returned to England determined to become a clergyman and entered upon the study of the Greek Testament and Aristotle. Having decided in 1836 to become a missionary in New Zealand he found that by not having graduated he was ineligible for ordination. He was, however, accepted by the Church Missionary Society as a lay missionary (Oct 1837). Learning that Bishop Broughton would ordain without a degree, he sailed for Australia in the John (Dec 1837). After a trying voyage with a mutinous crew he reached Sydney, where he was ordained deacon (Sep 1838).

Hadfield was tall and spare, very delicate in health, but with a richly cultured mind-analytical and logical-and a bent for languages and philosophy. In Dec 1838 he sailed with Broughton for Bay of Islands in H.M.S. Pelorus, and on 6 Jan 1839 was ordained priest at Paihia (Henry Williams, William Williams and R. Maunsell taking part in the ceremony). He had been about nine months attached to the native school studying Maori when Katu (son of Rauparaha), and Matene te Whiwhi (q.v.) arrived asking that a missionary should be sent to Waikanae. Hadfield at once volunteered for the post, and proceeded thither with Henry Williams. Finding the Ngati-Raukawa and the Ngati-Awa at enmity over the sale of lands to the New Zealand Company, Williams remained to reconcile them, and on 5 Dec bade farewell to Hadfield. Though many of the natives were anxious for Christianity, others were demoralised by the example of whalers and traders, and Hadfield spent a few difficult years establishing himself at Waikanae and Otaki, between which he rode regularly almost daily. He made many dangerous journeys as far north as Wanganui and Patea and across the straits to Queen Charlotte sound. In 1841 he had 18 schools and 600 pupils, and his two services daily were attended by congregations of more than 500. While teaching as widely as he could, he never interested himself in secular matters or in the possession of land, and thus won the warm approval of the New Zealand Company. In 1840 he assisted Williams by calling a meeting of his tribes to sign the Treaty of Waitangi. In May 1844 he courageously confronted Te Heuheu at Waikanae and succeeded in staving off an attack by the combined Ngati-Raukawa and Ngati-Tuwharetoa on the Ngati-Awa people (led by Wiremu Kingi te Rangitake). In 1842 Hobson sailed past while Hadfield, in a strong northerly gale, was precariously steering his whaleboat across Cook strait. He accompanied Bishop Selwyn in his canoe voyage up the Manawatu river, and in 1843 he was almost drowned in attempting to save his fellow missionary (Mason) in the Turakina river. When Rauparaha and Rangihaeata returned from Wairau (Jun) and endeavoured to rouse their tribes against the Europeans, Hadfield firmly resisted their arguments at Waikanae. A favourable turn was given to the discussion by sound of the bell for religious service (rung by Riwai te Ahu), and on resuming Wiremu Kingi threw in his influence in favour of the Europeans and announced that he would not allow the hostile tribes to attack Port Nicholson. Having prevailed over the chiefs, Hadfield rode into Wellington (20 Jun). Later at Waikanae he introduced Governor FitzRoy to discuss the Wairau affair. Hadfield's health, always frail, broke down in 1844 and he was for the next five years lying on a sickbed in Wellington. During his illness Selwyn contemplated himself residing at Waikanae, which he regarded as a key position in the Island, but the arrival of the Rev Henry Govett enabled him to make other arrangements. Govett was succeeded by the Rev Samuel Williams, who organised the schools and the farming and boarding establishments with great success, and promoted the building of the Otaki church, which Hadfield had designed. Wiremu Kingi after his conversion was a faithful adherent and supporter of the mission, and Tamihana te Rauparaha (Katu) and Matene Te Whiwhi were enthusiastic teachers. Hadfield's constant attendant from 1839 was Riwai te Ahu (1818-66, of the Ngati-Kura branch of Ngati-Awa). He was the first native lay reader at Waikanae, and in 1855 was taken to St John's College by Selwyn, returning as an ordained deacon in 1856. For many years he had charge of the Manawatu district.

Governor Grey adopted Hadfield as his constant and trusted adviser, visiting him almost every day when he was in Waikanae or Wellington and acting invariably on his advice. He recognised that Hadfield had an intuitive knowledge of the Maori mind and that his illness gave him time for reflection. In 1848 Hadfield commenced a new treatment under Dr Fitzgerald, from which he profited so rapidly as to be able to return to his station in Oct 1849. Meanwhile he had been appointed archdeacon of Kapiti (Jan). Realising that Christianity was going through a period of 'withering' after its first flush in the forties, he paid great attention to farming and handicrafts, and interested some of his leading supporters in scientific farming and the breeding of shorthorn cattle and merino sheep. In 1852 Hadfield married Catherine, daughter of Archdeacon Henry Williams. She took charge of the girls' school.

In public life Hadfield came under criticism again and again for his participation in political questions. In 1857, in the interests of the natives, he supported Welch for the superintendency. He opposed the Constitutional Association on the same grounds, and made a strenuous fight against the education bill, the result of which was that the denominational system was retained. In 1856 he wrote important letters to the Governor (Gore-Browne) suggesting means of reconciling the two races and making use of intelligent Maori in their own government by appointing trustworthy men as assessors. In 1857 he took a prominent part in the drawing up of the New Zealand Church constitution. He was offered the bishopric of Wellington in 1858, but declined owing to his feeble health and went to England as chaplain to Archdeacon Abraham (who was proceeding to be consecrated to the see).

Hadfield had as early as 1845 drawn up for Grey a paper on the Maori tenure of land. He warned the Government in 1857 that the changes in the system of purchase were likely to cause grave resentment. Individual purchase he considered undesirable and he strongly urged the Government to define clearly the native title. On his return from England in 1859 he had letters from Wiremu Kingi warning him that the Government was driving him into war over the Waitara purchase. He did not realise then the gravity of the position, but shortly afterwards, believing the Waitara war to be unjust, he said so with candour and fearlessness, incurring wide odium. Throughout 1860 he took his stand with Selwyn, Martin and Swainson in condemning the native policy of the Government, and he was called before the bar of the House of Representatives on 14 Aug to undergo a searching examination on native affairs (by C. W. Richmond and Whitaker). Nevertheless he restrained his own tribes from taking part in the war. Hadfield wrote two important pamphlets on One of England's Little Wars, to show that Wi Kingi had been unjustly treated. Grey in Apr 1863 admitted the mistake, and Stafford in 1868 confessed that the war was wrong but said that his colleagues had forced him into it. Throughout the difficult period 1861-67 Hadfield kept the Ngati-Raukawa people loyal. The most difficult crisis was in 1865, after the murder of Volkner, when a strong Hauhau deputation, under Te Ua, visited Waikanae and endeavoured to persuade the local tribes to join the movement. On that occasion Henare Matene Te Whiwhi turned the scale in favour of the Government.

Hadfield felt his health failing in the late sixties. In 1870 he was consecrated Bishop of Wellington. He was the first deacon ordained in Australia, the first priest ordained in New Zealand, and the first bishop consecrated in New Zealand without royal warrant (which he declined to accept). In later years he became the intimate and close friend of Richmond, whose antagonist he had been on the native question. He was a fearless controversialist, caring nothing for public opinion, and a wise administrator. He opposed the doctrine of evolution, rationalism and scientific Bible criticism. Hadfield was a strong supporter of Wanganui College, which he supervised for most of the period 1853-93, and he fought strenuously in defence of the College trust. He appeared as a principal witness in the Bryce v. Rusden libel case in London (1884) and had several warm controversies on constitutional questions in the synod. In 1890 he was elected primate, and four years later he resigned the see and the primacy to live in retirement at Marton. Mrs Hadfield died in 1902 and Hadfield himself on 11 Dec 1904.

G.B. and G.P., pass; App. H.R., 1854-67; Buller; Cycl. N.Z., i (p); Wakefield; Saunders (p); typed letters and journals, Turnbull Library; Jacobs; Carleton; Godley, Letters; N.Z. Spectator, 14 Nov 1860; R. G. C. McNab, in The Press, 14 Mar-30 May 1931; Evening Post, 24 Oct 1929 (p).

Reference: Volume 1, page 187

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