Francis Dart Fenton (c.1824 – 23 April 1898) was a New Zealand magistrate, judge, public administrator and musician. Fenton was born in London, England, where he was baptised at St.Mary's church in Islington on 6 August 1824. He was educated at the Collegiate boarding school in Sheffield, in Yorkshire, and was articled to his uncle James Crossland Fenton who was a solicitor in Huddersfield. He went to

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, New Zealand, in 1850, and cultivated land on the Waikato River. In 1851 he was appointed by Sir

George Grey Sir George Grey, KCB (14 April 1812 – 19 September 1898) was a British soldier, explorer, colonial administrator and writer. He served in a succession of governing positions: Governor of South Australia, twice Governor of New Zealand, Go ...

(then Governor) to a position in the Deeds Office at Auckland, and subsequently became Resident Magistrate and Collector of Customs at Kaipara. In March 1856 he was made Native Secretary by Governor Browne; but his policy clashing with that of (afterwards Sir) Donald McLean, Chief Native Land Commissioner, he was compelled to resign, and was appointed Resident Magistrate at

Whaingaroa Whaingaroa may refer to: * Ngāpuhi / Ngāti Kahu ki Whaingaroa, a Māori tribe * Raglan, New Zealand, a town in Waikato See also * Whangaroa, an area in Northland, New Zealand * Whangaroa Harbour Whangaroa Harbour (; ), previously spelled ...

(now Raglan). On 9 May 1857, as the result of a paper of suggestions which he had addressed to the Governor, he was summoned to act as magistrate at Waikato at a critical time in the difficulties preceding the

Waikato war The Invasion of the Waikato became the largest and most important campaign of the 19th-century New Zealand Wars. Hostilities took place in the North Island of New Zealand between the military forces of the colonial government and a federation ...

. His appointment, "at the earnest request of the natives," was the promise of a new departure on the part of the Government, who had resolved that the Maori should be governed by laws "enacted with their own consent," and instructed Fenton to prepare a code upon this understanding. Fenton proceeded to Waikato, but on 14 July 1857, Potatau accepted the kingship offered him by the malcontent tribes, and he was shortly afterwards withdrawn. From 1858 to 1864 Fenton acted as assistant law officer of the Crown. In 1861 he prepared the Domain Act, and in 1863 was charged with the working of the New Zealand Settlement Act. Fenton was admitted as a barrister and solicitor in New Zealand in January 1857. In 1865 Fenton was employed to draw up the Native Lands Act, and became Chief Judge of the Native Land Court, a post which he held for seventeen years. He was appointed to the New Zealand Legislative Council on 2 June 1869 and was disqualified (as chief judge of the Native Land Court) on 30 December 1870, and introduced a bill to amend the Native Lands Act, which was passed, but he failed to pass the Native Reserves Bill. He assisted in the successful opposition to the importation of Ghoorka regiments for the purposes of the war, but was ultimately disqualified as an official from sitting in the council. He was for two years district judge of Auckland, in addition to his other appointments, and retired from public service in 1882. Fenton was singularly well acquainted with the

Māori language Māori (), or ('the Māori language'), also known as ('the language'), is an Eastern Polynesian language spoken by the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. Closely related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan, and ...

, and the history and customs of the people. In addition to various pamphlets, he is the author of "Observations on the State of the Aboriginal Inhabitants of New Zealand" (Auckland, 1859), and "Suggestions for a History of the Origin and Migrations of the Maori People" (1885). Fenton was buried at Purewa Cemetery in the Auckland suburb of Meadowbank.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fenton, Francis Dart 1825 births 1898 deaths Māori Land Court judges New Zealand musicians Members of the New Zealand Legislative Council People from Huddersfield Colony of New Zealand judges 19th-century New Zealand politicians Burials at Purewa Cemetery