CREIGHTON, ROBERT JAMES (1835-93) was born in the north of Ireland and apprenticed to the printing trade in Belfast. He graduated to be a reporter and eventually to an editorial staff in Londonderry.

In 1861 he arrived in Auckland and in May 1862 joined with Scales and Tothill in the control of the Southern Cross, which they acquired from Brown and Campbell and turned into the first daily paper in the province, reducing the price from sixpence to threepence. Creighton succeeded McCabe as editor and by the withdrawal of Tothill (in 1863) and Scales (in 1867) he became sole proprietor. He was a vigorous writer and a sound political commentator, and the paper was very successful while the province prospered. During the Waikato war Creighton went into the field as a correspondent. He sent interesting despatches from all the fronts, including the East Coast and Gate Pa, and his brilliant descriptions of the fighting were copied by the London Times. Creighton was member of the Auckland Provincial Council for Newton (1865-69 and 1870-73) and was provincial secretary on two occasions (1868-69 and 1870). He was three times in Parliament (for Parnell 1865-66, Newton 1869-70, Eden 1871-75).

In 1868 Vogel purchased the Southern Cross and Creighton with some of his staff established the Auckland Free Press (May 1868), but it soon succumbed in the financial depression following the withdrawal of the troops from New Zealand. He then went to Dunedin where he managed and edited the Otago Guardian from its beginning (Jul 1873) till Oct 1874, when he became manager of the New Zealand Times, which had just absorbed the Independent. He later returned to Auckland to the editorial chair of the New Zealand Herald. Anxious to see more of the world, Creighton left for San Francisco, where he obtained an appointment on the Post and acted as American correspondent of the Otago Daily Times. He was mail agent for New Zealand in San Francisco and acted for the New Zealand government in various capacities. In 1880 he was instrumental in introducing Ligurian bees from California to New Zealand. For some time in the eighties he was in Honolulu, where he edited the Honolulu Commercial Advertiser. In 1891 Creighton visited New Zealand in connection with the mail services, and two years later he died in California (22 May 1893).

Auckland P.C. Proc.; Cycl. NZ., ii (p); Morton; NZ Herald, 28 Aug 1880, 26 May 1893; Otago Daily Times, 3 Oct 1874; Creighton on federation in Victorian Review, vol 5, p. 719.

Reference: Volume 1, page 108

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