Edmund Storr Halswell (28 February 1790 – 1 January 1874), born Edmund Storr Haswell, was an English barrister. He came to New Zealand on behalf of the
New Zealand Company and lived there from March 1841 to April 1845, and held some official positions, including commissioner of native reserves and judge. After he had returned to England, he became a member of the
Canterbury Association and was one of just two people in England at the time who had actually seen the
Canterbury Plains. Some landmarks are named after him, including the
Christchurch suburb of
Halswell
Originally a separate village, Halswell is now a residential suburb of Christchurch, New Zealand, located southwest of Cathedral Square on State Highway 75.
History
Halswell is named after Edmund Halswell QC (1790–1874), a government offi ...
and Point Halswell in
Wellington Harbour.
Early life
Halswell was born in
Marylebone, London, in 1790. He was the second son of Elizabeth ( Bland) and Henry Haswell of
Presteigne in
Radnorshire
, HQ = Presteigne
, Government = Radnorshire County Council (1889–1974) Radnorshire District Council (1974–1996)
, Origin =
, Status = historic county, administrative county
, Start ...
, Wales. On 31 January 1818, Halswell married Mary Caroline Spiller ( – 1869). Halswell received his education at
St John's College of the
University of Cambridge, from where he matriculated in 1819, and graduated with a
Bachelor of Arts in 1827, and a
Master of Arts in 1830. He obtained a further degree from
Caius College in 1832.
During his time at the St John's College, he changed his surname based on his belief that he was descended from the Halswell family from
Goathurst in
Somerset who owned
Halswell House
Halswell House is a Grade I listed country house in Goathurst, Somerset, England.
Descent
Domesday Book
The Domesday Book of 1086 lists the holder of the manor of Halswell as Roger Arundel, whose tenant was Wido. It descended from Roger to ...
.
Halswell was admitted to the
Middle Temple on 2 June 1831 and received a
call to the bar
The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...
on 6 June 1834.
In 1836 and 1837, he was Metropolitan Commissioner in Lunacy. From 1837 to 1843, he was
Queen's Counsel for the
Duchy of Lancaster.
He held the rank of
Serjeant-at-law and lived at Gore Lodge in
Brompton.
New Zealand
Halswell was appointed by the
New Zealand Company as commissioner of native affairs
and arrived in
Wellington Harbour on the ''
Lady Nugent'' on 17 March 1841, with his son (Hugh Beauchamp Halswell) accompanying him. He lived in the
Wellington suburb of
Brooklyn.
On 20 July 1841, Halswell was appointed chairman of the
courts of quarter sessions, "Protector of Aborigines in the Southern District of this Island" (i.e.
Māori people), and Commissioner for the Management of the Native Reserves.
On 26 February 1842, he was appointed judge of the County Court of the southern portion of
New Ulster Province.
On 3 May 1841, Halswell was appointed to the
General Legislative Council as one of the country's three senior justices.
Halswell's term on the Legislative Council ended on 10 July 1841, which coincides with the end of the first session of the council. There was no contemporary reporting why his term came to an end; he was the first person to retire from this institution.
In May 1842, Governor
William Hobson appointed Halswell as one of his deputies. As a judge, he appears to have had the trust of Māori, over whom he sometimes had to preside.
On 24 April 1845, Halswell attended a farewell function for James Sea, who was to go to New South Wales to become the first manager of the Sydney branch of the
Union Bank of Australia
The Union Bank of Australia was an Australian bank in operation from 1837 to 1951.
It was established in London in October 1837 with a subscribed capital of £500,000. The foundation of the bank had followed a visit to England by Van Diemen's Land ...
. Halswell's own departure for England was toasted at that function, and both Sea and Halswell left two days later on the ''Comet'' for Sydney via Nelson. They arrived in Sydney on 17 May. Halswell's return to England was caused by conflicts with the governor; the New Zealand Company had a fraught relationship with all governors as the company's objectives were not supported by the New Zealand government.
Later life in England
Halswell was one of the founding members of the
Canterbury Association; he attended the inaugural meeting on 27 March 1848 and was on the initial committee.
In 1848, where were probably just two people in England who would have seen the Canterbury Plains by themselves: Halswell and Captain
Joseph Thomas, the surveyor of the Canterbury Association.
Family and death
Halswell's eldest son, (Edward) Darnley Halswell, was killed aged 19 in January 1842 in
Sindh
Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...
(now part of
Pakistan) whilst part of General
Charles James Napier
General Sir Charles James Napier, (; 10 August 178229 August 1853) was an officer and veteran of the British Army's Peninsular and 1812 campaigns, and later a Major General of the Bombay Army, during which period he led the military conquest of ...
's campaign to conquer the area. Halswell died on 1 January 1874 at
Kensington
Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London.
The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...
and was buried on 7 January at
Holy Trinity Brompton in London. His wife had died in 1869.
Commemoration
Point Halswell is the northernmost location of
Miramar Peninsula
The large Miramar Peninsula ( mi, Te Motu Kairangi) is on the southeastern side of the city of Wellington, New Zealand, at the entrance to Wellington Harbour, in Wellington's eastern suburbs. According to Māori legend, it was formed when the ...
. The
point
Point or points may refer to:
Places
* Point, Lewis, a peninsula in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland
* Point, Texas, a city in Rains County, Texas, United States
* Point, the NE tip and a ferry terminal of Lismore, Inner Hebrides, Scotland
* Point ...
became a public reserve, under that name, in September 1841. In 1930, the Massey Memorial was unveiled at Point Halswell.
Captain Thomas, when he carried out the surveys in 1849 in Canterbury, named many geographic features after members of the Canterbury Association. Halswell's name was used for a river–the
Halswell River
The Halswell River (Māori: ) is a river in the Canterbury region of New Zealand.
The Halswell River has a catchment area of , 85% of which fall into Selwyn District with the balance in Christchurch City. The catchment within Christchurch City, ...
—that drained into
Lake Ellesmere
Lake Ellesmere / Te Waihora is a broad, shallow coastal lake or waituna, in the Canterbury region of the South Island of New Zealand. It is directly to the west of Banks Peninsula, separated from the Pacific Ocean by the long, narrow, sandy K ...
. A rural settlement near the head of this river then adopted the name
Halswell
Originally a separate village, Halswell is now a residential suburb of Christchurch, New Zealand, located southwest of Cathedral Square on State Highway 75.
History
Halswell is named after Edmund Halswell QC (1790–1874), a government offi ...
; this is today a suburb of Christchurch. It also gave its name to an administrative district—
Halswell County—that existed from 1910 to 1968. Edmund Storr Road is a subdivision street in Halswell that was named in 1999.
Chelmsford Street in the Wellington suburb of
Ngaio was originally called Halswell Street. The land was granted to Halswell and inherited by his son Beaumont Halswell. When the land was subdivided, the street was initially named for its original owners but later renamed.
Halswell Street in the Wellington suburb of
Thorndon has retained its name. There is also a Halswell Street in
Whanganui.
Footnotes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Halswell, Edmund
1790 births
1874 deaths
Members of the Canterbury Association
Members of the New Zealand Legislative Council (1841–1853)
19th-century King's Counsel
Colony of New Zealand judges