HOBSON, WILLIAM (1793-1842) was born in Waterford, Ireland, the son of Samuel Hobson, assistant barrister for the county of Cork, and his wife Martha Jones, who was seventh in descent from Henry Jones, Bishop of Clogher in the seventeenth century. In 1803 he entered the Royal Navy as a second-class volunteer and went to sea under the patronage of Sir John Poo Beresford in the frigate Virginie. In 1805 he was appointed to the frigate Dart (28 guns), in which he spent more than two years on the West Indies station, seeing much active service against pirates and privateers.

Passing for midshipman in 1806, Hobson was appointed to the Temeraire, and in 1808 he again served under Beresford in the Theseus (74 guns). His only engagement of large ships was when Willaumez made his escape from Brest. He was present at the boat attack on the French squadron in Basque roads, and also at Walcheren. Hobson again served with Beresford in the Poictiers (74 guns) in Portugal, and was supernumerary lieutenant in the Dragon in the West Indies. In 1812 he was appointed acting-lieutenant, and afterwards lieutenant, of the sloop Peruvian (18 guns), which captured the American privateer John after a chase of 15 hours. In 1814 he was present at the operations on the coast of Maine, including the expedition up the Penobscot river and the reduction of Hampden. Returning to England in June 1815, the Peruvian cruised in the Channel to gain tidings of the campaign of Waterloo, and after the surrender of Napoleon was with the escorting squadron which conveyed him to St Helena. In his next ship, the Spey, Hobson saw considerable service in the Mediterranean against pirates. He distinguished himself in command of the brig Frederick, which cut out of Smyrna harbour the pirate brig William, of Liverpool.

In the Tyne (28 guns) Hobson passed several years operating against pirates in the West Indies. While on independent service in command of the schooners Eliza and Whim, he was captured by Pepe Diablito in the port of Camaguey and eight days later cast adrift in the dismantled schooner without food, water or instruments. Punitive operations resulted in the capture of Aragonez, the leader of the band, and the Zaragonaza, of 120 tons and 80 men. During 1823 Hobson, with a small flotilla, practically demolished the piratical haunts in the northern cays of Cuba, for which he received the thanks of the Admiralty. While he was again temporarily in the power of pirates the command fell to Lieutenant Francis Liardet (q.v.). Admiral Owen recommended Hobson to the Admiralty as an officer 'who to the most persevering zeal unites discretion and sound judgment.' Promoted commander in May 1824, he commissioned the Ferret (10 guns) early in 1825 and spent another year in the West Indies. He then commanded the sloop Scylla (18 guns) for two years, capturing the letter of marque Diana, 20 guns and 170 men, in Jan 1827.

At the end of that year Hobson married, at Nassau, Eliza, only daughter of a Scots West India merchant, Robert Wear Elliott. He was not again employed until 1834, six years after paying off the Scylla, when, through the interest of Lord Auckland (now First Lord) he was posted to the frigate Rattlesnake (28 guns) to join the flag of the admiral commanding in the East Indies (Sir T. Bladen Capel). The company which he selected for this ship included three future admirals - T. M. C. Symonds (1813-94), Hastings R. Henry, afterwards Yelverton, and P. F. Shortland (1815-88). Shortly afterwards Lord Auckland was appointed Governor-general of India. In 1836 the Rattlesnake was detached to visit Australia. There Hobson was under the orders of Sir Richard Bourke, the Governor of New South Wales. He assisted to establish the new colony at Port Phillip, where the Rattlesnake lay for three months while her officers surveyed the harbour and helped to lay out the town of Melbourne. Bourke directed that the northern arm of the bay should bear Hobson's name. About this time Hobson was mentioned for the post of superintendent of the Bombay Marine, but he was already contemplating settling in one of the colonies, the climate of which was a great attraction.

The precarious situation of British settlers in New Zealand owing to the outbreak of a tribal war at Bay of Islands induced Bourke to despatch the Rattlesnake thither. Hobson made a careful study of conditions in the country and, with the advice of Marsden (who was visiting New Zealand at the time) and Henry Williams, he made many contacts with native chiefs, missionaries and the British Resident (James Busby). On his return to New South Wales he made an interesting report outlining a scheme for the government of the country through a system of factories similar to those existing in India at that time. Despatches were now received ordering the Rattlesnake to rejoin the flag at Trincomalee in view of projected operations against Burma in which, as senior officer, Hobson would take command. Counsels of peace prevailed, however, and the Rattlesnake proceeded to England and paid off. Again unemployed, Hobson spent some months with his family in Plymouth. The New Zealand question was becoming more insistent, and Lord Glenelg, when he retired from the post of Secretary for the Colonies in Feb 1839, expressed the opinion that steps must be taken to place British authority there on a definite basis. His successor (Lord Normanby) was impelled to act by reports of French activities and by the preparations made by the New Zealand Company to establish a colony in New Zealand. He considered the reports of Hobson and Busby on the proposed form of government, and decided to send an officer, in the capacity of consul, who might treat with the chiefs for the cession of sovereignty over portion or all of the country, and then become lieutenant-governor therein, subject to the jurisdiction of the governor of New South Wales. Hobson was chosen for the post (1 Jul 1839). On 14 Aug he received from the Secretary of State carefully drawn instructions, which laid emphasis upon the desire of the British Government to deal honestly with the natives and to safeguard their future interests against the encroachments of white settlement. He was not to be provided with a military force, nor even with the power to raise a militia of the white population.

On 25 Aug (four months after the departure of the Company's ship Tory) Hobson sailed with his wife and family, in H.M.S. Druid. In his party was Willoughby Shortland (q.v.), with whose family at Plymouth the Hobsons had lived on terms of close intimacy. Arriving in Port Jackson on 24 Dec, Hobson spent several weeks consulting with the Governor (Sir George Gipps) as to the machinery of government he should erect in New Zealand, the relations of New Zealand to New South Wales, the officials who should be taken to inaugurate the administration, and proclamations which were considered necessary to stop land speculation in the prospective colony. He sailed for New Zealand as a passenger in H.M.S. Herald (Captain Joseph Nias), and arrived at Bay of Islands on 29 Jan 1840. He at once got into touch with the British Resident (Busby) and the leading members of the Church Missionary Society. On the following day, in the mission church at Kororareka, he read his commission, extending the limits of the colony of New South Wales, and appointing him Lieutenant-governor over such part of New Zealand as might be ceded in sovereignty to the Queen. A memorial of the act was drawn up and signed by 40 European witnesses. Hobson then read proclamations announcing his assumption of office and warning claimants to land that only such claims as were derived from, or confirmed by, a grant from the crown would be held valid. Invitations were sent out for a meeting of chiefs to be held at Waitangi on 5 Feb to discuss the proposed cession of sovereignty. In all these proceedings Hobson was cordially assisted by the missionaries and the Resident. At the meeting on 5 Feb, and at subsequent meetings both at Waitangi and at other places in the north of Auckland, the chiefs signed the instrument ceding sovereignty to the Queen, and copies were thereafter taken elsewhere to receive the signatures of more distant chiefs. On 8 Feb the British flag was hoisted and saluted with 21 guns to celebrate the cession.

Having attended similar meetings in the Hokianga district, Hobson sailed on 21 Feb in the Herald for the dual purpose of obtaining signatures and inspecting the Waitemata district, which Williams had recommended as the site for the capital. On 1 Mar, as the result of fatigue and anxiety, he suffered a stroke of paralysis which temporarily incapacitated him for duty, and on the advice of Williams he was taken to the mission station at Waimate for rest and medical care. The Herald returned to Port Jackson for provisions, taking George Cooper, the official whom Gipps had expected to assume office in such a contingency.

Gipps in the circumstances decided to send to New Zealand Major Thomas Bunbury (q.v.), of the 80th Regiment, who had been acting as Governor of Norfolk Island, the understanding being that if he should find Hobson incapable of continuing his office Bunbury would assume the administration, with a salary of £1,000 a year. Hobson meanwhile had responded to the careful treatment he was receiving, and when Bunbury arrived at Bay of Islands in the Buffalo with a detachment of soldiers (16 Apr) he found Hobson had moved from Waimate to Paihia and had resumed almost the full burden of his duties. On the advice of his officials he had entered into an agreement with Captain Clendon for the purchase of his property at Okiato, in Bay of Islands, as a temporary seat of government. Bunbury co-operated loyally with Hobson in completing the cession of sovereignty, and at his request went to the southern parts of the country collecting signatures of chiefs. The Herald sailed for this purpose on 27 Apr, and the Queen's sovereignty was proclaimed at Stewart Island and (as regards the South Island) at Cloudy Bay (on 17 Jun). Shortland meanwhile had been sent to Port Nicholson to display the dignity and authority of the Crown amongst a body of settlers of the New Zealand Company who had been arriving in a series of ships since 22 Jan. Shortly after Bunbury's departure for the south Hobson received word from Port Nicholson of the proceedings of the settlers there. Acting under a voluntary agreement which they had signed before leaving England, they had constituted a committee or council for their own self-government, with legal officers purporting to act in the capacity of magistrates. On 14 Apr this tribunal adjudicated upon the complaint of a settler against the captain of the British brig Integrity. The defendant, refusing to acknowledge the authority of such a court, was committed to prison, and an attempt by his men to release him was repulsed by the settlers. He escaped from custody, however, and sailed for Bay of Islands to complain to the Governor. Believing the settlers at Port Nicholson guilty of high treason, Hobson on 21 May proposed to send Shortland with a detachment of troops to enforce obedience. In order to validate any action which Shortland might take he published two proclamations (dated 21 May), the one taking possession of the North Island by virtue of the cession of sovereignty by the chiefs, and the other taking possession of New Zealand by right of discovery. A third proclamation (23 May) declared the settlers' council illegal and ordered it to disband. Shortland left in the Integrity for Port Nicholson, where he arrived on 2 Jun. On the 4th he read his proclamations with ceremony before an eager and hospitable community which sent to Hobson addresses of loyalty. In Jul the French corvette Aube arrived in the Bay of Islands. As French settlers were also on the water, bound for Akaroa, Hobson despatched thither H.M.S. Britomart (Captain Owen Stanley) with magistrates to hold courts in token of the existence of British authority. The Company's settlers, who had influential support in Great Britain, urged Hobson more than once to establish his capital at Port Nicholson, where at the moment the largest British community was now settled. He had, however, made up his mind that the position on the Waitemata was the best. In Sep the land was purchased and formally proclaimed as the capital, and in Feb 1841 the Government shifted its headquarters there. The house which had been brought from England in the Company's ship Platina was accordingly erected, the Britomart's officers helped to survey the bay, and Felton Mathew laid out the city with some resemblance to the plan of Bath.

The founding of the new town inevitably attracted labourers from the southern settlement, and brought upon Hobson the further reproaches of the Company's settlers. The disallowance of the Company's purported purchases of land also caused the settlers at Port Nicholson grave anxiety. Their ably-conducted press bitterly attacked Hobson as the cause of their troubles. Since the mother colony of New South Wales declined to provide for its dependency, Hobson was embarrassed by lack of money, and he was handicapped from the outset by the indifferent quality of his officials. Public meetings in Wellington demanded the recall of the Governor. When despatches arrived which announced the separation of New Zealand from New South Wales and its erection into an independent colony, the Port Nicholson settlers adopted an address congratulating him upon his promotion, but repeating all the arguments previously used to induce him to make his home in Wellington. Hobson replied in conciliatory terms, and took the first opportunity (in Aug 1841) of paying a visit to Wellington. He was on friendly terms with Colonel Wakefield, the principal agent, whom he desired to appoint a magistrate; but the question of a site for the Company's second settlement was a fresh cause of friction. Fearing that the settlements were not strong enough to maintain themselves against possible native hostility, Hobson discouraged further dispersion, and for that reason declined to allow the new colony to be planted at Port Cooper. He offered a site at Mahurangi, north of Auckland, which Wakefield rejected. The colony was finally located at Nelson, where the land available was not adequate. Far from his own official head, Hobson was anxious to propitiate what he recognised as a valuable body of settlers and the powerful Company behind them, but the bitter hostility of the Port Nicholson press and the truculence of some of their leaders militated against the establishment of cordial relations. Having comforted the southern settlers with an assurance as to the occupation of their lands, relieved them in respect to customs duties, and provided regular courts, Hobson returned to Auckland. During 1841 three officials of high character and attainments were sent from England to New Zealand, thereby considerably lightening Hobson's responsibility and strengthening his councils. William Swainson (q.v.) took office as Attorney-general, William Martin (q.v.) as Chief Justice, and shortly afterwards George Augustus Selwyn (q.v.) as Bishop of New Zealand. About the same time came despatches from the Colonial Secretary censuring Shortland and Mathew for their part in the land sales at Auckland and the purchase of the useless site at Russell (Okiato).

Hobson had as yet little grounds for the feeling that the Colony was secure. A trial at Maketu for the murder of the Roberton family at Motu Arohia, Bay of Islands (20 Nov 1841) terminated in the execution of the murderer (7 Mar 1842). While it was in progress the safety of the colonists hung in the balance. It was the wise and sympathetic hearing of the case by Martin rather than the available military force that vindicated British authority. Shortly afterwards, the Ngati-Maru chief Taraia reverted to the worst savagery of the race by devouring two of his enemies. The executive council was inclined to use its small force against this powerful offender, but Taraia insisted that the quarrel was purely a native one, in which the Government had no right to intervene. Fearing the consequences with so small a military force to support him, Hobson sent the protector of aborigines to remonstrate with Taraia, and the incident ended. Hobson's financial difficulties were grave. The revenues of the Colony were quite inadequate for the expenses of the administration, and with the advice of his Council, he issued bills on the British Treasury. In due course they were dishonoured, and he was reprimanded for adopting that forbidden expedient. The struggling settlers of Auckland now joined their criticism to that of Wellington and demanded the recall of the Governor. Hobson was too ill to receive the deputation, and he died on 10 Sep 1842. 'Had he lived a few weeks longer,' says Swainson, 'he would have been cheered by the knowledge that his general administration of the affairs of New Zealand was approved by her Majesty's Government; and that he might count on official support against the exaggerated pretensions of the Company and their agents.'

Hobson had many good qualities. Energy, decision and judgment he had always shown in times of action. He was a plain, practical naval officer, with wide experience, a high sense of justice and devotion to duty. Reeves says that 'most of his good deeds were his own.' He had a deeply religious nature, and was earnestly desirous that the natives of New Zealand should suffer no hurt from his administration and from the historic instrument by which they ceded their country to the British crown. Mrs Hobson died in 1876.

Hobson's only son, WILLIAM ROBERT (1831-80) was also a midshipman in the Navy. At the age of 20 he served in the Plover and other relief ships searching for Sir John Franklin in Behring straits (1851-55). He had great experience of sledge travel, and in 1857 McClintock asked for his services in the new expedition in the Fox. With one sledge drawn by four men and another by seven dogs Hobson discovered relics on King William island which established the fate of the explorer (3 May 1859). He was promoted commander and appointed to the Pantaloon (1860). In 1862 he commanded the Vigilant in operations in the Persian gulf. He was promoted captain in 1866 and retired, dying on 11 Oct 1880.

Admiralty records in Public Record Office; G.B.O.P., 1840/238; 1841/311; N.Z. Gaz.; Hist. Rec. Aust.; MS. letters in Turnbull Library; New South Wales Gaz.; Scholefield, Hobson (p); J. C. Beaglehole, Captain Hobson and the New Zealand Company; Buick, Waitangi and Akaroa; Bunbury; Marsden, L. and J.; Gisborne; Harrop, England and New Zealand; Carleton; James, Naval History; Rusden; Swainson; Reeves; E. J. Wakefield.

Portrait by Collins in Auckland Public Library (copy by James Macdonald in National Portrait Gallery).

Reference: Volume 1, page 215

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