BRAME, WILLIAM RAWSON (1833-63) was the son of a Baptist minister and was preparing for the church when his health failed and he entered upon his apprenticeship to a publisher in Birmingham. For a short time he edited the Mercury there, and then settled in Brussels as foreign correspondent of several English newspapers. He had published one novel, The Last of the Czars, and was engaged on another (Excelsior) when he conceived the idea of a Nonconformist settlement in New Zealand. Being a persuasive speaker, he had considerable success and took advantage of the prevailing sentiment on the occasion of the bi-centenary of the expulsion of Nonconformists from the Church of England to promote the Albertland Christian Colonisation movement. He was appointed honorary secretary and general manager and obtained from the Auckland provincial government the agency for colonists' land orders (of which he proposed to dispose of 4,000). Land was acquired at Oruawharo in Albertland (which was named after the Prince Consort). The colonists sailed between May 1862 and Oct 1863. They encountered unexpected difficulties in getting settled on their farms and friction occurred with Brame in respect to the township sections, which he claimed he had the right to dispose of. He paid only two short visits to Albertland, his death occurring in Auckland on 21 Mar 1863.

Auckland P.C. Proc; Brett, Albertlanders (P).

Reference: Volume 1, page 60

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