Saint or Scoundrel 16

September, 1864

I find that I have a few hours free, and want to conclude the information about my trip to Stoke by Nayland.

I realise that I have done little to describe the town itself. I did get a chance to see most of it as we walked to and from church, and then later in the evening after tea, Frances took me on a tour of the
rest.

She told me that the population was estimated to be just over 5,000 but that, of course, would include farm families. There were two public houses: the Crown, and the Angel Inn. Frances told me that it was Miss Pittock’s brother, William, who was the publican there and that she had a message that Miss Pittock had asked her to deliver. The Inn was a brick terraced building on the corner of the road. We went in and it was dark but had a huge fireplace which no doubt would have made it cheery in the winter time. Mr. Pittock called us to come out into the garden, and what a difference. The walls were covered with ivy, and flowers abounded. It was like a different world. We delivered the note and then left.

 Frances pointed out where the shoe shop cum post office was, where my new friends the Winnys live. It was much more impressive than I had imagined it might be, with three large bay windows. I tried to see inside, but other than the displays of shoes in the window, the net curtains kept me from seeing more. Altogether it is a lovely little town, reminding me much more of Disley than Altricham.

But back to what I read from Teddy’s and Edward’s letters.

When Edward had recovered sufficiently, he began a tour of Britain at a relaxed pace. He felt
his recovery was due to the intervention of his friend Charlton Allom, at whose home he was nursed when he was first taken ill, preventing the doctors from continuing to bleed him. So he carried a
card around with him saying, “Don’t bleed me.” just in case he should again succumb to a stroke.

Edward took Dr. Wilson’s Water Cure at Malvern that autumn of 1847, and it was there that he
determined to have another plan of colonizing New Zealand, this time in the Canterbury area. He wanted it to be a Church of England settlement, and he invited John Godley, an Anglo-Irishman, to join him.

In 1848, he went to France, and although he was still frail, he managed to work several hours each
day on the writing of his book The Art of Colonisation.

Regarding this book, Teddy wrote, “He is maligned when accused by Marx and others of wishing to reproduce the aristocratic society of England in the colonies. He wants his labourers to become landowners in due course.”

While I was reading the letters, Rev. Torlesse came in and we sat and chatted for a few minutes. He said he felt that his brother-in-law, Edward Gibbon Wakefield, had been one of the ablest, the most
enterprising, and noblest men of their generation. As far as his faults, he said that his love of power was almost pathological; and more than once he sacrificed principle for power's sake. He was
jealous of those who held the positions he could not gain. But, despite his many faults, by the impetus he gave to the colonisation of the colonies, he left a deeper mark on their history than any
other man.

He also told me that he, too, was in the act of writing a book, one about the village of Stoke by Nayland, and as someone with the knowledge of the difficulties of the task, he wished me every luck
with my endeavour.

After he left, I went back to my reading about Edward's life after his stroke.

His doctor had told him to lead a quiet life, but he couldn’t make himself do it. He spent time with his younger brother Felix and his children who had returned from Tasmania after sixteen years. He had separated from his wife, and was penniless. Edward gave him hospitality.

I haven't time to write more now, but will continue soon.

My wedding day approaches, and I have so much to do to get ready for it. I have told Mr. Balshaw that I will continue working over the Christmas period, as it tends to be very busy. Mr. Jackson and I will be married on December 27th.

Here is the last but two in Edward Gibbon’s letters to my father.

December 4, 1842

Montreal, Canada

Dear Daniel,

While I am still active with the New Zealand Company, I have maintained my
interest in Canadian affairs and I have got involved with the North
American Colonial Association of Ireland, NACAI. Through me, the
NACAI are trying to purchase a large estate just outside Montreal
where we hope to establish another Colonial settlement, this time for
Irish people. The government does not object in principle but they
strenuously objected to me having any part of it. Will my soiled
reputation of twenty years past never leave me?

The NACAI sent me back to Canada as their representative; and I arrived
in Montreal in January and have been here all year. Canada is still
coming to terms with the union of Upper and Lower Canada. There are
serious differences between the French and English Canadians. I have
skillfully manipulated these differences; and as a result
it was fairly easy for me to get the support of the French Canadians.
In November, I was elected to the Canadian Parliament for the county
of Beauharnois. However, I fear I will never take up the seat as I am
intending on returning soon to England.

All the best for 1842 to you my friend from

Edward Gibbon.

October 8, 1864

Time for a bit more from the letters I read at Catherine's house.

In 1848, Edward Gibbon Wakefield, with John Robert Godley set up the Canterbury Association supported by a number of Members of Parliament and English peers, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, to plan a Church of England colony in New Zealand. Land for the settlement was
obtained from the Ngāi Tahu under the deal known as Kemp’s Deed.

This was signed at Akaroa on 12 June, 1848, by sixteen Ngāi Tahu chiefs. They sold the greater part of their land for £2,000, but kept their settlements and food-gathering places. They were to be given back larger reserves of land once the surveying had been done. However, when Walter Mantell mapped the land, he deliberately cut down the promised reserves, allowing less than four acres per head instead of the promised ten. He also kept back from Ngāi Tahu some of their cultivated land and food-gathering places (mahinga kai).

The capital city of the new colony was to be called Christ Church, after the Oxford College John Robert Godley attended. The agricultural settlement planned was to be made up of selected Anglican families, with the land sold to the settlers to raise money for the building of schools, roads, and churches. The Canterbury Association bought the land from the New Zealand Company. The rural sections were sold in lots of no less than 50 acres for £3 an acre. The land in the city
(1,000 acres) was divided into quarter acre sections, and balloted out to the new settlers. The Association hoped to establish a colony of 15,000 people, with a bishop (and a cathedral), 21 clergy, and 20 schoolmasters. Twelve shiploads of settlers were planned.

His brother William (the one who had helped him in the abduction) in September, 1848, suffered an
apoplectic stroke, and died four days later. He was held in high esteem for the work he did in developing New Zealand in the Wellington area. Catherine told me that his daughter, Emily, who was
born during his imprisonment all those years before, married Edward Stafford who moved to New Zealand in 1844, but she, Emily, died young and childless, in 1857.

In 1849, after Edward Gibbon had resigned from the New Zealand Company, it was given a charter. Felix, Edward and Teddy then spent much effort for the next years in recruiting emigrants to Canterbury. Edward’s friend, John Godley, was in charge of the new settlement, and he and his family went to Port Lyttleton in March, 1850. The plan was for four ships, 792 pilgrims set forth for Canterbury in September of that year.

Another of Edward’s brothers, Daniel, was by then attorney General for the North Island of New Zealand, and Catherine’s son Charley Torlesse and Teddy were back in New Zealand as well, sorting out problems in Canterbury. Edward Gibbon finally agreed to join them in 1853, accompanied by another of Catherine’s sons, Henry Torlesse, and his five beloved dogs, a bull and a heifer.

The voyage was rough, and the animals were quite starved when they finally arrived. But on his
arrival Edward Gibbon’s comment about the Promised Land, as he thought it, was, “I could have fancied myself in England except for the hard working industry of the upper classes and luxurious
independence of the common people.”

He did not find Canterbury to his liking, so moved to the North Island. He arrived in Wellington in
March, 1853, found it an agreeable climate for his health, and remained there for the rest of his life. But his new life was not perfect for him. This is what he wrote about his early impressions,
“I have no friendship here. Not one person sympathizes with my fears and hopes. What would I give for a few days back in London.”

He immersed himself in the local politics and was soon elected to both the Provisional Council and the General Assembly. But he was soon in conflict with the Governor, George Grey, and due to these problems, his brother also resigned as Attorney General. 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. Edward Gibbon 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 applied for an injunction to prevent the Commissioner of Crown Lands selling any further lands under Governor Grey's regulations. He began a campaign in London to have Governor Grey 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 Edward Gibbons' integrity, always an easy target. Particularly he focussed on the generous fees that had been paid to Edward Gibbon 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. Edward Gibbon managed to clear himself of the actual charges but a great deal of dirt was thrown around.

In December of 1855, he attended a meeting of his constituents, and spoke with great earnestness of vigour for five hours consecutively in a densely crowded room. He then drove home in an open chaise, nine miles in a cold gale at two in the morning. Although he began to feel ill, he accepted an
invitation a day or two afterwards to dine with members of an Odd-fellows lodge in town and sat in a hot room with an open window at his back. The next day he was attacked with rheumatic fever, and
suffered acute pain. For a long time he would let no one know how ill he was, and would see no one. But then he wrote to his son, Teddy, at Canterbury, asking him to come to him.

I suddenly realised that in my concentrating on Mr. Wakefield and his son, I have completely forgotten about Ellen’s daughter, Mrs. Lowther, and my correspondence and visit with her. She allowed me to make a copy of her wedding notice. Of course, my father had been dead for many years by the time she married - but if we had done as he asked, and carried on corresponding with Mr. Wakefield on his behalf, we might have been able to inform him of her marriage - although I
have the feeling that he will have kept track of her himself, and will have known.

Here is the information.

Manchester Guardian,
January 16, 1847

MARRIAGE
IN HIGH LIFE -

The nuptials of Ellen Jane, the youthful and accomplished daughter of Thomas Legh, Esq. of Lyme Park, with the Reverend Brabyzon Lowther, son of Gorges Lowther, Esq. of Hampton Hall, in the county of Somerset, were solemnized on Thursday morning, in a style worthy of the ancient house of Lyme. The bride and bridegroom, with Mrs. Legh and a distinguished party of relatives and friends left Lyme at nine o’clock, in five carriages, each drawn by four beautiful greys, for the picturesque village church of Prestbury, where the marriage ceremony was very impressively performed by the Rev. James Sumner, M.A. incumbent of Shrigley. In the unavoidable absence of Mr. Legh, who we regret to learn has been suffering for some days past with the effects of a severe cold, the fair bride was given away by her uncle, the Rev. Peter Legh. The four bridesmaids, relatives of the bride and bridegroom, were Miss Huntingford, Miss Manie Legh, Miss Claughton, and Miss Mary Claughton. 

I will put the two last letters from him to my Pa in this chapter and the next, and then I will wait and see what the future has in store for me before I take the next step.

London

December 8, 1843

Dear Daniel,

I went back to Canada, after a few months in England, but returned home
after I had the shocking news of another family death.

All I can think of at the moment is the death of my brother, Arthur, in
New Zealand at the hand of the Maoris. I sent him there. Am I to
blame in this early end to his life - as I might have been for those
of the others I loved in the past who died young?

I will just copy the bare outline of what happened from Teddy’s
report of it.

On 17 June, 1843, a party of 50 Europeans, led by my brother, Arthur
Wakefield, walked into the Wairau Valley from Nelson. They tried to
arrest Te Rauparaha and another Māori chief, Rangihaeata, on a
flimsy charge of arson from when a survey party had tried to survey
disputed land in the Wairau Valley. The European claim to the land
was based on a false deed of sale, which the Māori owners had been
tricked into signing.

The chiefs refused to go with them, and one of the Europeans fired his
gun (probably accidentally). Fighting broke out and people were
killed on both sides. After Wakefield called on the Europeans to
surrender, Rangihaeata demanded utu for his wife who had been killed,
and Wakefield and others were executed.

Despite demands for revenge from settlers in Wellington and Nelson, Governor
Fitzroy refused to act, saying that the Māori had been provoked by
the unreasonable actions of the Europeans.

I hope for a better New Year.

Your friend,

Edward Gibbon