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214-547: The New Zealand Company , chartered in the United Kingdom , was a company that existed in the first half of the 19th century on a business model that was focused on the systematic colonisation of New Zealand . The company was formed to carry out the principles devised by Edward Gibbon Wakefield , who envisaged the creation of a new-model English society in the Southern Hemisphere . Under Wakefield's model,

428-547: A House of Commons committee which itself comprised many Wakefield supporters, and when the committee handed down a report endorsing his ideas, he wrote to Lord Durham explaining that New Zealand was "the fittest country in the world for colonisation". Wakefield formed the New Zealand Association, and on 22 May 1837 chaired its first meeting, which was attended by ten others including MPs Molesworth and William Hutt , and R.S. Rintoul of The Spectator . After

642-719: A much more limited form of home rule , opted-out of joining the Free State and remained part of the Union under this limited form of self-government. In light of these changes, the British state was renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on 12 April 1927 with the Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act . The modern-day United Kingdom is the same state, that is to say a direct continuation of what remained after

856-828: A short-lived revolt in 1857. In overseas policy, the central policy was free trade , which enabled British financiers and merchants to operate successfully in many otherwise independent countries, as in South America. Beginning in earnest in the second half of the nineteenth century, the Imperial government granted increasing levels of autonomy to locally elected governments in colonies where white settlers had become demographically or politically dominant, with this process eventually resulting in Canada , Australia , New Zealand , Newfoundland and South Africa becoming self-governing dominions . While these dominions remained part of

1070-548: A 93-day journey, she was described as having made the fastest voyage at that time. She also brought the first news of the death of the United States President General William Henry Harrison to the colony. After participating in the exploration and survey of Nelson she returned to Wellington on 23 November and then sailed to Sydney. According to Lloyds register she was restored in 1853 and owned by Hendry & Co. H Silvers

1284-539: A cargo of 385 tons whale oil and 19 tons of bones. Among the cargo was an experimental shipment of staves and furniture woods, which it was hoped would provide another source of revenue for the colony. In 1845 she sailed for Bombay under Ashbridge. In 1849 she was on the Liverpool – Calcutta route under Captain Wood. In 1857 she was reported as sailing from Liverpool to Galle where she arrived on 28 September. There

1498-516: A cargo of timber for New Zealand, arriving at Port Phillip, Australia from Vancouver Island, Canada on 6 December with 330,000 feet of timber. While at Melbourne, she was advertised for sale. On 9 March 1864 she sailed from Sydney to Auckland arriving on 26 March under Elliot with 188 passengers, mainly for the Waikato. Unable to obtain cargo at Auckland she became a coal hulk in June. From 1879 she

1712-701: A century from the final defeat of Napoleon following the Battle of Waterloo to the outbreak of World War I , Britain was almost continuously at peace with Great Powers . The most notable exception was the Crimean War with the Russian Empire , in which actual hostilities were relatively limited. However, the United Kingdom did engage in extensive wars in Africa and Asia , such as the Opium Wars with

1926-550: A commitment to the landed aristocracy. He used his London residence as a venue for intimate dinners and private consultations, together with extensive correspondence that kept him in close touch with party leaders in the Commons and with leading figures in the Lords. He gave public rhetorical support to Ultra-Tory anti-reform positions, but then deftly changed positions toward the party's centre, especially when Peel needed support from

2140-493: A complete list, see Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs . The coalition that defeated Napoleon was financed by Britain, and held together at the Congress of Vienna in 1814–1815. It successfully broke Napoleon's comeback attempt in 1815. Castlereagh played a central role at Vienna, along with Austrian leader Klemens von Metternich . While many Europeans wanted to punish France heavily, Castlereagh insisted on

2354-595: A constitutional government there and recognising the independence of Spain's American colonies after their wars of independence in 1824. British merchants and financiers and, later, railway builders, played major roles in the economies of most Latin American nations. In the 1825 to 1867 era, widespread public demonstrations, some of them violent, escalated to demand reform. The ruling Tories were dead set against anything smacking of democracy or popular rule and favoured severe punishment of demonstrators, as exemplified by

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2568-607: A cost of about a halfpenny an acre. On 25 October he persuaded 10 chiefs at Kapiti to add crosses at the foot of an 1180-word document that confirmed they were permanently parting with all "rights, claims, titles and interests" to vast areas of land in both the South and North Islands as far north as present-day New Plymouth . On 8 November in Queen Charlotte Sound he secured the signature of an exiled Taranaki chief, Wiremu Kīngi , and 31 others for land whose description

2782-470: A few minor cabinet positions, but his reputation rests on his organising skills and his rhetorical leadership for reform. One historian summarised Bright's achievements: New Zealand Company ships#Lambton The New Zealand Company was a 19th-century English company that played a key role in the colonisation of New Zealand . The company was formed to carry out the principles of systematic colonisation devised by Edward Gibbon Wakefield , who envisaged

2996-483: A freight vessel, Glenbervie . At the rendezvous they were told of their final destination. Aurora was carrying 148 settlers. She was the first sailing ship wrecked while trying to leave Kaipara Harbour in April 1840. She was carrying a load of kauri spars, and the mail from Wellington for England. The Balley was a 161-ton a single deck schooner built at Shoreham by James Britton Balley in 1832. Her home port

3210-479: A freight vessel, the Glenbervie , which all sailed with instructions to rendezvous on 10 January 1840 at Port Hardy on d'Urville Island where they would be told of their final destination. It was expected that by that time William Wakefield would have bought land for the first settlement and had it surveyed, and also inspected the company's land claims at Kaipara and Hokianga. The company provided Wakefield with

3424-494: A high price to make a profit for shareholders and fund colonisation. The news created the need for swift action if private enterprise was to beat the Government to New Zealand. In a stirring speech, Wakefield told those present: "Possess yourselves of the soil and you are secure—but if from delay you allow others to do it before you, they will succeed and you will fail." Members of the two colonisation groups subsequently formed

3638-485: A lengthy list of instructions to be carried out on his arrival. He was told to seek land for settlements where there were safe harbours that would foster export trade, rivers allowing passage to fertile inland property, and waterfalls that could power industry. He was told the company was eager to acquire land around harbours on both sides of Cook Strait and that while Port Nicholson appeared the best site he should also closely examine Queen Charlotte Sound and Cloudy Bay at

3852-419: A long process, emphasising the urgent need in 1832 to settle the intense and growing political unrest across Britain. He believed that the respectable classes deserved to have their demands for greater representation met, but he refused to extend political power to the mass of the lower middle class and working class, saying that they were not ready to be trusted with it. He wanted to preserve the basic elements of

4066-551: A lottery to determine the ownership of specific allotments. Three ships, the Arrow , Whitby , and Will Watch , sailed that month for New Zealand with surveyors and labourers to prepare plots for the first settlers (scheduled to follow five months later). Land sales proved disappointing, however, and threatened the viability of the settlement: by early June only 326 allotments had been sold, with only 42 purchasers intending to actually travel to New Zealand. Things had improved little by

4280-521: A major impact on British opinion at the time and on history ever since as a symbol of officialdom brutally suppressing a peaceful demonstration thinking mistakenly that it was the start of an insurrection. The Ultra-Tories peaked in strength about 1819–1822 then lost ground inside the Tory Party. They were defeated in important breakthroughs that took place in the late 1820s in terms of tolerating first dissenting Protestants. An even more decisive blow

4494-521: A meeting on 6 June 1837 the Church Missionary Society passed four resolutions expressing its objection to the New Zealand Association plans, including the observation that previous experience had shown that European colonisation invariably inflicted grave injuries and injustices on the indigenous inhabitants. It also said the colonisation plans would interrupt or defeat missionary efforts for the religious improvement and civilisation of

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4708-405: A meeting with local Māori, expedition leader Arthur Wakefield claimed to have gained recognition – in exchange for "presents" of axes, a gun, gunpowder, blankets, biscuits and pipes – for the 1839 "purchases" in the area by William Wakefield. By January 1842 the advance guard had built more than 100 huts on the site of the future town in preparation for the arrival of the first settlers. A month later

4922-572: A mild peace, with the Kingdom of France to pay 700 million livre in indemnities and lose the territory seized after 1791. He realised that harsher terms would lead to a dangerous reaction in France, and now that the conservative old-fashioned Bourbons were back in power, they were no longer a threat to attempt to conquer all of Europe. Indeed, Castlereagh emphasised the need for a " balance of power ", whereby no nation would be powerful enough to threaten

5136-416: A million acres of New Zealand land acquired during its 1826 voyage, and Lord Durham, chairman of that company, was suggested as an ideal chairman of the new partnership. By the end of the year he had been elected to that role. Through late 1837 the New Zealand Association vigorously lobbied both the British government and Prime Minister Lord Melbourne , then returned with a revised Bill that addressed some of

5350-405: A new company when it merged with Wakefield's New Zealand Association in 1837, received its royal charter in 1840, reached the peak of efficiency about 1841, encountered financial problems from 1843 from which it never recovered, returned its charter in 1850 and wound up all remaining business with a final report in 1858. The company's board members included aristocrats, Members of Parliament and

5564-779: A new organisation, the New Zealand Land Company, with Lord Durham as its governor and five MPs among its 17 directors (in 1840 the directors were Joseph Somes , Viscount Ingestre , M.P., Lord Petre, Henry A. Aglionby , M.P., Francis Baring, M.P., John Ellorker Boulcott , John William Buckle , Russell Ellice, James Robert Gowen , John Hine, William Hutt, M.P., Stewart Marjoribanks, Sir William Molesworth, M.P., Alexander Nairn, Alderman John Pirie , Sir George Sinclair , M.P., John Abel Smith , M.P., Alderman William Thompson, M.P ., Frederick James Tollemache , M.P., Edward G. Wakefield, Sir Henry Webb, Arthur Willis, George Frederick Young ). The company acted urgently to fit out

5778-541: A popular revolution along the French model, employed severe repression. In the mid-1820s, however, as popular unrest increased, the government made a series of dramatic changes. The more liberal among the Tories rejected the ultraconservative "Ultra Tory" faction. The party split, key leaders switched sides, the Tories lost power, and the more liberally minded opposition Whigs took over. The Tory coalition fell apart, and it

5992-599: A portion of the funds would also be used to send emigrants to New Zealand. That plan, says historian Patricia Burns, was further proof of the "pervasive influence of the Wakefield theory". In April the Rev. Henry Williams was sent south by Hobson to seek further signatures to the treaty in the Port Nicholson area. He was forced to wait for 10 days before local chiefs would approach him and blamed their reluctance to sign

6206-416: A possible settlement, before sailing north to inspect land around Otago Harbour . Herd was unconvinced that area was the ideal location and sailed instead for Te Whanganui-a-Tara (present-day Wellington Harbour ), which Herd named Lambton Harbour. Herd explored the area and identified land at the south-west of the harbour as the best place for a European settlement, ignoring the presence of a large pā that

6420-485: A price high enough to generate profit to fund emigration. The Whig government in 1834 passed an Act authorising the establishment of the British Province of South Australia , but the planning and initial sales of land proceeded without Wakefield's involvement because of the illness and death of his daughter. Land in the town of Adelaide was offered at £1 per acre on maps showing town and country sites—though

6634-663: A process to appoint commissioners who would investigate all lands acquired from Māori and the conditions under which the transactions had taken place. The Bill also stipulated that Māori owned only the land which they "occupied", by living on or cultivating it; all other land was deemed "waste" land and owned by the Crown. The subsequent Act, passed on 4 August, prohibited the grant of any land purchase greater than four square miles (2560 acres). The New Zealand Company had already claimed to have bought two million acres (8,000 km), part of which it had sold directly to settlers, and when news of

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6848-426: A prominent magazine publisher, who used their political connections to ceaselessly lobby the British government to achieve its aims. The company bought a lot of land from Māori using questionable contracts and in many cases resold that land, with its title in doubt. The company launched elaborate, grandiose and sometimes fraudulent advertising campaigns. It vigorously attacked those it perceived as its opponents—chiefly

7062-530: A property in land intermixed with the property of civilised and industrious settlers and made really valuable by that circumstance." Wakefield arrived at Cook Strait on 16 August and spent several weeks exploring the bays and sounds at the north of the South Island. The Tory crossed Cook Strait on 20 September and with the aid of whaler and trader Dicky Barrett —who had lived among Māori in Taranaki and

7276-572: A resolution to the effect that "notwithstanding this temporary failure", members would persevere with their efforts to establish "a well-regulated system of colonization". Two months later, on 29 August 1838, 14 supporters of the association and the 1825 New Zealand Company convened to form a joint-stock company, the New Zealand Colonisation Association. Chaired by Lord Petre , the company was to have paid-up capital of £25,000 in 50 shares of £50, and declared its purpose

7490-400: A schedule, dated 1 September, which identified 110,000 acres at Port Nicholson, Porirua and Manawatu, 50,000 acres at Wanganui and 50,000 acres (later lifted to 60,000 acres) at New Plymouth; the government would waive its rights of pre-emption in those defined areas (thus abandoning any move to reclaim or resell lands possibly still owned by "residents" in the wake of the company's purchase from

7704-766: A second trip leaving London later in 1841 under Captain Robinson (or Robertson). On her voyage, going through the French Pass , she had been swept on an unmarked shoal by the tide and almost tipped onto her beam on a ledge. She was refloated without damage and reached Nelson in safety arriving on 9 February 1842. She went from there to New Plymouth and back to Wellington on 28 March. After a further return journey to New Plymouth from Wellington she sailed for Valparaiso on 4 June. She remained sailing between Wellington, Valparaiso, and Nelson until November 1843 when she returned to England. In March 1843 Brougham collided with

7918-520: A skirmish over land in the Wairau Valley, 25 km from Nelson. Arthur Wakefield claimed to have bought the land from the widow of a whaler who, in turn, had claimed to have bought it from chief Te Rauparaha . The chief denied having sold it. Although settlers in Nelson and Wellington were appalled at the slaughter at Wairau, an investigation by Governor Robert FitzRoy laid the blame squarely at

8132-632: A successful campaign against the Corn Laws. These were tariffs on imported food that kept up the price of grain to placate Tory landowners. The major factor in the cost of living was the price of food , and the Corn Laws kept the price high. Bright was a powerful speaker, which boosted him to election to parliament in 1843. His radical program included extension of the suffrage, land reform and reduction of taxation. He opposed factory reforms, labour unions and controls on hours For workers, women and children, arguing that government intervention in economic life

8346-613: A tenth of the land will be far more valuable than the whole was before ... the intention of the Company is not to make reserves for the Native owners in large blocks, as has been the common practice as to Indian reserves in North America, whereby settlement is impeded, and the savages are encouraged to continue savage, living apart from the civilized community ... instead of a barren possession with which they have parted, they will have

8560-663: A total of 13 ships. Another immigrant vessel, the London , sailed for New Zealand on 13 August, and before the year it was followed by Blenheim , Slains Castle , Lady Nugent , and Olympus . The New Zealand Company had long expected intervention by the British Government in its activities in New Zealand, and this finally occurred following the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi on 6 February 1840. The English text of

8774-495: A uniform fashion, and city officials were elected by the local taxpayers. By far the most important of the reforms was the democratisation of Parliament, which began in a small but highly controversial fashion in 1832 with the Reform Act of 1832 . The main impact was to drastically reduce the number of very small constituencies , with only a few dozen voters under the control of a local magnate. Industrial cities gained many of

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8988-838: A watered-down reform. He routinely gave the same advice to foreign governments. Diplomats across Europe took careful note of his move from the Tories to the Whigs, and suspected him of sympathy with the reform movements which were setting off upheavals in France, Belgium and elsewhere, and which frightened the reactionary governments of the major powers Russia, Austria and Russia. In reality he drew his foreign policy ideals from Canning. His main goals were to promote British strategic and economic interests worldwide, remain aloof from European alliances, mediate peace in Europe and use British naval power sparingly as needed. He worried most about France as an adversary, although he collaborated with them as in securing

9202-518: A wealthy shipowner and member of the committee. Within the British Government , meanwhile, concern had grown about the welfare of Māori and increasing lawlessness among the 2,000 British subjects in New Zealand, who were concentrated in the Bay of Islands . Because of the population of British subjects there, officials believed colonisation was now inevitable and at the end of 1838 the decision

9416-583: The Tory , advertise for a captain and surveyor and select Colonel William Wakefield as the expedition's commander. William Wakefield was authorised to spend £3000 on goods that could be used to barter for land. By 12 May 1839, when the Tory left England under the command of Captain Edward Chaffers, the company had already begun advertising and selling land in New Zealand, and by the end of July—months before

9630-719: The Allied and Associated Powers including the British Empire, France, Russia, Italy and the U.S. against the Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire . The deadliest conflict in human history up to that point, the war ended in an Allied victory in November 1918 but inflicted a massive cost to British manpower, materiel and treasure. Growing desire for Irish self-governance led to

9844-711: The Arab was engaged on the London – Bombay route under Captain G Forster. She may have been lost in a storm on 26 August 1847 in the Indian Ocean south of Indonesia and west of Australia at latitude 16 south longitude 99 east. The Arrow was a 212-ton snow-brig built at Stockton in 1840 and owned by J Irvine. Hired by the New Zealand Company as store ship. she arrived at Tasman Bay in October 1841 with

10058-666: The British Empire . Industrial Revolution accelerated, with textile mills joined by iron and steel, coal mining, railroads and shipbuilding. The second British Empire, founded after the loss of the Thirteen Colonies in the American Revolutionary War of the 1770s, was dramatically expanded in India , other parts of Asia, and Africa. There was little friction with other colonial powers until

10272-477: The British Isles , but it was smaller in terms of industry, finance, mercantile marine and naval strength. Napoleon expected that cutting Britain off from Continental Europe would end its economic hegemony. On the contrary Britain possessed the greatest industrial capacity in the world, and its mastery of the seas allowed it to build up considerable economic strength through trade to its possessions and

10486-682: The Brougham to sail to the Bay of Islands to try to persuade Governor Hobson to relocate New Zealand's capital from Russell to Wellington. He was unsuccessful and Hobson chose Auckland instead. The Brougham returned to Wellington on 16 August 1840. She remained in New Zealand waters until 5 May 1841 when she returned to London with the first export cargo from the area. A shipment of oil and whalebone. While in Wellington Harbour she assisted New Zealand Company settlers move their belongings from Petone to Wellington. Brougham made

10700-677: The Continental System . This policy aimed to eliminate the threat from the British by closing French-controlled territory to foreign trade. The British Army remained a minimal threat to France; it maintained a standing strength of just 220,000 men at the height of the Napoleonic Wars, whereas the French Imperial Army exceeded a million men—in addition to the armies of numerous allies and several hundred thousand national guardsmen that Napoleon could draft into

10914-517: The Crimean War against the Russian Empire in the 1850s. That war was strictly limited in terms of scope and impact. The major result was the realisation that military medical services needed urgent reform, as advocated by the nursing leader Florence Nightingale . British diplomats, led by Lord Palmerston , promoted British nationalism, opposed reactionary regimes on the continent, helped the Spanish colonies to free themselves and worked to shut down

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11128-635: The Cuba , with a surveyors' team headed by Captain William Mein Smith , R.A., set sail, and a month later—still with no word on the success of the Tory and Cuba —on 15 September 1839 it was followed from Gravesend, London, by the Oriental , the first of five 500-ton immigrant ships hired by the company. Following the Oriental were the Aurora, Adelaide, Duke of Roxburgh and Bengal Merchant , plus

11342-518: The French Revolution in 1793. Historians find that the violent radical element was small and weak; there were a handful of small conspiracies involving men with few followers and careless security; they were quickly suppressed. Nevertheless, techniques of repression included the suspension of Habeas Corpus in 1817 (allowing the government to arrest and hold suspects without cause or trial). Sidmouth 's Gagging Acts of 1817 heavily muzzled

11556-532: The Industrial Revolution progressed, society changed, becoming more urban. The postwar period saw an economic slump, and poor harvests and inflation caused widespread social unrest. British leadership was intensely conservative, ever watchful of signs of revolutionary activity of the sort that had so deeply affected France. Historians have found very few signs, noting that social movements such as Methodism strongly encouraged conservative support for

11770-746: The Irish War of Independence almost immediately after the conclusion of World War I, which resulted in British recognition of the Irish Free State in 1922. Although the Free State was explicitly governed under dominion status and thus was not a fully independent polity, as a dominion it was no longer considered to be part of the United Kingdom and ceased to be represented in the Westminster Parliament . Six northeastern counties in Ireland, which since 1920 were being governed under

11984-579: The Peterloo Massacre in Manchester in 1819. The Tory ranks were cracking, however, especially when Robert Peel (1788–1830) broke away on several critical issues. Nevertheless, the Whig party gets most of the credit. The middle classes, often led by nonconformist Protestants, turned against the Tories and scored the greatest gains. For example, symbolic restrictions on nonconformists called

12198-594: The Principality of Elba , peace appeared to have returned. Napoleon suddenly reappeared in 1815. The Allies united and the armies of Wellington and Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher defeated Napoleon once and for all at the Battle of Waterloo . To defeat France, Britain put heavy pressure on the United States , seizing merchant ships suspected of trading with France, and impressing sailors (conscription) born in Britain, regardless of their claimed American citizenship . British government agents armed Indigenous American tribes in Canada that were raiding American settlements on

12412-404: The Qing dynasty , to extend its overseas territorial holdings and influence. Britain's empire was expanded into most parts of Africa and much of South Asia. The Colonial Office and India Office ruled through a small number of administrators who managed the units of the empire locally, while local institutions began to develop. British India , by far the most important overseas possession, saw

12626-523: The St Pauli , with 140 passengers including John Beit, the "overbearing and arrogant, greedy, untruthful" New Zealand Company agent in Hamburg, went to Nelson instead. The New Zealand Company had begun its colonisation scheme without the approval of the British government; as late as May 1839 Parliamentary Under-secretary Henry Labouchere warned company director William Hutt that there was no guarantee that titles to land purchased from Māori would be recognised and that such land would be subject to repurchase by

12840-404: The Test Acts were abolished in 1828 . Much more controversial was the repeal of severe discrimination against Roman Catholics after the Irish Catholics organised, and threatened rebellion, forcing major concessions in 1829 . Financial reform, led by William Huskisson and Peel, rationalised the tariff system, and culminated in the great repeal of the tariffs on imported grain in 1846, much to

13054-483: The Tory in 1839, espoused the company's hope that interspersing Māori with white settlers would help them change their "rude and uncivilised habits". In a later book on his New Zealand adventures he wrote: "The constant example before their eyes, and constant emulation to attain the same results, would naturally lead the inferior race, by an easy ascent, to a capacity for acquiring the knowledge, habits, desires and comforts of their civilised neighbours." In November 1840,

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13268-419: The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland , after the Irish Free State gained a degree of independence in 1922. The United Kingdom, from its islands off the coast of Europe, financed the coalition that defeated France during the Napoleonic Wars , and further developed its dominant Royal Navy enabling the British Empire to become the foremost world power for the next century. For nearly

13482-440: The Whitby and Will Watch as part of the expedition to survey a second settlement for the Company at Nelson. On 1 November 1841 she was also the first sailing ship to enter Nelson harbour. Arrow Rock located by the old harbour entrance and south of Haulashore Island is named after her. She had sailed to New Zealand under Captain Geare on 27 May 1841 from The Downs, England. Arriving at Port Nicholson, Wellington on 28 August after

13696-399: The frontier . The Americans felt humiliated and demanded war to restore their honour, despite their complete unpreparedness. The War of 1812 was a minor sideshow to the British, but the American army performed very poorly, and was unable to successfully attack Canada. In 1813, the Americans took control of Lake Erie and thereby of western Ontario , knocking most of the Indian tribes out of

13910-454: The independence of Belgium from the Kingdom of the Netherlands . He much preferred liberal and reform-oriented nations to reactionary powers. He placed a high priority on building up British strength in India, He spoke often of pride in British nationalism, which found favour in public opinion and gave him a strong basis of support outside Parliament. Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) was an intellectual who focused on reforming English law . He

14124-486: The "betrayal" of the working classes and the "sacrificing" of their "interests" by the "misconduct" of the government. In 1838, Chartists issued the People's Charter demanding manhood suffrage, equal-sized election districts, voting by ballots, payment of Members of Parliament (so that poor men could serve), annual Parliaments, and abolition of property requirements. The ruling class saw the movement as dangerous. Multiple large peaceful meetings across England demanded change but

14338-463: The "overlords"), and in a confidential note Hobson promised that the government would "sanction any equitable arrangement you may make to induce those natives who reside within the limits referred to in the accompanying schedule, to yield up possession of their habitations" as long as no force was used. FitzRoy pressured Te Aro Māori to accept £300 for valuable land in the middle of Wellington for which they had never been paid, by explaining that their land

14552-562: The "unlimited power" the colony's founders would wield and what they regarded as the inevitable "conquest and extermination of the present inhabitants". Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the colonies Lord Howick and Permanent Under-Secretary James Stephen both were concerned about proposals for the settlements' founders to make laws for the colony, fearing it would create a dynasty beyond British government control, while Anglican and Wesleyan missionaries were alarmed by claims made in pamphlets written by Wakefield in which he declared that one of

14766-414: The 110,000 acres were taken in one continuous block, native reserves were guaranteed and that reserves were made for public purposes. In late September or early October 1840, MP and New Zealand Company Secretary Charles Buller appealed to the Colonial Office for help for the company which he claimed was in "distress". Over the next month, the two parties negotiated a three-part agreement that, once agreed,

14980-450: The 1790–1815 period there was an improvement in morals caused by the religious efforts by evangelicals inside the Church of England, and Dissenters or Nonconformist Protestants as people: became wiser, better, more frugal, more honest, more respectable, more virtuous, than they ever were before." Wickedness still flourished, but the good were getting better, as frivolous habits were discarded for more serious concerns. The leading moralist of

15194-404: The 1825 company and £40,000 paid to the New Zealand Colonisation Company of 1838 as well as £5250 paid for the Tory . The company's spending on placards, printing and advertising, employee salaries, and food and transport for the emigrants were also included in the total, along with the costs of goods, including firearms, that had been used to buy land. A final calculation in May 1841 was that under

15408-555: The 1830s known as Lord Durham) continued to pursue ways to become involved in commercial emigration schemes and was joined in his endeavours by Radical MPs Charles Buller and Sir William Molesworth . In 1831 and again in 1833 Buller and Molesworth backed Wakefield as he took to the Colonial Office elaborate plans to recreate a perfect English society in a new colony in South Australia in which land would be sold at

15622-469: The 1890s. British foreign policy avoided entangling alliances. Britain from the 1820s to the 1860s experienced a turbulent and exciting "age of reform". The century started with 15 years of war against France, ending in Wellington's triumph against Napoleon in 1815 at Waterloo. There followed 15 difficult years, in which the Tory Party, representing a small, rich landed aristocracy that was fearful of

15836-509: The 1960s and 1970s who argued against deep meanings of Whiggish progress because each of the reforms was relatively minor in itself. Historian Richard Davis concludes that the scholarship of the 1970s represented "a vindication of the main outlines of the old " Whig interpretation ." That is, the Reform Act of 1832 was a response to mounting popular pressure. It was "the culmination of a long historical process, and an important turning point in

16050-658: The British Colonial Office , successive governors of New Zealand, the Church Missionary Society and the prominent missionary Reverend Henry Williams , and it stridently opposed the Treaty of Waitangi , which was an obstacle to the company's obtaining the greatest possible amount of New Zealand land at the cheapest price. The company, in turn, was frequently criticised by the Colonial Office and New Zealand governors for its "trickery" and lies. Missionaries in New Zealand were also critical of

16264-521: The British Empire, in practice, these governments were permitted greater management of their own internal affairs, with Britain remaining primarily responsible for their foreign and trade policies. Rapid industrialisation that began in the decades prior to the state's formation continued up until the mid-19th century. The Great Irish Famine , exacerbated by government inaction in the mid-19th century, led to demographic collapse in much of Ireland and increased calls for Irish land reform . The 19th century

16478-580: The British Empire. In response, London began to cooperate with Japan , France and Russia, and moved closer to the United States . Although not formally allied with any of these powers, by 1914 British policy had all but committed to declaring war on Germany if the latter attacked France. This was realized in August 1914 when Germany invaded France via Belgium , whose neutrality had been guaranteed by London. The ensuing First World War eventually pitted

16692-518: The Chartists were unable to force serious constitutional debate. In July 1839, however, the House of Commons rejected, by 235 votes to 46, a motion to debate the Chartists' national petition, bearing 1.3 million signatures. Historians see Chartism as both a continuation of the 18th century fight against corruption and as a new stage in demands for democracy in an industrial society. Prime ministers of

16906-510: The Colonial Office in London each argued that if the Māori were to be compensated for land they had not sold, the other should pay it; the Colonial Office claimed that its agreement of November 1840 was made on the assumption that the company's claim was valid, while the company objected to being asked to prove that Māori in all transactions had both understood the contracts and had the right to sell. Company representatives in London attempted to challenge

17120-545: The Colonial Secretary over his rejection of the association's plans, and later that month the association's second Bill, introduced by Whig MP Francis Baring on 1 June, was defeated 92 votes to 32 at its second reading. Lord Howick described the failed Bill as "the most monstrous proposal I ever knew made to the House". Three weeks after the Bill's defeat, the New Zealand Association held its final meeting and passed

17334-470: The Colonies for state-assisted emigration programmes that would help British paupers escape poverty by moving to any of Britain's colonies. In 1829 Wakefield began publishing pamphlets and writing newspaper articles that were reprinted in a book, promoting the concept of systematic emigration to Australasia through a commercial profit-making enterprise. Wakefield's plan entailed a company buying land from

17548-528: The Colonisation Association and the 1825 New Zealand Company learned from Hutt the disturbing news that the Government's Bill for the colonisation of New Zealand would contain a clause that land from then on would be able to be bought only from the Government. Such a move would be a catastrophic blow for the Colonisation Association, for whom success depended on being able to acquire land at a cheap price, directly from Māori, and then sell it at

17762-556: The Crown. In January and February 1840 both New South Wales Governor George Gipps and Hobson in New Zealand issued proclamations that all land previously purchased from Māori would have to be confirmed by government title, and that any future direct purchases from Māori were null and void. Gipps introduced his New Zealand Land Claims Bill to the New South Wales Legislative Council in May 1840, instituting

17976-765: The Empire with the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 . The government purchased all the slaves for £20,000,000 (the money went to rich plantation owners who mostly lived in England), and freed the slaves, most of whom were in the Caribbean sugar islands. The Whigs became champions of Parliamentary reform by making the Reform Act of 1832 their signature measure. It sharply reduced the numbers of "rotten borough" and "pocket boroughs" (where elections were controlled by powerful families), and instead redistributed seats on

18190-472: The French armies when they were needed. Although the Royal Navy effectively disrupted France's extra-continental trade—both by seizing and threatening French shipping and by seizing French colonial possessions—it could do nothing about France's trade with the major continental economies and posed little threat to French territory in Europe. France's population and agricultural capacity far outstripped that of

18404-473: The Government is rising by its side, nay, daily counteracting its views." The Duke of Wellington, Britain's most famous war hero, told Peel, "If we cannot get rid of the Catholic Association, we must look to Civil War in Ireland sooner or later." Peel and Wellington agreed that to stop the momentum of the Catholic Association it was necessary to pass Catholic emancipation , which gave Catholics

18618-591: The Irish Free State's secession, as opposed to being an entirely new successor state . A brief period of limited independence for the Kingdom of Ireland came to an end following the Irish Rebellion of 1798 , which occurred during the British war with revolutionary France . The Kingdom of Great Britain 's fear of an independent Ireland siding against them with Revolutionary France resulted in

18832-498: The Māori. The society resolved to use "all suitable means" to defeat the association and both the Church and Wesleyan missionary societies began to wage campaigns in opposition to the company's plans, through pamphlets and lobbying to government. In September 1837, four months after the New Zealand Association's first meeting, discussions began with the 1825 New Zealand Company over a possible merger. The 1825 company claimed ownership of

19046-480: The New Zealand Company directors advised Wakefield that they wished to name the town at Lambton Harbour after the Duke of Wellington in recognition of his strong support for the company's principles of colonisation and his "strenuous and successful defence against its enemies of the measure for colonising South Australia ". Settlers enthusiastically accepted the proposal. The New Zealand Gazette and Wellington Spectator

19260-399: The New Zealand Company in a very difficult position. It did not have enough land to satisfy the arriving settlers and it could no longer legally sell the land it claimed it owned. Under instructions from the Colonial Office, Hobson was to set up a system in which much of the revenue raised from the sale of land to settlers would be used to cover the costs of administration and development, but

19474-440: The New Zealand Company was formed in London , headed by the wealthy John George Lambton , Whig MP (and later 1st Earl of Durham ). Other directors of the company were: The company unsuccessfully petitioned the British Government for a 31-year term of exclusive trade and for command over a military force, anticipating that large profits could be made from New Zealand flax , kauri timber, whaling, and sealing. Undeterred by

19688-414: The New Zealand Company £20,000. The failure of Lambton's project came to the attention of 30-year-old aspiring politician Edward Gibbon Wakefield , who was serving three years in jail for abducting a 15-year-old heiress . Wakefield, who had grown up in a family with roots in philanthropy and social reform, also showed an interest in proposals by Robert Wilmot-Horton , Under-Secretary of State for War and

19902-493: The Parliamentary level, there was a reorganisation of the governmental system in the rapidly growing cities, putting a premium on modernisation and expertise, and large electorates as opposed to small ruling cliques. A rapidly growing middle class, as well as active intellectuals, broaden the scope of reform to include humanitarian activities such as a new poor law and factory laws to protect women and children workers. In

20116-830: The Protestant faith, and his lack of support for the initiative led the Prime Minister, William Pitt the Younger , to resign. During the War of the Second Coalition (1799–1801), Britain occupied most of the French and Dutch overseas possessions , the Netherlands having become a satellite state of France in 1796, but tropical diseases claimed the lives of over 40,000 troops. When the Treaty of Amiens ended

20330-744: The Treaty is considered by many to have transferred sovereignty from Māori to the British Crown but this is far from a settled debate as the Te Reo Māori version has different wording. Regardless however, while under the Colonial Government's so-called pre-emption clause, Māori were prohibited from selling land to anyone but the Government and its agents. Lieutenant-Governor Hobson immediately froze all land sales and declared all existing purchases invalid pending investigation. The treaty put

20544-749: The United States. The Spanish uprising in 1808 at last permitted Britain to gain a foothold on the Continent. The Duke of Wellington gradually pushed the French out of Spain, and in early 1814, as Napoleon was being driven back in the east by the Royal Prussian Army , the Imperial Austrian Army , and the Imperial Russian Army , Wellington invaded southern France. After Napoleon's surrender and exile to

20758-492: The United States. The trend of emigration would continue in Ireland for decades and Ireland's population has never recovered to its pre-famine levels. The Irish language was almost wiped out. The failure of the British government to respond to the crisis in the eyes of the Irish people would lead to a growth in resentment of Britain and a rise in Irish nationalism . The famine is remembered in Ireland to this day as oppression by

20972-489: The Wakefield system of colonisation the company would carry out: 1100 sections, each comprising one " town acre " and 100 "country acres", would be sold in London, sight unseen, at £1 per acre, with the funds raised used to transport the emigrants to New Zealand. Emigrants would be selected either as capitalists or labourers, with labourers being required to work for the capitalists for several years before obtaining land of their own. One in 10 surveyed sections—scattered throughout

21186-450: The Wellington area since 1828 and also spoke "pidgin- Māori "—Wakefield began to offer guns, utensils and clothing to buy land from the Māori around Petone . Within a week he had secured the entire harbour and all surrounding ranges, and from then until November went on to secure signatures and marks on parchments that supposedly gave the company ownership of 20 million acres (8 million hectares)—about one-third of New Zealand's land surface at

21400-571: The Whig coalition in 1830. The Tories despised him thereafter as a turncoat, and many of the more radical Whigs were distrustful of his basically conservative views that saw him fainthearted about or opposed to reform measures. He typically warned on the one hand against delays and on the other hand against excessive enthusiasm for reforms, preferring compromise. He was keenly sensitive to public opinion, and indeed often shapes it through his dealings with newspaper editors. When he sensed that public demand had reached an unstoppable momentum, he would work for

21614-464: The Whigs to demand for civil and religious equality. Grievances included a 1753 law that to be legally recognised marriage had to take place in the Anglican parish church . The Anglican parish register was the only legally accepted birth documentation. The Anglican parish controlled the only religious burial grounds. The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge had to reject non-Anglican applicants. At

21828-674: The agreed formula the company was entitled to an initial 531,929 acres, with possibly another 400,000 to 500,000 acres to come. In May Russell agreed to allow the company a 20 per cent discount on the cost of 50,000 acres it wished to buy in New Plymouth and Nelson. Hobson visited the Wellington area for the first time in August 1841 and heard complaints first-hand from Māori both in the town and also from as far afield as Porirua and Kapiti that they had never sold their land. Hobson assured them that their unsold pā and cultivations would be protected, but within days provided William Wakefield with

22042-547: The aims of colonisation was to "civilise a barbarous people" who could "scarcely cultivate the earth". Māori, Wakefield wrote, "craved" colonisation and looked up to the Englishman "as being so eminently superior to himself, that the idea of asserting his own independence of equality never enters his mind". Wakefield suggested that once Māori chiefs had sold their land to settlers for a very small sum, they would be "adopted" by English families and be instructed and corrected. At

22256-483: The area was still little more than a sandhill—but sales were poor. In March 1836 a survey party sailed for South Australia and the first emigrants followed four months later. Wakefield claimed all credit for the establishment of the colony, but was disappointed with the outcome, claiming the land had been sold too cheaply. Instead, in late 1836, he set his sights on New Zealand, where his theories of "systematic" colonisation could be put into full effect. He gave evidence to

22470-468: The aristocracy in terms of its control of the House of Commons. However, it ran the government: of the ten prime ministers under Victoria, six were peers. The seventh was the son of a duke. Two (Peel and Gladstone) emerged from the business community and only one (Disraeli) was a self-made man . Of the 227 cabinet members between 1832 and 1905, 139 were sons of peers. Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington , who defeated Napoleon, served as

22684-529: The assembly of wooden houses that had been carried on each ship, while tents also soon dotted the dunes behind the beach. Local Māori assisted with the construction and also provided food—fish, potatoes and other vegetables and occasionally pork. Eight weeks later, in March, after all passenger ships had arrived, settlers voted to abandon surveying at Pito-one—where the swamps, repeated flooding and poor anchorage facilities were proving too much of an obstacle—and move

22898-443: The association's third meeting, by which time London banker John Wright, Irish aristocrat Earl Mount Cashell and Whig MP William Wolryche-Whitmore were also on board and the group was attracting favourable newspaper attention, Wakefield drafted a Bill to bring the association's plans to fruition. The draft attracted stiff opposition from Colonial Office officials and from the Church Missionary Society , who took issue both with

23112-611: The basis of population. It also broadened the franchise, adding 217,000 voters to an electorate of 435,000 in England and Wales . The main effect of the act was to weaken the power of the landed gentry , and enlarge the power of the professional and business middle-class , which now for the first time had a significant voice in Parliament. However, at this point the great majority of manual workers, clerks and farmers did not have enough property to qualify to vote. Many of them received

23326-649: The charter had therefore been withdrawn. The New Zealand Association's plans would again hinge on a Bill being introduced to, and passed by, Parliament. Public and political opinion continued to run against the association's proposals. In February 1838 The Times wrote disparagingly of the "moral and political paradise", the "radical Utopia in the Great Pacific" conceived in "the gorgeous fancy of Mr Edward Gibbon Wakefield", in March Parliament debated—then defeated—Molesworth's motion of no confidence in

23540-535: The charter, however, the association was told by Colonial Secretary Lord Glenelg it would have to become a joint stock company , and therefore have "a certain subscribed capital". In a letter to Lord Durham, Lord Glenelg explained that the government was aware of the risks of the proposed New Zealand venture and knew that the South Australian colony established under the Wakefield system was already heavily in debt. It therefore considered it reasonable that

23754-493: The colony would attract capitalists, who would then have a ready supply of labour: migrant labourers who could not initially afford to be property owners but would have the expectation of one-day buying land with their savings. The New Zealand Company established settlements at Wellington , Nelson , Wanganui and Dunedin and also became involved in the settling of New Plymouth and Christchurch . The original New Zealand Company started in 1825, with little success, then rose as

23968-457: The company for fear that its activities would lead to the "conquest and extermination" of Māori inhabitants. The company viewed itself as a prospective quasi-government of New Zealand and in 1845 and 1846 proposed splitting the colony in two, along a line from Mokau in the west to Cape Kidnappers in the east, with the north reserved for Māori and missionaries and the south becoming a self-governing province, known as "New Victoria" and managed by

24182-445: The company for that purpose. The British Colonial Secretary rejected the proposal. Only 15,500 settlers arrived in New Zealand as part of the company's colonisation schemes, but three of its settlements would, along with Auckland , become and remain the country's "main centres" and provide the foundation for the system of provincial government introduced in 1853. The earliest organised attempt to colonise New Zealand came in 1825, when

24396-661: The company had even learned the Tory had arrived in New Zealand—all available sections for its first settlement had been sold. The company had already been warned in a letter from the Parliamentary Under-Secretary that the government could give no guarantee of title to land bought from Māori, which would "probably" be liable to repurchase by the Crown . The company had also been told that the Government could neither encourage nor recognise its proceedings. The company's prospectus, issued on 2 May, detailed

24610-425: The company had spent on colonisation and then grant the company title to four acres for every pound it had expended. In return, the company would relinquish its claim to 20 million acres. He also promised the company a discount—at a level to be decided later—for a purchase from the government of 50,000 acres. The company began providing figures to the Colonial Office of its total outgoings, which included £20,000 paid to

24824-410: The company of the Tory and Glenbervie . She made three voyages bringing convicts arriving on 8 August 1849 (300 to Port Phillip, Tasmania), 16 April 1855 (260 to Western Australia), and 13 May 1863 (210 to Gibraltar, Australia). The Amelia Thompson was a 477-ton copper sheathed barque built by Philip Laing Esq. at Deptford, Sunderland in 1833 and owned by J Pirie of London. She was named after

25038-459: The company to have not millions of acres at the top of the South Island, but just the two small areas of Whakatu and Taitapu. And in December, a week after arriving at Hokianga to inspect the land bought from the 1825 New Zealand Company, Wakefield was told by Ngāpuhi chiefs that the only land the New Zealand Land Company could claim in the north was about a square mile at Hokianga. Further, there

25252-508: The company's intentions and seek approval. In line with his instructions, Wakefield promised local Māori they would be given reserves of land equal to one-tenth of the area, with their allotments chosen by lottery and sprinkled among the European settlers. The reserves were to remain inalienable to ensure that the Māori would not quickly sell the land to speculators. Jerningham Wakefield , the nephew of William Wakefield who had also arrived on

25466-420: The complicated nature of land ownership in the Port Nicholson area because of past wars and expulsions and from late October Wakefield was informed of—but dismissed—rumours that Māori had sold land that did not belong to them. Problems with some of their purchases were emerging, however. Ngāti Toa chief Te Rauparaha boarded the Tory near Kapiti to tell Wakefield that in its October agreement Ngāti Toa intended

25680-462: The conclusion of negotiations begun the previous November); the company explained to the 1842 Land Claims Commission that while the earlier deeds covering the same land had been with the "overlords", these new contracts were with residents of the lands, to overcome any resistance they might have to yield physical possession of the land. In July the company reported it had sent 1108 labouring emigrants and 242 cabin passengers to New Zealand and despatched

25894-534: The conquest of Europe the way Napoleon had. Vienna ushered in a century of peace, with no great wars and few important localised ones until the Crimean War (1853–1856). Prussia, Austria, and Russia, as absolute monarchies , tried to suppress liberalism wherever it might occur. Britain first took a Reactionary position at the Congress of Vienna in 1815, but relented and broke ranks with the absolute monarchies by 1820. Britain intervened in Portugal in 1826 to defend

26108-458: The creation of a new-model English society in the southern hemisphere. Under Wakefield's model, the colony would attract capitalists who would then have a ready supply of labour—migrant labourers who could not initially afford to be property owners, but who would have the expectation of one day buying land with their savings. The New Zealand Company established settlements at Wellington , Nelson , Wanganui and Dunedin and also became involved in

26322-572: The decision to unite the two countries. This was brought about by legislation in the parliaments of both kingdoms and came into effect on 1 January 1801. The Irish had been led to believe by the British that their loss of legislative independence would be compensated with Catholic emancipation , that is, by the removal of civil disabilities placed upon Roman Catholics in both Great Britain and Ireland . Despite personal sympathy for Roman Catholics, King George III believed that agreeing to Catholic Emancipation would violate his Coronation Oath to uphold

26536-484: The deeds of purchase for land it had claimed to have bought from the 38 deg. to the 42 degrees parallel of latitude were drawn up in English, which was not understood by Māori who had signed it, and that the company's representatives, including Barrett, had an equally poor grasp of Māori. Williams found that company representatives had met Māori chiefs at Port Nicholson, Kapiti and Taranaki, where neither party understanding

26750-468: The dismay of grain farmers. The 1846 repeal of the Corn Laws established free trade as the basic principle by which British merchants came to dominate the globe, and brought cheap food to British workers. A depoliticised civil service based on merit replaced patronage policies rewarding jobs for partisan efforts. Efficiency was a high priority in government, with the goal of low taxation. Overall, taxation

26964-408: The drawing of the lottery in late August 1841, when only 371 of the allotments were drawn by purchasers, three-quarters of whom were absentee owners. The ships arrived at Blind Bay (today known as Tasman Bay ), where the expedition leaders searched for land suitable for the new colony, before settling on the site of present-day Nelson , an area described as marshy land covered with scrub and fern. In

27178-439: The emergence of a more liberal and broadly based political system… it deserves its old designation of 'Great.'" David Thompson has stressed the revolutionary nature of the entire package of reforms: Chartism was a large-scale popular protest movement that emerged in response to the failure of the 1832 Reform Bill to give the vote to the working class. It lacked middle-class support, and it failed repeatedly. Activists denounced

27392-529: The era, William Wilberforce , saw everywhere "new proofs presenting themselves of the diffusion of religion". Nonconformists, including Presbyterians , Congregationalists , the Baptists and the rapidly-growing Methodist denomination , as well as Quakers , Unitarians and smaller groups. They were all outside the established Church of England (except in Scotland, where the established Church of Scotland

27606-441: The event as an opening battle against revolutionaries. In reaction Lord Liverpool 's government passed the " Six Acts " in 1819. They prohibited drills and military exercises; facilitated warrants for the search for weapons; outlawed public meetings of more than 50 people, including meetings to organise petitions; put heavy penalties on blasphemous and seditious publications; imposing a fourpenny stamp act on many pamphlets to cut down

27820-490: The existing constitution by removing obvious abuses, thinking that this would strengthen aristocratic leadership. He persuaded the king to promise to create enough new peers to force the bill through the House of Lords. The king made the promise while also advising the peers to stop blocking the bill. The Reform Act was Grey's principal achievement; it reflects his pragmatic, moderate and conservative character, as well as his parliamentary skills of timing and persuasion. His cabinet

28034-496: The face of determined House of Commons action. After defeating the first two versions of the Reform Act of 1832, the Whigs got the King to agree to appoint as many new peers as was necessary to change the outcome. He promised to do so, but convinced the Lords it would be much wiser for them to approve the law. A weak ruler as regent (1811–1820) and king (1820–1830), George IV let his ministers take full charge of government affairs. He

28248-765: The feet of the New Zealand Company representatives. As early as 1839 the New Zealand Company had resolved to "take steps to procure German emigrants" and appointed an agent in Bremen . A bid in September 1841 to sell the Chatham Islands to the German Colonisation Company—yet to be formed—for £10,000 was quashed by the British Government, which declared that the islands were to be part of the colony of New Zealand and that any Germans settling there would be treated as aliens. The party of German migrants on

28462-461: The flow on news and criticism. Offenders could be harshly punished including exile in Australia . In practice the laws were designed to deter troublemakers and reassure conservatives; they were not often used. One historian would write: "Peterloo was a blunder; it was hardly a massacre." It was a serious mistake by local authorities who did not understand what was happening. Nevertheless, it had

28676-771: The freight vessel Glenbervie . At the rendezvous they were told of their final destination. Bengal Merchant was carrying 160 settlers. The Birman was a 545 barque sheathed with yellow metal built at Westburn, Greenock by John Scott & Sons in 1840. Her yard number was 131 and she was launched on 2 July 1840 for A & G Adam and J Ballantine of Greenock. The Birman was in Adelaide in 1840 and sailed for Calcutta under Captain John Clelland. On 13 October 1841 she sailed under Clelland from Gravesend arriving at Port Nicholson via Cape of Good Hope on 1 March 1842 with 243 settlers. She sailed for Calcutta on 31 March. She

28890-521: The government move reached Wellington in August it sparked panic, prompting hundreds of settlers to prepare to abandon their land and sail to Valparaíso , Chile . In a bid to restore certainty to the settlers over their land claims a three-man deputation was sent to Sydney to meet Gipps; in early December the deputation returned with news that Gipps would procure for the Wellington settlers a confirmation of their titles to 110,000 acres of land, as well as their town, subject to several conditions including that

29104-424: The government's concerns. On 20 December 1837 it was rewarded with the offer of a royal charter similar to those under which British colonies had been earlier established in North America. The chartered body was to take responsibility for the administration, and the legislative, judicial, military and financial affairs of the colony of New Zealand, subject to safeguards of control by the British Government. To receive

29318-543: The ground. Surveyors became involved in skirmishes with the Māori, most of whom refused to budge, and were provided with weapons to continue their work. Wakefield had purchased the land during a frantic week-long campaign the previous September, with payment made in the form of iron pots, soap, guns, ammunition, axes, fish hooks, clothing—including red nightcaps—slates, pencils, umbrellas, sealing wax and jaw harps . Signatures had been gained from local chiefs after an explanation, given by Wakefield and interpreted by Barrett, that

29532-433: The indigenous residents of Australia or New Zealand very cheaply, then selling it to speculators and "gentleman settlers" for a much higher sum. The immigrants would provide the labour to break in the gentlemen's lands and cater to their employers' everyday needs. They would eventually be able to buy their own land, but high land prices and low rates of pay would ensure they first laboured for many years. In May 1830 Wakefield

29746-424: The interests of shareholders should coincide with those of emigrants in the pursuit of the colony's prosperity. But members of the association decided the requirement was unacceptable. Reluctant to invest their own money in the venture, and wary of the risks of the shares being subject to fluctuations in the stock market, they rejected the offer. On 5 February 1838 the Colonial Secretary in turn advised Lord Durham that

29960-466: The international slave trade. It was a time of prosperity, population growth and better health, except in Ireland where over one million deaths were caused by the Great Famine when the potato crop failed in the 1840s. The Government did little to help the starving poor in Ireland. Along with the one million deaths, another one million would emigrate in a few short years, mostly to Britain and to

30174-401: The key legal, political, economic and social reforms of the 1830s and 1840s. He especially influenced the reform of education, prisons, poor laws, legal procedures and Parliamentary representation. John Bright (1811–1889) built on his middle-class Quaker heritage and his collaboration with Richard Cobden to promote all varieties of humanitarian and parliamentary reform. They started with

30388-509: The king. The fiasco helped ruin the prestige of the monarchy and it recovered a fraction of the power wielded by King George III in his saner days. Historian Eugene Black says: The Ultra-Tories were the leaders of reaction and seemed to dominate the Tory Party , which controlled the government. Every untoward event seemed to point to a conspiracy on the left which necessitated more repression to head off another terror such as happened in

30602-496: The lack of government support for its plan to establish a settlement protected by a small military force, the company dispatched two ships to New Zealand the following year under the command of Captain James Herd, who was given the task of exploring trade prospects and potential settlement sites in New Zealand. On 5 March 1826 the ships, Lambton and Rosanna , reached Stewart Island , which Herd explored and then dismissed as

30816-400: The land was "five muskets, fifty three pounds powder, four pair blankets, three hundred flints and four musket cartridge boxes". After several weeks Herd and the New Zealand Company agent decided the cost of exporting goods was too high to be of economic value and they sailed to Sydney , where Herd paid off the crew and sold the stores and equipment, then returned to London. The venture had cost

31030-616: The land would no longer be theirs once payment was made. Evidence later provided to the Spain Land Commission —set up by the Colonial Office to investigate New Zealand Company land claims—revealed three major flaws: that chiefs representing pā of Te Aro, Pipitea and Kumutoto, where the settlement of Thorndon was to be sited, were neither consulted nor paid; that Te Wharepōuri , an aggressive and boastful young chief eager to prove his importance, had sold land he did not control; and that Barrett's explanation and interpretation of

31244-478: The leader of the Conservative party in the House of Lords, 1828–1846. Some writers have belittled him as a befuddled reactionary, but a consensus reached in the late 20th century depicts him as a shrewd operator who hid his cleverness behind the facade of a poorly-informed old soldier. Wellington worked to transform the Lords from unstinting support of the Crown to an active player in political manoeuvring, with

31458-474: The legality of Spain's inquiry and instructed William Wakefield that he should not answer to it. United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the union of the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland into one sovereign state , established by the Acts of Union in 1801. It continued in this form for over a century. In 1927, it evolved into

31672-598: The local level, everyone who lived in the boundaries of an Anglican church was required to pay taxes to support the parish. The Test and Corporation laws required all national and local government officials had to attend Anglican church services. In February 1828, Whig leader Lord John Russell , presented petitions assembled by the main Nonconformist pressure group, the United Committee, which represented Congregationalist, Baptists and Unitarians. Their demand

31886-425: The majority. The great Reform Act 1832 came at a time of intense public and elite anxiety and broke the logjam. The parliamentary system, based on a very small electorate and large numbers of seats that were tightly controlled by a small elite, was radically reformed. For the first time the growing industrial cities had representation in Parliament. This opened the way for another decade of reform that culminated in

32100-548: The mobilisation of all possible support in each constituency; about 80% of the men voted. The Tories discovered that their conservatism had an appeal to skilled workers, and also to women, hundreds of thousands of whom were organised by the Primrose League . Women's suffrage was not on the agenda. The abolition of the House of Lords , while often discussed, was never necessary because the upper house repeatedly retreated in

32314-496: The moves as smacking of "high treason," Hobson declared British sovereignty over the entirety of the North Island on 21 May 1840, and on 23 May declared the council illegal. He then despatched his Colonial Secretary, Willoughby Shortland , with 30 soldiers and six mounted police on 30 June 1840, to Port Nicholson to tear down the flag. Shortland commanded the residents to withdraw from their "illegal association" and to submit to

32528-420: The north of the South Island. He was told to explain to Māori that the company wanted to buy land for resale to allow large-scale European settlement and that he should emphasise to tribes that in every land sale, one-tenth would be reserved for Māori, who would then live where they were assigned by a lottery draw in London. Wakefield was told: "You will readily explain that after English emigration and settlement

32742-569: The opposition newspapers; the reformers switched to pamphlets and sold 50,000 a week. In industrial districts in 1819, factory workers demanded better wages, and demonstrated. The most important event was the Peterloo Massacre in Manchester , on 16 August 1819, when a local militia unit composed of landowners charged into an orderly crowd of 60,000 which had gathered to demand the reform of parliamentary representation. The crowd panicked and eleven died and hundreds were injured. The government saw

32956-623: The other and had not visited other places where the company claimed to have purchased land. Hobson, meanwhile, was becoming alarmed at the news of the company's growing assumption of power. He learned of their bid to imprison a Captain Pearson of the barque Integrity and that on 2 March they had raised the flag of the United Tribes of New Zealand at Port Nicholson, proclaiming government by "colonial council" that claimed to derive its powers from authority granted by local chiefs. Interpreting

33170-496: The period included: William Pitt the Younger , Lord Grenville , Duke of Portland , Spencer Perceval , Lord Liverpool , George Canning , Lord Goderich , Duke of Wellington , Lord Grey , Lord Melbourne , Lord Palmerston and Robert Peel . The aristocracy remained dominant: there were 200 hereditary peers in the House of Lords in 1860; by 1837 they numbered 428; in 1901, there were 592. The number rose to 622 by 1910. Reform legislation in 1832, 1867, 1884 and 1918 weakened

33384-454: The political and social status quo. The major constitutional changes included a reform of Parliament, and a sharp decline in the power and prestige of the monarchy. The Prince regent, on becoming King George IV in 1820 asked Parliament to divorce his wife Queen Caroline of Brunswick so that he could marry his favourite lover. Public and elite opinion strongly favoured the Queen and ridiculed

33598-580: The proceedings. Those in favour of "selling" the land gave two main reasons for their stance: European arms and settlement would give them protection against their enemies, notably the Ngāti Raukawa of Ōtaki who were expected to attack at any time; and they were aware of the wealth that a European settlement—"their Pākehā"—would bring them through trade and employment. Some sales were also motivated by complex power struggles among Māori iwi , with assent to purchases deemed as proof of status. Company officials and

33812-557: The remaining crew members were rescued after 2 days. The Arab was a 485-ton copper sheathed ship (originally 415-ton) built at Stockton in 1840 and owned by J Irving. She was engaged in 1841 by the New Zealand Company to sail to Port Nicholson from Cornhill on 1 June, London on 3 June, and Dartmouth on 15 June under Captain John Summers. She arrived at Port Nicholson on 16 October with 200 settlers. She left Port Nicholson in either December 1841 or January 1842. In 1844 to 1846

34026-518: The repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846—ending the tariff on imported grain that kept prices high for the landed aristocracy. Repeal was heavily promoted by the Anti-Corn Law League , grass roots activists led by Richard Cobden and based in the industrial cities; they demanded cheap food. There were a series of reforms of the electoral laws, expanding the number of male voters and reducing the level of corruption. The reactionary Tory element

34240-652: The representatives of the Crown. Hobson, claiming his hand had been forced by the New Zealand Company's actions, also proclaimed sovereignty over the whole of New Zealand—the North Island by right of cession at Waitangi, and the South and Stewart Islands by right of discovery. Ignoring the wishes of William Wakefield, who wanted the initial settlement at the southwest side of the harbour where there were excellent anchorages for ships, Surveyor-General William Mein Smith began in January 1840 to layout 1100 one-acre (4047 m) sections of

34454-449: The seats but were still significantly underrepresented in Parliament. The 1831–1832 battle over parliamentary reform was, "a year probably unmatched in English history for the sweep and intensity of its excitement." Every few years an incremental enlargement of the electorate was made by Parliament, reaching practically all male voters by the 1880s, and all the women by 1928. Both parties introduced paid professional organisers who supervised

34668-671: The second immigrant ship there. She sat off shore for five weeks because the captain feared Ngamotu's reputation as a dangerous shipping area. Her 187 passengers were taken ashore by Dicky Barrett and his men over the course of two weeks, each small boatload taking five hours to row from the vessel to the shore. The ship's precious food cargo, including flour and salted meat, was finally brought ashore for New Plymouth's starving residents on 30 September. On 4 December 1841 she sailed from Wellington for China. Some time later, while at Batavia to have her bottom cleaned, Captain Dawson found her back

34882-455: The settlement—would be reserved for Māori who had been displaced, and the rest would be sold to raise £99,999, of which the company would retain 25 per cent to cover its expenses. Labourers would travel to New Zealand for free, while those who bought land and migrated could claim a 75 percent rebate on their fare. The Tory was the first of three New Zealand Company surveyor ships sent off in haste to prepare for settlers in New Zealand. In August

35096-494: The settling of New Plymouth and Christchurch . It reached the peak of efficiency about 1841, encountered financial problems from 1843 from which it never recovered, and wound up in 1858. This list details the various ships used by the Company in establishing its settlements in New Zealand at Wellington, Nelson, and New Plymouth up to 1843. The Adelaide was a 640-ton teak sailing ship built in Calcutta in 1832. The owner

35310-580: The terms of the sale was woefully inadequate. Barrett told the Spain Commission hearing in February 1843: "I said that when they signed their names the gentlemen in England who had sent out the trade might know who were the chiefs." Historian Angela Caughey also claimed it was extremely unlikely that Wakefield and Barrett could have visited all the villages at Whanganui-a-Tara in one day to explain

35524-409: The time of her arrival in Port Nicholson, the New Zealand Company was in serious financial trouble. At Nelson 100 of its employees had been made redundant and trade in Port Nicholson was severely depressed. The impact meant that there were more people trying to leave than she could take. She returned to England, arriving on 30 January 1845, having sailed from Port Nicholson on 15 October fully laden with

35738-511: The town and country areas close together and the Hutt Valley appeared to promise that space. The drawback was that his chosen locality was a mix of dense forest, scrub, flax and swamp, its river was prone to flooding and the beach so flat that when the first passenger ships began to arrive—just four days after Smith began his survey work—they were forced to anchor 1600 metres from the shore. But construction of temporary houses began, as well as

35952-428: The town to Wakefield's preferred location of Thorndon at Lambton Bay (later Lambton Quay ), which was named in honour of Lord Durham . Surveyors quickly encountered problems, however, when they discovered the land selected for the new settlement was still inhabited by Māori, who expressed astonishment and bewilderment to find Pākehā tramping through their homes, gardens and cemeteries and driving wooden survey pegs into

36166-470: The town, initially called "Britannia", on the flat land at Pito-one (now Petone ), at the north of the harbour. The sections, near the mouth of the Hutt River , were laid out in parallelograms, with the plan including boulevards and public parks. Settlers who had bought a town section had also bought 100 "country acres" (about 40ha), where they could grow their food. Smith considered it important to locate

36380-474: The township was described as having a population of 500, along with bullocks, sheep, pigs and poultry, although the company was yet to identify or purchase any of the rural land for which purchasers had paid. The search for this remaining 200,000 acres (810 km) would ultimately lead to the Wairau Affray – then known as the "Wairau Massacre" – of 17 June 1843, when 22 Europeans and four Māori died in

36594-427: The treaty on pressure by William Wakefield. On 29 April, however, Williams was able to report that Port Nicholson chiefs had "unanimously" signed the treaty. William Wakefield was already strongly critical of both the treaty and Williams and repeatedly attacked the missionary in the company's newspaper for his "hypocrisy and unblushing rapaciousness". Williams, in turn, was critical of the company's dealings, noting that

36808-402: The upper house. Wellington's success was based on the 44 peers elected from Scotland and Ireland, whose election he controlled. Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey had promoted reform of Parliament since the 1790s, always to be defeated by the Ultra-Tories. The breakthrough came in his success in passage of the Reform Act of 1832. He sought this as the final step of reform, rather than a first step in

37022-471: The vote and the right to sit in Parliament. That happened in 1829 using Whig support. Passage demonstrated that the veto power long held by the ultra-Tories no longer was operational, and significant reforms were now possible across the board. The stage was set for the Age of Reform. The era of reform came in a time of peace, guaranteed in considerable part by the overwhelming power of the Royal Navy. Britain engaged in only one serious war between 1815 and 1914,

37236-433: The vote in 1867. The aristocracy continued to dominate the Church of England, the most prestigious military and naval posts, and high society, but not business, industry or finance. In terms of national governmental policy, the democratic wishes of the entire people had become decisive. Most historians emphasise the central importance of the legislation of the 1830s–60s, although there was a dissenting minority of scholars in

37450-410: The war, Britain agreed to return most of the territories it had seized. The peace settlement was in effect only a ceasefire, and Napoleon continued to provoke the British by attempting a trade embargo on the country and by occupying the city of Hanover , capital of the Electorate , a German-speaking duchy of the Holy Roman Empire which was in a personal union with the United Kingdom. In May 1803, war

37664-411: The war. When Napoleon surrendered for the first time in 1814, three separate forces were sent to attack the Americans in upstate New York , along the Maryland coast (burning Washington but getting repulsed at Baltimore ), and up the Mississippi River to a massive defeat at the Battle of New Orleans . Each operation proved a failure with the British commanding generals killed or in disgrace. The war

37878-433: The wife and daughter of Alderman Thompson. On 25 April 1836 the Amelia Thompson sailed from London for Launceston, Tasmania with 172 immigrants, a large number of which were single females. She sailed to Sydney in 1838. She sailed for Wellington under Captain William Dawson on 25 March 1841, stopping at Bahia (Salvador), Brazil on the way. Subsequently she sailed for New Plymouth and arrived on 3 September 1841 becoming

38092-611: Was Joseph Somes of London. In 1839 it sailed to New Zealand under Captain William Campbell. It was among a group of ships carrying settlers which were to rendezvous at Port Hardy on d'Urville Island on 10 January 1840. They were sent after the Oriental . The others in the group were the Aurora , Duke of Roxburgh , and Bengal Merchant , plus a freight vessel, the Glenbervie . At the rendezvous they were told of their final destination. The Adelaide had 176 settlers on board. She sailed from London on 18 September 1839 and arrived at Port Nicholson on 7 March 1840. She arrived at about 4pm in

38306-472: Was Presbyterian ), They proclaimed a devotion to hard work, temperance, frugality and upward mobility, with which historians today largely agree. A major Unitarian magazine, the Christian Monthly Repository asserted in 1827: The Nonconformists suffered under a series of disabilities, some of which were symbolic and others were painful, and they were all deliberately imposed to weaken the dissenting challenge to Anglican orthodoxy. The Nonconformists allied with

38520-465: Was Robert Peel , who suddenly reversed himself on the Catholic issue and was roundly denounced and permanently distrusted by the Ultra Tory faction of die-hards. Earl Grey , prime minister from 1830 to 1834, and his rejuvenated Whig Party enacted a series of major reforms: the poor law was updated, child labour restricted and, most important, the Reform Act 1832 refashioned the British electoral system. In 1832 Parliament abolished slavery in

38734-411: Was "the purchase and sale of lands, the promotion of emigration, and the establishment of public works". A reserved share of £500 was offered to Wakefield, who by then was in Canada, working on the staff of that colony's new governor general , Lord Durham. By December, although it was still yet to attract 20 paid-up shareholders, the company decided to buy the barque Tory for £5250 from Joseph Somes,

38948-545: Was Derry from 1834 to 1838 and London from 1841 to 1843. She sailed the London to Terceira route under Captain F Orfeur from 1832 to 1835 and Liverpool Naples from 1836 to 1839. On 23 December 1840 she sailed under Captain Sinclair from London to Wellington, arriving on 21 July 1841. She sailed from Wellington to Napier arriving back in Wellington on 6 November 1841 with cargo. In 1843 she sailed from London to Africa under Captain Foster and from London to Cape of Good Hope in 1850 under Captain J Laws. The Bella Marina

39162-820: Was a 1000-ton clipper ship named Bella Marina under Captain Henry Elliot that sailed in New Zealand and Australian waters in the 1860s. Whether this was a refurbished version of the previous or advertising puffery is unknown. The advertisement referred to her as being so long and favourably known of these (Australian) coasts. In 1862 she was at San Francisco and sailed to Australia via Puget Sound, arriving at Port Phillip on 24 August. The Argus, Melbourne referred to her as being 564 tons when she departed for Otago on 16 September as did other publications. She returned to Australia in November, en route to California. Instead she sailed for Wellington on 15 December with 700 tons of coal. From there she sailed to San Francisco, arriving on 24 March 1863. She then sailed to Puget Sound to pick up

39376-417: Was a 564-ton (originally 480 ton) frigate built sailing ship built in 1840 at Maryport with a yellow metal hull installed in 1847. She sailed under Captain Thomas Ashbridge from Gravesend on 26 January 1844 for Wellington, Nelson and New Plymouth. She arrived at New Plymouth via Hobart on 27 May and Wellington on 31 May. She stopped at Hobart to drop off the Catholic Bishop for Tasmania, Bishop Wilson . At

39590-413: Was a coalition of diverse interests, so in 1834 when it divided over the Irish church question he resigned. Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston played the dominant role in shaping British foreign-policy as Foreign Secretary (1830–1834, 1835–1841 and 1846–1851) and as prime minister (1855–1858, 1859–1865). He served as Secretary at War in Tory governments for two decades, but switched over to

39804-492: Was a deeply unpopular playboy. When he tried to get Parliament to pass a law allowing him to divorce his wife Queen Caroline , public opinion strongly supported her. After four decades of rule by Pittites and Tories the first breakthrough in reform came in the removal by a Tory government of restrictions on the careers of Protestant Nonconformists in the repeal in 1828 of the laws that required Anglican church membership for many academic and government positions. Much more intense

40018-471: Was a leading promoter of utilitarianism as a working philosophy of action. The "greatest happiness principle", or the principle of utility , forms the cornerstone of Bentham's thought. By "happiness", he understood a predominance of "pleasure" over "pain". He is best known for his inspiration of the radical forces, helping them define those reforms that were most urgently needed and how they could be implemented. His intellectual leadership helped achieve many of

40232-707: Was a necessity for the rapidly growing industrial cities still labouring under a hodgepodge of centuries-old laws and traditions. When Peel took over the Home Office , he abolished the espionage and cruel punishments, ended the death penalty for most crimes, and inaugurated the first system of professional police —who in London to this day are still called "Bobbies" in his honour. The Municipal Corporations Act 1835 modernised urban government, which previously had been controlled by closed bodies dominated by Tories. Over 200 old corporations were abolished and replaced with 179 elected borough councils . Elections were to be based on registered voters, city finances had to be audited in

40446-452: Was a stalemate without purpose. A negotiated peace was reached at the end of 1814 that restored the prewar boundaries. British Canada celebrated its deliverance from American rule, Americans celebrated victory in a "second war of independence," and Britain celebrated its defeat of Napoleon. The treaty opened up two centuries of peace and open borders. Britain emerged from the Napoleonic Wars a very different country than it had been in 1793. As

40660-405: Was about 10%, the lowest in any modern nation. Foreign policy became moralistic and hostile to the reactionary powers on the continent, teaming up with the United States to block European colonialism in the New World through the Monroe Doctrine of 1823. Slavery was abolished throughout the British Empire. The Royal Navy stepped up efforts to stop international trade in slaves. Municipal reform

40874-547: Was almost valueless. In May 1842 Hampshire attorney William Spain , who had been appointed by Russell in January 1841 as an independent Land Commissioner, opened his official inquiry into New Zealand Company land claims and any non-Company counter-claims to the same lands. Spain quickly discovered that the New Zealand Company purchases in the Port Nicholson, Wanganui, and New Plymouth districts were hotly contested by Māori. In Wellington several important chiefs, notably those of Te Aro, Pipitea and Kumutoto pā took little or no part in

41088-424: Was always mistaken. He opposed wars and imperialism. His unremitting hostility to the Crimean war led to his defeat for reelection in 1857. He was soon reelected from Birmingham, leading a national campaign for parliamentary reform to enlarge the suffrage to reach the working man. He was intensely moralistic and distrusted the integrity of his opponents. He loathed the aristocracy that continued to rule Britain. He held

41302-445: Was an era of rapid economic modernisation and growth of industry, trade and finance, in which Britain largely dominated the world economy. Outward migration was heavy to the principal British overseas possessions and to the United States. With respect to other powers, the British remained non-aligned until the early 20th century when the growing naval power of the German Empire increasingly came to be seen as an existential threat to

41516-940: Was believed to have been condemned in 1855. Blenheim was a 375-ton barque built at Jarrow in 1834 and owned by Brown and Co of London. She sailed to Wellington under Captain J Brown in 1840 with 197 settlers. Sailed from Plymouth on 2 July 1842 under Captain John Gray to New Plymouth with 159 settlers, arriving on 19 November 1842, having called in at Wellington. Bolton was a 541-ton barque built at Liverpool in 1822 and owned by T Oldfield of London. It sailed from London on 1 November 1839 under Captain J P Robinson with 323 settlers for Wellington. It arrived at Port Nicholson on 21 April 1840. Bolton returned to Nelson, New Zealand on 28 February 1842 with more settlers. In 1849 Bolton sailed from London and Plymouth to Adelaide under Captain J F Young, arriving on 29 November. On 23 June 1853 Bolton arrived at Port Jackson, New South Wales having sailed from Plymouth on 23 February. Bombay

41730-446: Was broken. On returning to London he was told by the insurance agent it had broken when she was being launched. In 1842 the Amelia Thompson was engaged as a transport during First Opium War . The Amelia Thompson sank on the morning of 23 May 1843 while sailing from Australia. She was about 80 miles east by south of Madras . She had been thrown on to her beam ends by a heavy squall. Seven seamen were drowned; Captain Dawson and

41944-406: Was closely linked to the Church of England , and expressed its strong hostility toward Catholics and nonconformist Protestants by restricting their political and civil rights. The Catholic started to organise in Ireland, threatening instability or even civil war, and the moderates in Parliament emancipated them. The Nonconformists were similarly freed from their restrictions. In addition to reforms at

42158-405: Was declared again. Napoleon's plans to invade Great Britain failed, chiefly due to the inferiority of his navy, and in 1805 a Royal Navy fleet led by Nelson decisively defeated the French Imperial Navy and Royal Spanish Navy at Trafalgar , which was the last significant naval action of the Napoleonic Wars. In 1806, Napoleon issued the series of Berlin Decrees , which brought into effect

42372-417: Was hailed by the company as "all that we could desire". Colonial Secretary Lord John Russell agreed to offer a royal charter for 40 years, which would allow the company to buy, sell, settle and cultivate lands in New Zealand, with the Colonial Land and Emigration Commission , formed in January 1840, to have oversight of the company's colonisation activities. Russell also agreed to assess the total sum of money

42586-428: Was her master. By 1867 she was still in existence in London owned by Brenan and mastered by T Peake. Aurora sailed for New Zealand in 1839 under Captain Theophilus Heale. She was among a group of ships carrying settlers that were to rendezvous at Port Hardy on Durville Island on 10 January 1840. They were sent after Oriental . The others in the group were Adelaide , Duke of Roxburgh , and Bengal Merchant , plus

42800-403: Was home to members of Te Āti Awa tribe. The ships then sailed up the east coast to explore prospects for trade, stopping at the Coromandel Peninsula and the Bay of Islands . In January 1827 Herd surveyed parts of the harbour at Hokianga , where either he or the company's agent on board negotiated the "purchase" of tracts of land from Māori in Hokianga , Manukau and Paeroa . The price for

43014-470: Was launched in 1801 at Daman/Demaun. Her early career is obscure. In 1842 she carried settlers for the New Zealand Company . She sailed under Captain James Moore from Deptford on 30 July 1842 and Gravesend on 1 August 1842 for Wellington and Nelson. She arrived at Nelson on 14 December 1842 with 134 settlers. Brougham was a 227-ton (also listed as 238 ton) copper (in 1844 yellow metal) sheathed teak built barque built at Calcutta in 1820 by Boreen and Co. She

43228-401: Was lengthened in 1832. In 1836 she brought a load of cargo under Captain Viles via Mauritius and Hobart to Sydney. At Sydney she was put up for sale and refitted. She then spent time sailing in Australian waters until sailing from Hobart on 11 December 1838 under Captain John Cameron to London. Under Captain Kettlewell, she brought 5 settlers to Wellington on 25 June 1840. Wakefield used

43442-428: Was made to appoint a Consul as a prelude to the declaration of British sovereignty over New Zealand. And when Lord Glenelg was replaced as Colonial Secretary in late February, his successor, Lord Normanby , immediately brushed off demands from the New Zealand Colonisation Association for the royal charter that had been previously offered to the New Zealand Association. On 20 March 1839 an informal meeting of members of

43656-401: Was near-identical to that of the Kapiti deal. On 16 November as the Tory passed Wanganui three chiefs came aboard the Tory to negotiate the sale of all their district from Manawatu to Patea . The areas in each deed were so vast Wakefield documented them by writing lists of place names, and finally expressed the company's territory in degrees of latitude. Wakefield had learned from Barrett

43870-565: Was nothing at all for them at either Kaipara or Manukau Harbour . There was a prize for him, however, with his purchase on 13 December of the Wairau Valley in the north of the South Island. Wakefield bought the land for £100 from the widow of whaling Captain John Blenkinsopp, who had claimed to have earlier bought it off Ngāti Toa chief Te Rauparaha . That sale would lead to the 1843 Wairau Affray in which 22 English settlers and four Māori would be killed. Further purchases followed in Taranaki (60,000 acres in February 1840) and Wanganui (May 1840,

44084-460: Was owned by the Bay of Islands Coal Company Limited. She was broken up at Drunken Bay, Browns Island by David Gouk of North Shore in 1896. Bengal Merchant was a 503-ton sailing ship under Captain John Hemery. It was among a group of ships carrying settlers which were to rendezvous at Port Hardy on Durville Island on 10 January 1840. They were sent after the Oriental . The others in the group were Aurora , Duke of Roxburgh and Adelaide , plus

44298-422: Was published in Wellington from 1840 to 1844. Initially privately owned by Samuel Revans , it was regarded as a "mouthpiece of the New Zealand Company". In April 1841 the company informed the Colonial Secretary of its intention to establish a second colony "considerably larger" than the first. The colony was initially to be called Molesworth after Radical MP Sir William Molesworth , a supporter of Wakefield, but

44512-415: Was reassembled under the banner of the Conservative Party. Numerous Tories, such as Lord Palmerston , switched over to the Whig opposition, and it became the Liberal Party . Constitutionally, the 1830s marks a watershed: the end of Crown control over the cabinet. King William IV in 1834 was obliged to accept a Prime Minister who had a majority in Parliament, and the Crown ever since has gone along with

44726-407: Was released from prison and joined the National Colonisation Society, whose committee included Wilmot-Horton, nine MPs and three clergymen. Wakefield's influence within the society quickly grew and by the end of the year his plans for colonisation of Australasia had become the central focus of the society's pamphlets and lectures. Despite the £20,000 loss incurred in his earlier venture, Lambton (from

44940-572: Was renamed Nelson (after the British admiral ) when Molesworth showed little interest in leading the colony. It was planned to cover 201,000 acres (810 km), consisting of 1000 allotments. Each would be 150 acres (60 hectares) of rural land, 50 acres (20 hectares) of accommodation land and one "town acre" (4000 square metres), with half the funds raised by land sales being spent on emigration and about £50,000 ending up as company profits. The land would be sold at £301 per allotment or 30 shillings an acre, one pound an acre more than land at Wellington, with

45154-446: Was sailing between England and Singapore in the late 1840s and 1851. Her master was given as John Guthrie in 1845. In 1851 and 1852 she sailed from Clyde to North America. Her 1851 voyage was from Greenock in July to Quebec, arriving 22 Aug 1851 with settlers from Tiree. These journeys were followed on 2 October 1852 from Glasgow to Melbourne, arriving on 21 January 1853. She sailed for Singapore on 25 February under Captain J Brown. She

45368-532: Was the immediate repeal of the hated laws. Wellington and Peel originally were opposed, but then tried to compromise. They finally gave, splitting the Tory party, and signaling that the once unstoppable power of the Anglican establishment was now unexpectedly fragile and vulnerable to challenge. Three men shaped British foreign policy from 1810 to 1860, with only a few interruptions, Viscount Castlereagh (especially 1812–1822). George Canning (especially 1807–1829) and Viscount Palmerston (especially 1830–1865). For

45582-414: Was the long battle over the civil rights of Roman Catholics. Catholic emancipation came in 1829, which removed the most substantial restrictions on Roman Catholics in Great Britain and Ireland. The Duke of Wellington, as Tory prime minister, decided that the surging crisis in largely Catholic Ireland necessitated some relief for the Catholics, although he had long opposed the idea. The other main Tory leader

45796-400: Was the unexpected repeal of the many restrictions on Catholics, after widespread organised protest by the Catholic Association in Ireland under Daniel O'Connell , with support from Catholics in England . Robert Peel was alarmed at the strength of the Catholic Association, warning in 1824, "We cannot tamely sit by while the danger is hourly increasing, while a power co-ordinate with that of

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