Saint or Scoundrel 17

 I wanted to know more about Arthur Wakefield's death, so reading through Teddy’s book, I found newspaper reports of this affair which I will now copy down here.

Mr Cotterell, one of the surveyors belonging to the Nelson staff, was in the Wairoa district following his duties, when he was attacked by the Maories, and his hut burnt down. He immediately sent off a dispatch to Captain Wakefield. Captain Wakefield, Mr. Tuckett, Mr. Thompson, J.P., with about twenty other persons, started in the Government Brig (Victoria) for Wairoa. On arriving there, they found the Natives encamped. Mr. Thompson, Captain Wakefield, and one or two other parties, proceeded up to the encampment, and stated that they had a warrant for the apprehension of Rauparaha, the chief, for assaulting a European, and burning down his hut. They explained to him the nature of the warrant, and told him, that as he was a subject of her Britannic Majesty he must not presume to take the law into his own hands; he must submit them to the constituted authorities, who would redress his grievances. In the presence instance, he had disobeyed those laws in seeking to redress by violence his supposed injuries, and therefore they were come to apprehend him. He refused to allow himself to be taken, and was told, that if he resisted, orders would be given to take him by force. A canoe was then ordered to be placed across a stream or gully for the main body of the Europeans to cross over to the Maori encampment, which had no sooner taken place, when a gun was fired by a European (whether accidentally or purposely we cannot learn) on which an engagement ensued. After several persons were wounded on both sides, and we believe four Englishmen killed, the latter retreated, finding themselves unable to accomplish the object of their mission.

  All that is known appears to be that Rauparaha, Rangihaiata and Mana, and those of the white men who were not killed in the fray have been able to return home. It is rumoured that the first shot which seems to have been fired accidentally killed a Native woman, a niece of Rangihaiata, and that a chief of some importance was slain. Six or seven whites and an equal number of Natives were killed.

Dec 15, 1864

I must make an end of this, as my wedding day is soon upon us and I have so little time left to do what I have so enjoyed doing. St. George's Church is booked, and we will have our reception for
fourteen persons afterwards at the Orange Tree Public House. I have bought a new suit in sensible dark green to be married in, and my sister, Ann, will be my bridesmaid and her husband will stand for James, his cousin.

Here is the last of the notes I made when visiting with Catherine Torlesse.

Teddy wrote to Catherine, “Father is frequently unwell, nervous and despondent, dwelling on the past and for long periods seeing no visitors, neither reading nor writing letters. It is very sad to see this transformation from the handsome wayward gifted father I knew.”

Edward died, on 16 May, 1862. Teddy wrote to Catherine about those last days, “Father was at my
house at the time of his death. He struggled to speak when I entered the room (he knew he was dying), but could not.”

He was buried beside his two brothers, William and Daniel.

In his obituary in the Daily Telegraph from October, 1862, which Catherine had clipped and left for me to read it was written, “From criminal at home he extended his enquiries to the convict in our Australian settlements. He did his work more through others - his pen being merely auxiliary to his use of men. There is no part of the British Empire which does not feel the effect of Edward Gibbon Wakefield’s labours as a practical statesman: and perhaps the same tangible results in administrative and constructive reform can scarcely be traced to the single hand of any one other man during his own lifetime.”

I have now all the information I need to complete my book about Edward Gibbon Wakefield, but it is still in a very rough and disorganised state, and I shall have little time to do anything more with it.

Here is the last letter that my father had from Edward Gibbon Wakefield. Once I have transcribed it into my notebook, I have decided that I will send all the originals to Teddy. He might be pleased to
read the kind words that his father once wrote about him. He might have the time and energy to write up his father’s life in a more fitting way. I will not feel that I have failed in my task, as long as I know there is a chance that my father’s letters will in some form contribute to the knowledge of the man who was such a good friend to him.

And now the last letter we kept (although he wrote another that we sent back).

France

December 10, 1844

Dear Daniel,

When I returned to England early in 1844, I found the New Zealand Company
under serious attack from the Colonial Office mainly due to the Maori
attack on the settlers, including my brother. I threw myself into the
campaign to save the project. Then in August, 1844, I had a stroke
followed in the months ahead by several other minor strokes and I
have come to France to recuperate. It is a very slow process, and I
am very bad at being calm and relaxed.

Hopefully you will have a good New Year, and if I am alive I will write to you
again at the end of it.

Your friend,

Edward Gibbon

EPILOGUE

My decision to end the book when I did, with the marriage of Margaret to James Jackson, was based on my search for her on the Ancestors site - census details and births, deaths and marriage records. In 1851, she is listed as working with her sisters in Disley. In 1861 she is listed as working in Altrincham as an assistant post mistress, and living in the home of her employer, John Balshaw. In the 1871, 1881 and 1891 censuses there is no mention of her. I felt that this meant that she had either married, sometime between 1861-1871, or she had died. There was no report of anyone of her name from that area dying in those years, so I decided she must have married. There were two
Margaret Forbes who got married in that period in the Manchester area, and the one I decided that she would marry was James Jackson, although I have no proof of this. I have not taken the time and
effort it would involve to confirm whether or not my guess was accurate. However, I did find a death of a Margaret Jackson, of the right age and in the right place, the following year, so from that, I
am assuming that she might have died in childbirth.
 Regarding his son Edward Jermingham Wakefield, after his initial stint in New Zealand, his adventures covered in his book, he returned to England and busied himself with Company affairs andacted as his father's liaison with the Otago Association in Edinburgh. In 1850, he returned to New Zealand in the Lady Nugent with J. R. Godley and his party going out to found Canterbury. Charlotte Godley puzzlingly describes him as “half a foreigner,” perhaps on account of his swarthy appearance and his having lived abroad; she found him serviceable to herself and her husband, although “he has so little tact that he does sometimes offend people.”

 His biography by Ronda Cooper - 'Wakefield, Edward Jerningham 1820 - 1879' states, “He was marked throughout his life, and beyond it, by a damning reputation for flawed and wasted brilliance. Most commentators, including his own father, dismiss him as a wastrel and a failure, talented and intelligent, but reckless, weak-willed, contentious, promiscuous and generally unstable. The most acclaimed and most enduring achievements of his life are confined to a few years in his early 20s, when he lived and wrote Adventure."

He did write another book, based on his father's letters, and it is my thought that maybe somebody like Margaret contributed to that book.