DEIGHTON, SAMUEL (1822-1900) was born in England and came to New Zealand in the Aurora (Jan 1840). Soon acquiring a knowledge of Maori, he was clerk and interpreter to the resident magistrate at Wanganui in 1846 and was elected captain of the first Wanganui company of volunteers (1860). He soon retired and, being fond of sport and horse-racing, spent much time with Maj. Trafford in Rangitikei.

During the war he was an inspector in the Colonial Defence Force and captain in the Militia. He saw service on both coasts and notably against Te Kooti in Poverty Bay and Wairoa. Afterwards he was in the Native Land Purchase department and magistrate at Wairoa (1865) and finally at Chatham Islands (1883). He compiled a Moriori vocabulary which was published in 1889. Retiring in 1898, he died on 9 Nov 1900.

His elder brother RICHARD DEIGHTON (b. 1819) arrived in Wellington in the Cuba on 22 Jan 1840, and was engaged on the survey. After the Wairau affray he had a stormy encounter with Te Rangihaeata (1843). Being at Wanganui in 1846 when a war party was about to start to join the disaffected natives at the Hutt, he volunteered to carry a letter to the Governor. This he achieved at great risk by joining the war party and eluding it on the journey. Grey was thus enabled to see Wi Kingi te Rangitake and Tamihana te Rauparaha and to prevent the recruits joining Rangihaeata. Deighton served in several engagements in the later Maori wars.

App. H.R. 1883 J4; 1889 G5; Gascoyne; Ward; J. G. Wilson; Cowan; McKillop; Lyttelton Times, 1 Nov 1900.

Reference: Volume 1, page 116

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