Edward Gibbon Wakefield
Encyclopedia
Edward Gibbon Wakefield (20 March 1796 – 16 May 1862) was a British politician, the driving force behind much of the early colonisation of South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

, and later 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...

.

Wakefield, who in 1816 married Eliza Pattle (1799–1820), was the eldest son of Edward Wakefield (1774–1854)
Edward Wakefield (1774–1854)
Edward Wakefield was an English philanthropist and statistician, chiefly known as the author of Ireland, Statistical and Political, and as the father of several controversial sons.-Life:...

 and Susanna Crash (1767–1816). He is mentioned and criticised in Chapter 33 of Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...

's Das Kapital
Das Kapital
Das Kapital, Kritik der politischen Ökonomie , by Karl Marx, is a critical analysis of capitalism as political economy, meant to reveal the economic laws of the capitalist mode of production, and how it was the precursor of the socialist mode of production.- Themes :In Capital: Critique of...

 
(Volume 1)

Early life

Born in London
London
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...

, Great Britain
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...

, in 1796, Wakefield was educated in London and Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

. He was the brother of William Hayward Wakefield, and of Arthur Wakefield
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:...

 and Felix Wakefield
Felix Wakefield
Felix Wakefield, , was the seventh child of Edward Wakefield and Susanna Crash of Felstead, he was the brother of Arthur and Edward Gibbon Wakefield. In 1831 he married Marie Bailley, by whom he had nine children.When he left school Felix began working with his father and training as a surveyor...

.

He served as a King's Messenger, carrying diplomatic
Diplomacy
Diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or states...

 mail all about Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 during the later stages of the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...

, both before and after the decisive Battle of Waterloo
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...

. In the year 1816 he ran off with a Miss Eliza Pattle and they were subsequently married
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

 in Edinburgh. It appears to have been a "love match", but no doubt the fact that she was a wealthy heiress did "sweeten the pot", with Edward receiving a marriage settlement of 70,000 pounds
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...

, with the prospect of more when Eliza turned twenty-nine.

The now married couple, accompanied by the bride's mother and various servants, moved to Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....

 where Mr. Wakefield was again employed in a diplomatic capacity. Here his first child, Nina, was born in 1817. The household returned to London in 1820 and a second child, 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....

, was born. Four days later Eliza died and the two children were thereafter brought up by their aunt, Mr. Wakefield's older sister, Catherine.

Although wealthy by contemporary standards, Mr. Wakefield was not satisfied. He wished to acquire an estate
Estate (house)
An estate comprises the houses and outbuildings and supporting farmland and woods that surround the gardens and grounds of a very large property, such as a country house or mansion. It is the modern term for a manor, but lacks the latter's now abolished jurisdictional authority...

 and enter Parliament
Parliament of Great Britain
The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and Parliament of Scotland...

, for this Mr. Wakefield needed more capital. He almost managed to wed yet another wealthy heiress in 1826 when he abducted 15-year-old Ellen Turner after luring her from school with a false message about her mother. Wakefield was brought to trial for the case known as the Shrigley abduction
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...

 in 1827 and, along with his brother William, sentenced to three years in Newgate prison. He then attempted to overturn his father-in-law's will
Will (law)
A will or testament is a legal declaration by which a person, the testator, names one or more persons to manage his/her estate and provides for the transfer of his/her property at death...

 and get his hands on the remainder of his dead wife's money. This did not work either and, in fact, the entire affair did a lot to tarnish his reputation - there were strong suspicions that in order to strengthen his case he had resorted first, to forgery
Forgery
Forgery is the process of making, adapting, or imitating objects, statistics, or documents with the intent to deceive. Copies, studio replicas, and reproductions are not considered forgeries, though they may later become forgeries through knowing and willful misrepresentations. Forging money or...

 and then, perjury
Perjury
Perjury, also known as forswearing, is the willful act of swearing a false oath or affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to a judicial proceeding. That is, the witness falsely promises to tell the truth about matters which affect the outcome of the...

, although no charges were ever then brought to a trial
Trial
A trial is, in the most general sense, a test, usually a test to see whether something does or does not meet a given standard.It may refer to:*Trial , the presentation of information in a formal setting, usually a court...

.

South Australia

In 1831 Wakefield became involved in various schemes to promote the colonisation of South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

. He believed that many of the social problems in Britain were caused by overcrowding and overpopulation and he saw emigration to the colonies as a useful safety valve. He set out to design a good colonisation scheme, one with a workable combination of labourers, artisans and capital. The scheme was to be financed by the sale of land to the capitalists who would thereby support the other classes of emigrants.

The South Australia colony took several attempts to get going. Although initially Wakefield was a driving force he found that as it came closer to reality he was allowed less and less influence. Eventually he was frozen out almost completely whereupon he took offence and severed his connections with the scheme. It was during this period that his daughter, Nina, died. He had taken her to Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...

 hoping the warmer climate would improve her health. This also meant that he was away from the scene of negotiations for several months.

However he didn't lose interest in colonisation as a tool for social engineering and a new project was soon under way, the New Zealand Association.

In 1837 the Colonial Office gave the New Zealand Association a charter to promote settlement in New Zealand. However, they attached conditions that were unacceptable to the members of the Association. After considerable discussion interest in the project waned.

Wakefield was undoubtedly one of the most influential voices in the Association and he had discovered another interest, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

.

Canada

The 1837 Rebellion in Lower Canada
Lower Canada
The Province of Lower Canada was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence...

 had been suppressed but the colony was in turmoil. The government of Lord Melbourne wanted to send John George Lambton, Lord Durham
John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham
John George Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham GCB, PC , also known as "Radical Jack" and commonly referred to in history texts simply as Lord Durham, was a British Whig statesman, colonial administrator, Governor General and high commissioner of British North America...

 to sort it out. He and Wakefield had been working together closely on the New Zealand scheme, he was a convert to Wakefield's colonial theories. Durham was only prepared to accept the task if Wakefield would accompany him as Commissioner of Crown Lands. However they both knew that Wakefield would be completely unacceptable to the British government and so Durham was going to announce the appointment only after he had reached Canada. Wakefield and his son, Edward Jerningham Wakefield, sailed secretly for Canada in 1838 but before they arrived word had leaked out and the appointment was forbidden by London. Despite this Durham retained him as an unofficial representative, advisor and negotiator, giving him effectively the same powers he would have had he been appointed.

Between them they successfully defused the situation and brought about the union
Act of Union 1840
The Act of Union, formally the The British North America Act, 1840 , was enacted in July 1840 and proclaimed 10 February 1841. It abolished the legislatures of Lower Canada and Upper Canada and established a new political entity, the Province of Canada to replace them...

 of Upper
Upper Canada
The Province of Upper Canada was a political division in British Canada established in 1791 by the British Empire to govern the central third of the lands in British North America and to accommodate Loyalist refugees from the United States of America after the American Revolution...

 and Lower Canada
Lower Canada
The Province of Lower Canada was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence...

. Since Durham was ill for much of his time in Canada a great deal of the credit for the success of his mission belongs to his advisers, Wakefield and Charles Buller
Charles Buller
Charles Buller , was a British barrister, politician and reformer.-Background and education:Born in Calcutta, British India, Buller was the son of Charles Buller , a member of a well-known Cornish family, and Barbara Isabella Kirkpatrick, daughter of General William Kirkpatrick, considered an...

. Clearly Wakefield had become a capable negotiator. Shortly afterwards political manoeuvring in London made Durham's position untenable, he resigned and they all returned to Britain.

Here Durham went into seclusion while he wrote and then presented to Parliament a report on his administration
Report on the Affairs of British North America (1839)
The Report on the Affairs of British North America, commonly known as The Durham Report, is an important document in the history of Quebec, Ontario, Canada and the British Empire....

. Although their names are not mentioned it seems likely that report was written in cooperation by the three men, Durham, Buller and Wakefield. Eventually this report and its conclusions became a blue print for development of British Colonial policy.

The New Zealand Company

The defunct New Zealand Association reformed itself as the New Zealand Company
New 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 June 1838. By the end of the year they had purchased a ship, the Tory. Early in 1839 they discovered that although they now complied with the conditions the Government had laid down for the old New Zealand Association the government was not prepared to honour its promises. Furthermore it was actively considering making New Zealand a British Colony in which case land sales would become a Government monopoly
Monopoly
A monopoly exists when a specific person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity...

.

At a meeting in March 1839, Wakefield was invited to become the director of the New Zealand Company. His philosophy was the same as when he planned his elopements: "Possess yourself of the Soil and you are Secure."

It was decided that the Tory would sail for New Zealand as soon as possible. Brother William
William Wakefield
William Hayward Wakefield 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.-Early life:...

 was appointed leader of the expedition with son Edward Jerningham
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....

 as his nominal secretary. They had some difficulty finding a suitable captain for the Tory but then found Edward's Main Chaffers who had been sailing master on HMS Beagle
HMS Beagle
HMS Beagle was a Cherokee-class 10-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 11 May 1820 from the Woolwich Dockyard on the River Thames, at a cost of £7,803. In July of that year she took part in a fleet review celebrating the coronation of King George IV of the United Kingdom in which...

 during its circumnavigation. Dr. Ernst Dieffenbach
Ernst Dieffenbach
Johann Karl Ernst Dieffenbach was a German physician, geologist and naturalist, the first trained scientist to live and work in New Zealand, where he travelled widely under the auspices of the New Zealand Company, returning in 1841–42 and publishing in English his Travels in New Zealand in...

 was appointed as scientific officer and Charles Heaphy
Charles Heaphy
Major Charles Heaphy VC was a New Zealand explorer and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious military award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces....

 as a draughtsman. The Tory left London on 5 May and called at Plymouth
Plymouth
Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...

 to complete the fitting out. Fearing a last minute attempt by the Government to prevent her sailing Wakefield hastened down to Plymouth and advised their immediate departure. The Tory finally quit English shores on 12 May 1839 and reached New Zealand ninety six days later.

Wakefield did not sail with the colonists, many years were to pass before he saw New Zealand. Probably he also recognised that he did not have the patience, the skills or the talents needed on a frontier. His talents lay in visualising dramatic plans and grandiose schemes and then persuading other people to get involved. He was not even a good organiser as he tended to ignore the details. He was a salesman, a propagandist and a politician.

By the end of 1839 he had dispatched eight more ships to New Zealand, before he even knew of the success of the Brother William and the Tory expedition. He then recruited 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:...

 to lead another expedition, this time to settle in the Nelson area at the top of the South Island. Catherine Wakefield's son, Charlie Torlesse, sailed with Arthur. By now William's daughter, Emily and his ward, Liocadia, were already in New Zealand. Two more of his brothers would also eventually go to New Zealand along with numerous nieces and nephews.

By the turn of the century (2000) no direct descendants of the Wakefield family are left in New Zealand with the exception of William Wakefield Lawrence Clague resident in Kapiti. A great great nephew of William and Edward Gibbon Wakefield he is the great great grandson of John Howard Wakefield one of the original brothers. John Howard Wakefield spent most of his life in India ending his days back in England unlike his two more well known siblings.

Canada again

While active with the New Zealand Company, Wakefield had maintained his interest in Canadian affairs. He was involved with the North American Colonial Association of Ireland, NACAI. At his instigation, the NACAI were trying to purchase a large estate just outside Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

 where they wanted to establish another Colonial settlement. Wakefield pushed the scheme with his usual energy; apparently, the government did not object in principle but they strenuously objected to Wakefield having any part of it.

But trusted or not by the politicians, Wakefield was involved in the scheme. The NACAI sent him back to Canada as their representative; he arrived in Montreal in January 1842 and stayed in Canada for about a year. At this stage, Canada was still coming to terms with the union of Upper and Lower Canada. There were serious differences between the French and English Canadians with the English Canadians holding the political clout. Wakefield skilfully manipulated these differences; it was fairly easy for him to get the support of the French Canadians. By the end of that year he had got himself elected to the Canadian Parliament
Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada
The Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada was the lower house of the legislature for the Province of Canada, which consisted of the former provinces of Lower Canada, then known as Canada East and later the province of Quebec, and Upper Canada, then known as Canada West and later the...

. It is perhaps typical of Wakefield that, having been elected, he immediately returned to Britain and never took up his seat.

He went back to Canada in 1843 and spent some months there. However when he heard of his brother Arthur's death at 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...

, he immediately quit Canada and never returned. This appears to be the end of his involvement with Canadian affairs except that he was paid about twenty thousand pounds by the NACAI for his work in Canada.

Final years in Britain

Wakefield returned to England early in 1844 to find the New Zealand Company under serious attack from the Colonial Office. As usual he threw himself into the campaign to save his project. Then in August, 1844, he had a stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...

 followed in the months ahead by several other minor strokes and he had to retire from the struggle, there is also a possibility that his mental health
Mental health
Mental health describes either a level of cognitive or emotional well-being or an absence of a mental disorder. From perspectives of the discipline of positive psychology or holism mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life and procure a balance between life activities and...

 was not too sound in the succeeding months. Fortunately his son, Edward Jerningham Wakefield, returned from New Zealand about this time and was on hand to care for him. In August, 1845 he went to France to recuperate and to give himself a complete break from New Zealand affairs. However it did not serve his purpose and he returned to London two months later in a semi-invalid state.

By January 1846 Wakefield was back to his scheming. By now Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...

 was Colonial Secretary. Wakefield approached him early in the New Year with a fairly radical plan, that both the Government and the New Zealand Company should withdraw from New Zealand affairs and the colony should become self governing. While it might have been a good idea Wakefield wanted it accepted immediately and became at first heated and then distressed when some months later, it was still being considered.

Then during August 1846 he had another, potentially fatal stroke. His friend, Charles Buller
Charles Buller
Charles Buller , was a British barrister, politician and reformer.-Background and education:Born in Calcutta, British India, Buller was the son of Charles Buller , a member of a well-known Cornish family, and Barbara Isabella Kirkpatrick, daughter of General William Kirkpatrick, considered an...

 took up the negotiations. In May 1847 the British Government agreed to take over the debts of the New Zealand Company and to buy out their interests in the Colony. The directors accepted the offer with alacrity and Wakefield found he was powerless and unable to influence the decision, which did not please him.

Perhaps fortunately he almost immediately had a distraction. Without warning his youngest brother Felix
Felix Wakefield
Felix Wakefield, , was the seventh child of Edward Wakefield and Susanna Crash of Felstead, he was the brother of Arthur and Edward Gibbon Wakefield. In 1831 he married Marie Bailley, by whom he had nine children.When he left school Felix began working with his father and training as a surveyor...

, who had been in Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...

 since the early 1830s, reappeared in England accompanied by eight of his children, having abandoned his wife and youngest child in Australia. Felix had no money and no prospects and was unable to provide for his family.
Wakefield found him somewhere to live and farmed out the children among various relatives but it was another year before his health was strong enough to take over the role of surrogate father, Felix being apparently unable to do anything for his family.

Meanwhile Wakefield was getting involved in a new scheme. He was working with John Robert Godley
John Robert Godley
John Robert Godley was an Irish statesman and bureaucrat. Godley is considered to be the founder of Canterbury, New Zealand, although he lived there for only two years.-Early life:...

 to promote a new settlement in New Zealand, this one to be sponsored by the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

. This plan matured to become the Canterbury Settlement. The first ship sailed from England in December, 1849 with Robert Godley in command of the expedition. With them also sailed Edward Jerningham Wakefield, his health and finances ruined by his dissipated life style in London. Then the first immigrant ships sailed from Plymouth in September 1850, bound for Canterbury and others followed.

In the same year, 1850, Wakefield co-founded the Colonial Reform Society with Charles Adderley
Charles Bowyer Adderley, 1st Baron Norton
Charles Bowyer Adderley, 1st Baron Norton PC was a British Conservative politician.-Background and education:...

, a landowner and member of parliament for Staffordshire
Staffordshire
Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...

.

Brother Felix was causing problems back in Britain and causing Wakefield a great deal of grief. Perhaps fortunately Felix decided that settlement in New Zealand was the solution to all his problems, not realising that he created most of them himself. Reluctantly Wakefield sponsored his passage to Canterbury where he was allocated 100 acre (0.404686 km²) of land (40 hectares) near Sumner. He and six of his children arrived in Lyttelton
Lyttelton, New Zealand
Lyttelton is a port town on the north shore of Lyttelton Harbour close to Banks Peninsula, a suburb of Christchurch on the eastern coast of the South Island of New Zealand....

 in November 1851. A short time later one of other settlers described him as "the worst man we have in Canterbury".

During 1851 and 1852 Wakefield continued to work for the Canterbury Association
Canterbury Association
The Canterbury Association was formed in order to establish a colony in what is now the Canterbury Region in the South Island of New Zealand.- Formation of the Association :...

 and also to work towards making New Zealand a self-governing colony
Self-governing colony
A self-governing colony is a colony with an elected legislature, in which politicians are able to make most decisions without reference to the colonial power with formal or nominal control of the colony...

. The New Zealand Constitution Act was passed on 30 June 1852. There was general satisfaction among New Zealanders about this although they were less happy to discover that the new government was to be saddled with the remaining debts of the defunct New Zealand Company.

Wakefield now decided that he had achieved everything he could in England. It was time to see the colony he felt he had created. He sailed from Plymouth in September 1852 knowing he would never return. His sister Catherine and her son Charley came to see him off. Then at the last minute his father appeared. Edward Wakefield was now 78 years old; he and Wakefield had not spoken since the Ellen Turner abduction twenty six years before. However they were reconciled, and the elder Edward died two years later.

Wakefield in New Zealand

The ship arrived at Port Lyttelton in 2 February 1853. Wakefield had travelled with Henry Sewell
Henry Sewell
Henry Sewell was a prominent 19th century New Zealand politician. He was a notable campaigner for New Zealand self-government, and is generally regarded as having been the country's first Premier, having led the Sewell Ministry in 1856.-Early life:Sewell was born on 7 September 1807 in the town of...

 who had been deputy chairman and full time manager of the Canterbury Association. It seems likely that he expected to be welcomed as a founding father of the colony; to be feted and immediately asked to assume the leadership of colony. However colonisation had inevitably changed the perspectives of the people of Canterbury. Many of them felt they had been let down and cheated by the Association and the two arrivals were firmly linked in their minds with the broken promises and disappointments of the Association.

James Edward FitzGerald
James FitzGerald
James Edward FitzGerald was a New Zealand politician. According to some historians, he should be considered the country's first Prime Minister, although a more conventional view is that neither he nor his successor should properly be given that title. He was a notable campaigner for New Zealand...

, who was one of the leaders of Canterbury and who was elected as Superintendent
Superintendent (politics)
Superintendent was the elected head of each Provincial Council in New Zealand from 1853 to 1876.-Historical context:Provinces existed in New Zealand from 1841 until 1876 as a form of sub-national government. After the initial provinces pre-1853, new provinces were formed by the New Zealand...

 of the Canterbury Province
Canterbury Province
The Canterbury Province was a province of New Zealand from 1853 until the abolition of provincial government in 1876. On the east coast the province was bounded by the Hurunui River in the north and the Waitaki River in the south...

 a few months later (in July 1853), declined to meet with Wakefield for some days and certainly was not willing to relinquish control to someone he probably saw as a tainted politician from London.

Within a very short time Wakefield was completely disenchanted with Canterbury. He claimed the citizens were far too parochial in their outlook; they were far more concerned with domestic issues rather than national politics. Clearly they were not worthy of Edward Gibbon Wakefield and after only one month he left Canterbury and sailed for 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...

.

There was enough political ferment in Wellington to satisfy even Wakefield. Governor George Grey
George Edward Grey
Sir George Grey, KCB was a soldier, explorer, Governor of South Australia, twice Governor of New Zealand, Governor of Cape Colony , the 11th Premier of New Zealand and a writer.-Early life and exploration:...

 had just proclaimed self government for New Zealand but it was a watered down version of it, significantly less "self-government" than was described in the New Zealand Constitution Act of the year before. In his own way George Grey was every bit as unscrupulous as Wakefield and he had very firm ideas on what was good for New Zealand. They were not necessarily bad ideas but they were different from Wakefield's. It seems likely that even before they met both men knew they would clash.

When they arrived in Wellington, Wakefield declined to go ashore until he knew he was going to be properly received by the Governor. Grey promptly left town. Sewell went ashore and met up with various dignitaries including Daniel Bell Wakefield
Daniel Bell Wakefield
Daniel Bell Wakefield was a notable judge in New Zealand during the mid-19th century.Wakefield was the second child of Edward Wakefield and Susanna, née Crash ....

, another of the brothers who had been in Wellington for some years practising law and was Attorney General of the Province. He also managed to get an address of welcome for Wakefield, written by 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:...

 and signed by many of the citizens.

Wakefield went on the attack almost as soon as he landed. He took issue with George Grey on his policy on land sales. Grey was in favour of selling land very cheaply to encourage the flow of settlers. Wakefield wanted to keep the price of land high so that the growth of the colony could be financed by land sales, it was a fundamental tenet of his colonial theory. He and Sewell applied for an injunction to prevent the Commissioner of Crown Lands selling any further lands under Governor Grey's regulations. Unfortunately the Crown Commissioner was Wakefield's second cousin, Francis Dillon Bell, early New Zealand really was a Wakefield family business.

Within a month of arriving in Wellington Wakefield was leading the attacks on George Grey, they began a campaign in London to have him recalled not knowing he had already applied to leave the colony. Meanwhile Grey was in control. He responded to the attacks on him by questioning Wakefield's integrity, always an easy target. Particularly he focussed on the generous fees that had been paid to Wakefield as a Director of the New Zealand Company at a time when it was reneging on its debts in New Zealand. This served to remind the people of Wellington just how badly they had been let down by the Company and how angry they felt about it. Wakefield managed to clear himself of the actual charges but a great deal of dirt was thrown around.

Member of Parliament

Elections for the Provincial Councils and General Assembly, the national parliament were scheduled for August 1853. Wakefield stood for the Hutt
Hutt (New Zealand electorate)
Hutt was a New Zealand Parliamentary electorate. It was one of the original electorates in 1853 and existed during two periods until 1978. It was represented by 13 Members of Parliament.-Population centres:...

 electorate, and to the surprise of some and the disappointment of others he was elected to both the Provincial Council and the General Assembly.

The first sitting of the Provincial Assembly was in October 1853. Wakefield was not only the senior member but also clearly the most experienced politically, however the Assembly was controlled by the Constitutional Party led by Dr 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:...

 and they had been heavily involved in the recent criticism of his integrity. Working in opposition, Wakefield probably made certain that the Provincial Assembly became a working democracy rather than Constitutional Party oligarchy. His wide knowledge of parliamentary law and custom made certain that the body of the assembly could not be ignored by the ruling party.

Early in 1854 the town of Wellington held a "Founder's Festival". Three hundred people attended including sixty Maori and all the Wakefields. The principal toast of the evening was to "The original founders of the Colony and Mr Edward Gibbon Wakefield." Whatever the vicissitudes of the last few months it confirmed Wakefield as one of the leading political figures of colony, possibly the only one with stature to take on Governor Grey.

Responsible Government conflict

But Grey was gone and Colonel Robert Wynyard
Robert Wynyard
Sir Robert Henry Wynyard was a New Zealand colonial administrator, serving at various times as Lieutenant Governor of New Ulster Province, Administrator of the Government, and was the first Superintendent of Auckland Province.-Lieutenant Governor of New Ulster:From 26 April 1851 to 7 March 1853,...

 was acting as Governor. Wynyard opened the 1st New Zealand Parliament
1st New Zealand Parliament
The 1st New Zealand Parliament was a term of the Parliament of New Zealand. It opened on 24 May 1854, following New Zealand's first general election . It was dissolved on 15 September 1855 in preparation for that year's election...

 on the 27 May 1855. Wakefield and James Fitzgerald immediately began manoeuvring for positions of influence, with Wakefield moving a motion for Parliament to appoint its own responsible government
Responsible government
Responsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability which is the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy...

s (Ministers of the Crown). Wakefield took a position supporting Wynyard, while FitzGerald took an opposite tack. The dispute over responsible government dragged on. As a compromise, Wynyard appointed James FitzGerald on 7 June to the Executive Council. Wakefield was not asked to form a part of the ministry.

By July FitzGerald was in serious conflict with Wynyard and resigned. Wakefield was sent for to form a government but he refused to do so. He said instead that he would advise Wynyard, so long as he acted on his advice alone. In effect he sought to turn Wynyard into his own puppet. However he did not have a majority of supporters in the house and the assembly was paralysed. It was prorogued by Wynyard on 17 August but he had to recall it again by the end of the month when he needed money to run the country. The new Ministry was composed mainly of Wakefield's supporters and it was soon clear that he was the de facto head of the ministry. However they failed to survive an early vote of no confidence and New Zealand's second government collapsed. FitzGerald and his team returned to office. In the remaining two weeks of the Assembly's life they managed to pass some useful legislation before they were dismissed and new elections called.

Wakefield began electioneering in grand style. He was always able to move people with his speeches. He held two election meetings for his constituents in the Hutt Valley, which were well received. A third meeting was scheduled but it never happened. On the night of 5 December 1855, Wakefield fell ill with rheumatic fever
Rheumatic fever
Rheumatic fever is an inflammatory disease that occurs following a Streptococcus pyogenes infection, such as strep throat or scarlet fever. Believed to be caused by antibody cross-reactivity that can involve the heart, joints, skin, and brain, the illness typically develops two to three weeks after...

 and neuralgia
Neuralgia
Neuralgia is pain in one or more nerves that occurs without stimulation of pain receptor cells. Neuralgia pain is produced by a change in neurological structure or function rather than by the excitation of pain receptors that causes nociceptive pain. Neuralgia falls into two categories: central...

. He retired to his house in Wellington. He had retired from the Hutt seat (on 15 September 1855), and he retired from all political activity and made no more public appearances. He lived for another seven years, but his political life, his real life, was over.

Edward Gibbon Wakefield died in Wellington on 16 May 1862.

Further reading

from the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography
Dictionary of New Zealand Biography
The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography contains biographies for over 3,000 New Zealanders. It is available in both English and Maori. All volumes of the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography are available online....

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