Edward Jerningham Wakefield (25 June 1820 – 3 March 1879), known as Jerningham Wakefield, was the only son of

Edward Gibbon Wakefield Edward Gibbon Wakefield (20 March 179616 May 1862) is considered a key figure in the establishment of the colonies of South Australia and New Zealand (where he later served as a member of parliament). He also had significant interests in Brit ...

. As such, he was closely associated with his father's interest in colonisation. He worked for the

New Zealand Company The New Zealand Company, chartered in the United Kingdom, was a company that existed in the first half of the 19th century on a business model focused on the systematic colonisation of New Zealand. The company was formed to carry out the principl ...

and later was a member of the

Canterbury Association The Canterbury Association was formed in 1848 in England by members of parliament, peers, and Anglican church leaders, to establish a colony in New Zealand. The settlement was to be called Canterbury, with its capital to be known as Christchurch ...

. He was active as a politician in New Zealand, both at national and provincial level, but became an alcoholic and died penniless in an old people's home.

Early life

Wakefield was born in London in 1820. His parents were Edward Gibbon Wakefield and Eliza Anne Frances Pattle, but his mother died within days of his birth. Together with his sister Nina, he was mostly brought up by Catherine Torlesse, his father's sister and mother of

Charles Torlesse Charles Obins Torlesse (2 May 1825 – 14 November 1866) was a prominent surveyor for the Canterbury Association in Canterbury, New Zealand. Biography Torlesse was born in Stoke-by-Nayland, Suffolk, England, in 1825. He was the eldest son of ...

. Wakefield was known by his middle name and educated at

Bruce Castle School Bruce Castle School, at Bruce Castle, Tottenham, was a progressive school for boys established in 1827 as an extension of Rowland Hill's Hazelwood School at Edgbaston. It closed in 1891. Origins In 1819, Rowland Hill moved his father's Hill To ...

and King's College London.

Later life

In 1839 he accompanied his uncle, Colonel

William Wakefield William Hayward Wakefield (1801 – 19 September 1848) was an English colonel, the leader of the first colonising expedition to New Zealand and one of the founders of Wellington. As a leader, he attracted much controversy. Early life William W ...

to New Zealand on the

ship ''

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. The ...

''. This expedition was an advance party seeking a suitable site to found a colony in the

Cook Strait Cook Strait ( mi, Te Moana-o-Raukawa) separates the North and South Islands of New Zealand. The strait connects the Tasman Sea on the northwest with the South Pacific Ocean on the southeast. It is wide at its narrowest point,McLintock, A ...

area. In 1840 he explored the coast from Wellington to Whanganui River guided by a group of Maori he referred to as his "slaves". Jerningham Wakefield had intended to stay in New Zealand for only a few months but he found the growth of the new colony so fascinating that it was four years before he returned to England in 1844. He quickly assembled his journals and they were published as ''Adventures in New Zealand'' in April 1845. The favourable picture he presented of the colony founded by the New Zealand Company helped the company to avoid censure in the House of Commons. For the next five years Jerningham Wakefield lived a dissipated life in London. In September 1845 he attended a lecture at the Royal Adelaide Gallery in London by the tattooed

Pākehā Māori Pākehā Māori were early European settlers (known as Pākehā in the Māori language) who lived among the Māori in New Zealand. History Many Pākehā Māori were runaway seamen or escaped Australian convicts who settled in Māori communities ...

, Barnet Burns, who had previously applied without success to join the New Zealand Company on the ''Tory''. He joined the Canterbury Association on 6 May 1848, but resigned again on 8 November 1849. Then, in 1850, faced with bankruptcy, Wakefield sailed for New Zealand, this time with the advance party for the Canterbury settlement. He entered politics, in New Zealand's 1st Parliament, as one of the two members for

Christchurch Country Christchurch Country was a parliamentary electorate in the Canterbury region of New Zealand from 1853 to 1860. It was thus one of the original 24 electorates used for the 1st New Zealand Parliament. Geography The area covered by the Christchurc ...

for 1853–1855; and was a member of the 5th Parliament for Christchurch City East for 1871–1875. He moved to Wellington in 1855 to be near his sick father, and represented the City of Wellington in the Provincial Council from 1857 to 1861. He stood in the 1875 election in the electorate, where six candidates were contesting three available positions, but he came fifth and was thus defeated. He had a financial interest in the earliest daily newspapers. Because of his increasing alcoholism his behaviour was very erratic and he was an embarrassment to his supporters. He was one of the MPs sometimes locked in small rooms at Parliament by Whips to keep them sober enough to vote in critical divisions, though in 1872 this was defeated when political opponents lowered a bottle of whisky down the chimney to him. Gradually over the next few years he dissipated his wealth and substance and destroyed his health. He died, penniless, in

Ashburton, New Zealand Ashburton ( mi, Hakatere) is a large town in the Canterbury Region, on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. The town is the seat of the Ashburton District. It is south west of Christchurch and is sometimes regarded as a satell ...

in 1879.

References

External links

* * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Wakefield, Jerningham 1820 births 1879 deaths Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives Members of the Wellington Provincial Council Members of the Canterbury Association Unsuccessful candidates in the 1875–1876 New Zealand general election People from London English emigrants to New Zealand New Zealand MPs for South Island electorates New Zealand MPs for Christchurch electorates People educated at Bruce Castle School Alumni of King's College London 19th-century New Zealand politicians Jerningham