William Wakefield
Encyclopedia
William Hayward Wakefield (1801 - 19 September 1848) was an English
colonel, the leader of the first colonizing expedition to New Zealand
and one of the founders of Wellington
. In 1826, he married Emily Sidney, a daughter of Sir John Sidney.
, he was largely raised by his elder sister, Catherine, who found him a difficult child. As he grew older he came very much under the influence of his older brother, Edward Gibbon Wakefield
, who was not always a good influence on his life.
In 1825 he became formally betrothed to Emily Sidney but, before they could be married, Wakefield became involved with his brother in the abduction of a wealthy heiress
and both brothers were arrested. Then, while out on bail, Wakefield absconded to Paris
, apparently to meet up with Emily who by now was three months pregnant
. He returned to England when the baby was born and was promptly arrested and held in Lancaster Castle
until his trial. He was subsequently sentenced to three years in jail. During this time his 'wife' died leaving him with a six-month-old daughter, Emily.
Upon his release from jail, Wakefield spent some time with his daughter at his sister Catherine's. Then in 1832 he travelled to Portugal
and enlisted as a mercenary soldier in the service of Dom Pedro
, the Emperor of Brazil
. Although he had no military experience whatsoever he was apparently able to enlist as a Captain. He survived the siege of Oporto and the subsequent campaigning, but he gained little from it except experience and a handful of medals.
After the Portuguese Campaign he returned briefly to England and enlisted in the British Auxiliary Legion
fighting for the infant Queen Isabella II of Spain
in the First Carlist War
. He emerged from the campaign as a major, re-enlisted and was promoted to Colonel. Among his junior officers was Henry Inman (police commander)
. Wakefield was one of the few officers to survive the campaigns of the following years; he stayed until the Legion was disbanded in 1837 and returned to England the following year.
in London was hurriedly organizing its first expedition, because they were anxious to get it underway before the government stopped them. They already had a ship, the Tory. At the suggestion of his brother, Edward Gibbon, they appointed Wakefield as the commander of the expedition. The Tory sailed from London on 4 May 1839 with Wakefield as sole and unqualified leader of the expedition. However, he also had a very full and complete set of instructions about their activities in New Zealand. The instructions came under three headings: the purchase of land for the New Zealand Company, the acquisition of knowledge about New Zealand, and preparation for the formation of settlements. Wakefield was expected to treat the Māori with utmost fairness, to make certain they were fully aware of the nature of the transactions they were entering into. He had to make certain they knew what the Company intended in the long term, the number of settlers to be expected, and the extent of the proposed settlements. He was not to complete any purchase until he was certain that all the vendors were happy with the deal. Furthermore he was instructed to be generous with the goods offered for the purchase.
Reading Wakefield's subsequent accounts of the deals he made with the Māori and also other accounts (such as that written by his nephew, Edward Jerningham Wakefield
, who accompanied him on the expedition as acting secretary), every effort was made to fulfil these conditions. This is an important point.
It has become an established historical "fact" that many Māori were cheated of their land. Some of the later purchases of the New Zealand Company may have been questionable. But for first purchase made of the area that is now Wellington
and the Hutt Valley, every effort was made to be scrupulously fair and open. Afterwards both sides seemed to be very happy with the deal and lived together amicably, side by side, for many months.
Wakefield's first sight of New Zealand was not encouraging: successive ranges of formidable mountains. They took on supplies of wood and water at Ship Cove in Queen Charlotte Sound
and met their first Māori, who were very interested in trading. One of the offers Wakefield firmly rejected was that of their wives and daughters for the comfort of the sailors. Later on, the missionaries tried to claim that some of the goods Wakefield gave the Māori were not payment for land but payment for the use of Māori women. When the nature of the missionaries' accusation became clear, it was laughed out of court, as Wakefield had established a very strong reputation for probity and correctness.
After five weeks in the Marlborough Sounds
in the South Island
, the Tory sailed over to Te Whanganui a Tara ("The Big Harbour of Tara") and Port Nicholson. Here he began serious negotiations for the purchase of land. The negotiations involved two tribes or iwi
, Ngati Toa
and Te Atiawa; it involved sixteen chiefs, and after five days a deal was made that apparently pleased everyone. It was subsequently endorsed by the paramount chief of the area, Te Rauparaha
. Strong objections were raised by Te Rauparaha's nephew, Te Rangihaeata
, although he reluctantly signed the deed eventually even while doubting its validity.
The purchase completed, Wakefield and the Tory set out to explore a bit more of New Zealand sailing up the west coast. They were impressed with the potential of the Taranaki area for further settlement. They then sailed up to the Hokianga
, made contact with the traders, and looked at buying land in that district. However, the expedition was curtailed when the Tory ran aground in Hokianga Harbour. The ship was saved but it needed extensive repairs. Anxious to return to Port Nicholson and his appointed rendezvous with the survey ship, Cuba, Wakefield crossed the island to Kororareka, where he chartered another ship to take him south.
It was a difficult situation for the Māori; while they had overwhelming numbers and military power they did not want a confrontation that might drive the Pakeha elsewhere. They probably suspected also that not only would they be fighting the settlers but also the other Māori in the area. Reluctantly, and with bad grace, they moved. However this was the beginning of a resentment and anger that has plagued Māori-Pakeha relations right up until the present day.
To make matters worse the missionary Henry Williams
appeared in the district with copies of the Treaty of Waitangi
for Māori to sign. Furthermore he was claiming some of the land the New Zealand Company had purchased. Wakefield was furious as he recognized that Henry Williams’s claims were made for selfish reasons but he granted him one acre (4,000 m²) of town land for his personal ownership. Henry Williams was soon to be dismissed and disgraced by the Church Missionary Society for defrauding the Māori.
During this period Wakefield would have been extremely busy. He was not only the leader of the expedition and the colony and the principal agent for the New Zealand Company but he was also president of the Settlers' Council which had been formed to maintain law and order in the Colony.
Meanwhile another problem was looming; the consequences of the furtive and hurried way in which the New Zealand Company had established the settlement ahead of the establishment of British Sovereignty. Naturally the new governor, William Hobson
, resented their actions. The Settlers' Council was seen as an attempt to establish an illegal republic. The Acting Colonial Secretary Willoughby Shortland
was dispatched with soldiers and mounted police to disband the illegal organization. Fortunately he stayed on to administer justice and the change-over happened smoothly, albeit with some resentment from the colonists.
Wakefield strongly believed that Port Nicholson's central position made it the obvious choice to be New Zealand's capital and seat of government. However Hobson chose Auckland, he probably recognized that Port Nicholson was dominated by the New Zealand Company. Meanwhile Shortland was scrutinizing the details of the land purchase very critically. Inevitably he found a flaw, one of the Māori chiefs had sold land he did not own and without the consent of the owners.
There were other problems too. Many of the settlers were not happy with the land they had been allocated, others were not getting the land they had paid for. To satisfy its commitments the New Zealand Company needed about 500 km². There is not that much arable land in the Wellington area. Furthermore Wakefield's nephew, Edward Jerningham was causing concern, drinking heavily and fornicating with Māori maidens.
Altogether poor old Wakefield was beset on all sides. He seems to have withdrawn into himself; one of the settlers described him as "the coldest mannered man they have met". Despite all the difficulties the Colony thrived, Port Nicholson or Brittania became Wellington and continued to grow. How much of the credit belongs to William and how much depended on the determination of the settlers probably depends upon the opinions of the historian.
The death of his brother Arthur
in the Wairau Affray
(as it is now called, rather than Massacre) was a huge blow particularly as William felt partly responsible. Governor Hobson died and was replaced by Robert FitzRoy
. Initially Fitzroy and Wakefield clashed seriously, particularly when FitzRoy declined to take any action against his brother's killers, as the settler party was acting illegally over a questionable land claim. But the situation gradually improved, as the two men recognized that they had to work together. The Wellington settlement was a fait accompli while the Governor was the most powerful man in New Zealand.
There was continuing criticism of the land deals the New Zealand Company had made. Wakefield felt he had been honest but very few of the government agreed with him. Several of the deals were renegotiated and the putative owners paid a second time. Gradually though the Land Claims Commissioner, William Spain, swung around. Initially he had appeared to favour the Māori, he became neutral and then began to support the claims of the New Zealand Company.
However over the next few years Wakefield was involved in disputes with the Crown, with the Māori and with his own surveyors. These disputes meant that the colonist land titles were delayed by months or years leading in turn to disputes with the various settlements. One of the undertakings of the New Zealand Company was that labourers going to the colony were guaranteed work. Because of the delays William had no work for them and this caused further anger, at one stage Nelson was almost in a state of armed rebellion against the Company’s agents. Wakefield and the Company simply did not have the resources to carry out their commitments. The situation was made worse by Wakefield's personality; he demonstrated no sign of any leadership qualities and was unwilling to take any initiative in dealing with the problems. His time was apparently spent writing letters back to London describing the wonderful progress being made. When confronted with problems he blustered, cajoled, and criticized, but he would not do anything.
By April, 1844 he had alienated practically every colonist. One of them wrote "The baneful influence of Colonel Wakefield has ruined every settler and the colony of Port Nicholson."
Early in 1842 Wakefield had been joined in New Zealand by his daughter, Emily, then sixteen years old. Shortly afterwards she became engaged to Francis Molesworth but it was broken off when ill health forced him to return to England. Then in late 1845 she met Edward Stafford
of Nelson and they were married the following year. From his surviving letters it is clear that William greatly missed his daughter, as he had enjoyed very little family life until she came to New Zealand.
In March 1847 Wakefield fought a duel with his doctor, Isaac Featherston
over an editorial in the Wellington Independent newspaper which questioned his honesty. Featherstone fired first and missed then Wakefield fired into the air saying he could not shoot a man who had seven daughters. Just as well, the following year Wakefield had great need of his services.
William suffered a mild stroke early in 1848 and then a more severe one in August. Then on 15 September 1848, while at the bath house, he collapsed; there were soon three doctors on the scene but to no avail and he died four days later in a room at the Wellington Tavern (known as Alzdorfs after the proprietor Baron von Alzdorf). He was given what amounted to a State funeral, Governor Grey attended as did nearly half of Wellington, both Māori and Pakeha, The Māori Chief, Te Puni was one of his pall bearers. In death Wakefield was given the respect he seldom had gained in life. It was acknowledged that he had worked to the best of maybe limited ability at an impossible task and had probably contributed more than anyone else to the foundation of Wellington.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
colonel, the leader of the first colonizing expedition to New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
and one of the founders of Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
. In 1826, he married Emily Sidney, a daughter of Sir John Sidney.
Early life
Born just outside LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, he was largely raised by his elder sister, Catherine, who found him a difficult child. As he grew older he came very much under the influence of his older brother, Edward Gibbon Wakefield
Edward Gibbon Wakefield
Edward Gibbon Wakefield was a British politician, the driving force behind much of the early colonisation of South Australia, and later New Zealand....
, who was not always a good influence on his life.
In 1825 he became formally betrothed to Emily Sidney but, before they could be married, Wakefield became involved with his brother in the abduction of a wealthy heiress
Shrigley Abduction
The Shrigley abduction was an 1827 British case of a forced marriage by Edward Gibbon Wakefield to the 15-year-old heiress Ellen Turner of Pott Shrigley. The couple were married in Gretna Green, Scotland and traveled to Calais before Turner's father was able to notify the police and intervene...
and both brothers were arrested. Then, while out on bail, Wakefield absconded to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, apparently to meet up with Emily who by now was three months pregnant
Pregnancy
Pregnancy refers to the fertilization and development of one or more offspring, known as a fetus or embryo, in a woman's uterus. In a pregnancy, there can be multiple gestations, as in the case of twins or triplets...
. He returned to England when the baby was born and was promptly arrested and held in Lancaster Castle
Lancaster Castle
Lancaster Castle is a medieval castle located in Lancaster in the English county of Lancashire. Its early history is unclear, but may have been founded in the 11th century on the site of a Roman fort overlooking a crossing of the River Lune. In 1164, the Honour of Lancaster, including the...
until his trial. He was subsequently sentenced to three years in jail. During this time his 'wife' died leaving him with a six-month-old daughter, Emily.
Upon his release from jail, Wakefield spent some time with his daughter at his sister Catherine's. Then in 1832 he travelled to Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
and enlisted as a mercenary soldier in the service of Dom Pedro
Dom Pedro
Dom Pedro is the traditional Portuguese appellation of several kings of Portugal:* Peter I of Portugal* Peter II of Portugal* Peter III of Portugal* Pedro IV of Portugal* Pedro V of Portugal...
, the Emperor of Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
. Although he had no military experience whatsoever he was apparently able to enlist as a Captain. He survived the siege of Oporto and the subsequent campaigning, but he gained little from it except experience and a handful of medals.
After the Portuguese Campaign he returned briefly to England and enlisted in the British Auxiliary Legion
British Legion (1835)
The Auxiliary Legion or the British Legion of the Spanish Legion existed from 1835 to 1837. It was a British military force sent to Spain to support the Liberals and Queen Isabella II of Spain against the Carlists in the First Carlist War.-History:Under the Quadruple Alliance Great Britain had...
fighting for the infant Queen Isabella II of Spain
Isabella II of Spain
Isabella II was the only female monarch of Spain in modern times. She came to the throne as an infant, but her succession was disputed by the Carlists, who refused to recognise a female sovereign, leading to the Carlist Wars. After a troubled reign, she was deposed in the Glorious Revolution of...
in the First Carlist War
First Carlist War
The First Carlist War was a civil war in Spain from 1833-1839.-Historical background:At the beginning of the 18th century, Philip V, the first Bourbon king of Spain, promulgated the Salic Law, which declared illegal the inheritance of the Spanish crown by women...
. He emerged from the campaign as a major, re-enlisted and was promoted to Colonel. Among his junior officers was Henry Inman (police commander)
Henry Inman (police commander)
Henry Inman , cavalry officer, Pioneer of South Australia, founder and first commander of the South Australia Police, overlander, Anglican clergyman.-Origins:...
. Wakefield was one of the few officers to survive the campaigns of the following years; he stayed until the Legion was disbanded in 1837 and returned to England the following year.
New Zealand
In early 1839 the New Zealand CompanyNew Zealand Company
The New Zealand Company originated in London in 1837 as the New Zealand Association with the aim of promoting the "systematic" colonisation of New Zealand. The association, and later the company, intended to follow the colonising principles of Edward Gibbon Wakefield, who envisaged the creation of...
in London was hurriedly organizing its first expedition, because they were anxious to get it underway before the government stopped them. They already had a ship, the Tory. At the suggestion of his brother, Edward Gibbon, they appointed Wakefield as the commander of the expedition. The Tory sailed from London on 4 May 1839 with Wakefield as sole and unqualified leader of the expedition. However, he also had a very full and complete set of instructions about their activities in New Zealand. The instructions came under three headings: the purchase of land for the New Zealand Company, the acquisition of knowledge about New Zealand, and preparation for the formation of settlements. Wakefield was expected to treat the Māori with utmost fairness, to make certain they were fully aware of the nature of the transactions they were entering into. He had to make certain they knew what the Company intended in the long term, the number of settlers to be expected, and the extent of the proposed settlements. He was not to complete any purchase until he was certain that all the vendors were happy with the deal. Furthermore he was instructed to be generous with the goods offered for the purchase.
Reading Wakefield's subsequent accounts of the deals he made with the Māori and also other accounts (such as that written by his nephew, Edward Jerningham Wakefield
Edward Jerningham Wakefield
Edward Jerningham Wakefield was the only son of Edward Gibbon Wakefield. He was born in London, and educated in England and France....
, who accompanied him on the expedition as acting secretary), every effort was made to fulfil these conditions. This is an important point.
It has become an established historical "fact" that many Māori were cheated of their land. Some of the later purchases of the New Zealand Company may have been questionable. But for first purchase made of the area that is now Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
and the Hutt Valley, every effort was made to be scrupulously fair and open. Afterwards both sides seemed to be very happy with the deal and lived together amicably, side by side, for many months.
Wakefield's first sight of New Zealand was not encouraging: successive ranges of formidable mountains. They took on supplies of wood and water at Ship Cove in Queen Charlotte Sound
Queen Charlotte Sound, New Zealand
Queen Charlotte Sound is the easternmost of the main sounds of the Marlborough Sounds, in New Zealand's South Island. It is, like the other sounds, a drowned river valley , and like the majority of its neighbours it runs southwest to northeast before joining Cook Strait.The town of Picton, the...
and met their first Māori, who were very interested in trading. One of the offers Wakefield firmly rejected was that of their wives and daughters for the comfort of the sailors. Later on, the missionaries tried to claim that some of the goods Wakefield gave the Māori were not payment for land but payment for the use of Māori women. When the nature of the missionaries' accusation became clear, it was laughed out of court, as Wakefield had established a very strong reputation for probity and correctness.
After five weeks in the Marlborough Sounds
Marlborough Sounds
The Marlborough Sounds are an extensive network of sea-drowned valleys created by a combination of land subsidence and rising sea levels at the north of the South Island of New Zealand...
in the South Island
South Island
The South Island is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean...
, the Tory sailed over to Te Whanganui a Tara ("The Big Harbour of Tara") and Port Nicholson. Here he began serious negotiations for the purchase of land. The negotiations involved two tribes or iwi
Iwi
In New Zealand society, iwi form the largest everyday social units in Māori culture. The word iwi means "'peoples' or 'nations'. In "the work of European writers which treat iwi and hapū as parts of a hierarchical structure", it has been used to mean "tribe" , or confederation of tribes,...
, Ngati Toa
Ngati Toa
Ngāti Toa , an iwi , traces its descent from the eponymous ancestor Toarangatira. The Ngāti Toa region extends from Miria-te-kakara at Rangitikei to Wellington, and across Cook Strait to Wairau and Nelson....
and Te Atiawa; it involved sixteen chiefs, and after five days a deal was made that apparently pleased everyone. It was subsequently endorsed by the paramount chief of the area, Te Rauparaha
Te Rauparaha
Te Rauparaha was a Māori rangatira and war leader of the Ngāti Toa tribe who took a leading part in the Musket Wars. He was influential in the original sale of conquered Rangitane land to the New Zealand Company and was a participant in the Wairau Incident in Marlborough...
. Strong objections were raised by Te Rauparaha's nephew, Te Rangihaeata
Te Rangihaeata
Te Rangihaeata , was a Ngāti Toa chief, nephew of Te Rauparaha. He had a leading part in the Wairau Affray and the Hutt Valley Campaign.-Early life:...
, although he reluctantly signed the deed eventually even while doubting its validity.
The purchase completed, Wakefield and the Tory set out to explore a bit more of New Zealand sailing up the west coast. They were impressed with the potential of the Taranaki area for further settlement. They then sailed up to the Hokianga
Hokianga
Hokianga is an area surrounding the Hokianga Harbour, also known as The Hokianga River, a long estuarine drowned valley on the west coast in the north of the North Island of New Zealand....
, made contact with the traders, and looked at buying land in that district. However, the expedition was curtailed when the Tory ran aground in Hokianga Harbour. The ship was saved but it needed extensive repairs. Anxious to return to Port Nicholson and his appointed rendezvous with the survey ship, Cuba, Wakefield crossed the island to Kororareka, where he chartered another ship to take him south.
The trials of a colonist
Wakefield arrived back in Port Nicholson in early January, 1840. The first of the settlers’ ships arrived on 21 January with five others coming in over the next few weeks. However as the settlers prepared to begin building their new homes it became apparent that the land around Petone was not suitable, being too swampy. A new site had to be selected and Lambton Harbour was chosen, a few kilometres further west. However the newly chosen site was already occupied by the Māori, being one of their residential areas. Wakefield was quite clear that he had bought and paid for the land on behalf of the New Zealand Company but it soon emerged that despite his efforts the Māori had not fully understood the nature of the deal. They had expected to share the land with the Pakeha and were most unwilling to move.It was a difficult situation for the Māori; while they had overwhelming numbers and military power they did not want a confrontation that might drive the Pakeha elsewhere. They probably suspected also that not only would they be fighting the settlers but also the other Māori in the area. Reluctantly, and with bad grace, they moved. However this was the beginning of a resentment and anger that has plagued Māori-Pakeha relations right up until the present day.
To make matters worse the missionary Henry Williams
Henry Williams (missionary)
Henry Williams was one of the first missionaries who went to New Zealand in the first half of the 19th century....
appeared in the district with copies of the Treaty of Waitangi
Treaty of Waitangi
The Treaty of Waitangi is a treaty first signed on 6 February 1840 by representatives of the British Crown and various Māori chiefs from the North Island of New Zealand....
for Māori to sign. Furthermore he was claiming some of the land the New Zealand Company had purchased. Wakefield was furious as he recognized that Henry Williams’s claims were made for selfish reasons but he granted him one acre (4,000 m²) of town land for his personal ownership. Henry Williams was soon to be dismissed and disgraced by the Church Missionary Society for defrauding the Māori.
During this period Wakefield would have been extremely busy. He was not only the leader of the expedition and the colony and the principal agent for the New Zealand Company but he was also president of the Settlers' Council which had been formed to maintain law and order in the Colony.
Meanwhile another problem was looming; the consequences of the furtive and hurried way in which the New Zealand Company had established the settlement ahead of the establishment of British Sovereignty. Naturally the new governor, William Hobson
William Hobson
Captain William Hobson RN was the first Governor of New Zealand and co-author of the Treaty of Waitangi.-Early life:...
, resented their actions. The Settlers' Council was seen as an attempt to establish an illegal republic. The Acting Colonial Secretary Willoughby Shortland
Willoughby Shortland
Commander Willoughby Shortland RN was a British naval officer and colonial administrator. He was New Zealand's first Colonial Secretary from 1841, after having arrived in New Zealand with Lieutenant Governor William Hobson in January 1840...
was dispatched with soldiers and mounted police to disband the illegal organization. Fortunately he stayed on to administer justice and the change-over happened smoothly, albeit with some resentment from the colonists.
Wakefield strongly believed that Port Nicholson's central position made it the obvious choice to be New Zealand's capital and seat of government. However Hobson chose Auckland, he probably recognized that Port Nicholson was dominated by the New Zealand Company. Meanwhile Shortland was scrutinizing the details of the land purchase very critically. Inevitably he found a flaw, one of the Māori chiefs had sold land he did not own and without the consent of the owners.
There were other problems too. Many of the settlers were not happy with the land they had been allocated, others were not getting the land they had paid for. To satisfy its commitments the New Zealand Company needed about 500 km². There is not that much arable land in the Wellington area. Furthermore Wakefield's nephew, Edward Jerningham was causing concern, drinking heavily and fornicating with Māori maidens.
Altogether poor old Wakefield was beset on all sides. He seems to have withdrawn into himself; one of the settlers described him as "the coldest mannered man they have met". Despite all the difficulties the Colony thrived, Port Nicholson or Brittania became Wellington and continued to grow. How much of the credit belongs to William and how much depended on the determination of the settlers probably depends upon the opinions of the historian.
The death of his brother Arthur
Arthur Wakefield
Captain Arthur Wakefield served with the Royal Navy, before joining his brother, Edward Gibbon Wakefield, in founding the new settlement at Nelson, New Zealand.-Royal Navy:...
in the Wairau Affray
Wairau Affray
In New Zealand history, the Wairau Affray on 17 June 1843 was the first serious clash of arms between Māori and the British settlers after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, and the only one to take place in the South Island...
(as it is now called, rather than Massacre) was a huge blow particularly as William felt partly responsible. Governor Hobson died and was replaced by Robert FitzRoy
Robert FitzRoy
Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy RN achieved lasting fame as the captain of HMS Beagle during Charles Darwin's famous voyage, and as a pioneering meteorologist who made accurate weather forecasting a reality...
. Initially Fitzroy and Wakefield clashed seriously, particularly when FitzRoy declined to take any action against his brother's killers, as the settler party was acting illegally over a questionable land claim. But the situation gradually improved, as the two men recognized that they had to work together. The Wellington settlement was a fait accompli while the Governor was the most powerful man in New Zealand.
There was continuing criticism of the land deals the New Zealand Company had made. Wakefield felt he had been honest but very few of the government agreed with him. Several of the deals were renegotiated and the putative owners paid a second time. Gradually though the Land Claims Commissioner, William Spain, swung around. Initially he had appeared to favour the Māori, he became neutral and then began to support the claims of the New Zealand Company.
However over the next few years Wakefield was involved in disputes with the Crown, with the Māori and with his own surveyors. These disputes meant that the colonist land titles were delayed by months or years leading in turn to disputes with the various settlements. One of the undertakings of the New Zealand Company was that labourers going to the colony were guaranteed work. Because of the delays William had no work for them and this caused further anger, at one stage Nelson was almost in a state of armed rebellion against the Company’s agents. Wakefield and the Company simply did not have the resources to carry out their commitments. The situation was made worse by Wakefield's personality; he demonstrated no sign of any leadership qualities and was unwilling to take any initiative in dealing with the problems. His time was apparently spent writing letters back to London describing the wonderful progress being made. When confronted with problems he blustered, cajoled, and criticized, but he would not do anything.
By April, 1844 he had alienated practically every colonist. One of them wrote "The baneful influence of Colonel Wakefield has ruined every settler and the colony of Port Nicholson."
Early in 1842 Wakefield had been joined in New Zealand by his daughter, Emily, then sixteen years old. Shortly afterwards she became engaged to Francis Molesworth but it was broken off when ill health forced him to return to England. Then in late 1845 she met Edward Stafford
Edward Stafford (politician)
Sir Edward Stafford, KCMG served as the third Premier of New Zealand on three occasions in the mid 19th century. His total time in office is the longest of any leader without a political party. He is described as pragmatic, logical, and clear-sighted.-Early life and career:Edward William Stafford...
of Nelson and they were married the following year. From his surviving letters it is clear that William greatly missed his daughter, as he had enjoyed very little family life until she came to New Zealand.
In March 1847 Wakefield fought a duel with his doctor, Isaac Featherston
Isaac Featherston
Dr. Isaac Earl Featherston was a New Zealand politician, and was known for his advocacy for the establishment of New Zealand self-government, and the importance of the provincial governments.-Early life:...
over an editorial in the Wellington Independent newspaper which questioned his honesty. Featherstone fired first and missed then Wakefield fired into the air saying he could not shoot a man who had seven daughters. Just as well, the following year Wakefield had great need of his services.
William suffered a mild stroke early in 1848 and then a more severe one in August. Then on 15 September 1848, while at the bath house, he collapsed; there were soon three doctors on the scene but to no avail and he died four days later in a room at the Wellington Tavern (known as Alzdorfs after the proprietor Baron von Alzdorf). He was given what amounted to a State funeral, Governor Grey attended as did nearly half of Wellington, both Māori and Pakeha, The Māori Chief, Te Puni was one of his pall bearers. In death Wakefield was given the respect he seldom had gained in life. It was acknowledged that he had worked to the best of maybe limited ability at an impossible task and had probably contributed more than anyone else to the foundation of Wellington.