Isaac Newton Watt (1821–1886) was a soldier, merchant and a Member of Parliament in

Taranaki Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth Dist ...

, New Zealand in the mid-to-late 19th century.

Early life

He was born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

sometime in 1821, the son of Isaac Watt the land surveyor and Susanna Dunlop. His father Isaac (b. 1782) was born in

Whitby Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a maritime, mineral and tourist heritage. Its East Clif ...

, and was the son of a famous Whitby mariner, James Watt (b 1742). Isaac Newton Watt was the fourth of Isaac and Susanna's thirteen children. He studied medicine at St Bartholemew's Hospital in London, but ran out of money and could not complete the course. In 1842 Isaac Newton Watt's sister Elizabeth died, aged 25. This left Isaac's brother-in-law

Frederick Thatcher The Reverend Frederick Thatcher (1814 – 19 October 1890) was an English and New Zealand architect and clergyman. He was born at Hastings to a long-established Sussex family. He practised as an architect in London from 1835 and was one of the ...

a depressed widower. With few prospects, the brothers-in-law, now friends, left London to start life afresh in New Zealand. They sailed from

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

on the barque ''Himalaya'', and landed in

New Plymouth New Plymouth ( mi, Ngāmotu) is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, Devon from where the first English settlers to New Plymouth migrated. ...

, New Zealand, on 23 December 1843. At this time the colony consisted of 1091 people - 617 males and 474 females. In early 1844 Isaac started off as a merchant and bought the Devon Hotel in New Plymouth. Frederick Thatcher started out as an architect in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

, and now his buildings can be seen all over Wellington in churches and wharves, most notably Old St Paul's in Mulgrave Street Wellington. Isaac meanwhile was becoming a reasonably successful merchant, in a weak, puny colony. In 1846 he married Ami Raimpaha Hone Te Pai Tahuna, a Māori woman of the

Te Āti Awa Te Āti Awa is a Māori iwi with traditional bases in the Taranaki and Wellington regions of New Zealand. Approximately 17,000 people registered their affiliation to Te Āti Awa in 2001, with around 10,000 in Taranaki, 2,000 in Wellington and arou ...

tribe, possibly a princess or the daughter of the chief. In 1847 their first child Newton Fullage was born, and in 1849 their second child Charles Llewellyn was as well.

Provincial council

Through the early years of the 1850s Isaac Newton Watt came to be an influential and important man in the Province of New Plymouth. He was elected as a member of the provincial council in at the 1853 elections, and was a speaker in the council until 1856. He remained a member until 1861. In 1858 he became the resident magistrate for New Plymouth, and was involved the Mechanics Institute of New Plymouth, delivering many lectures on science, philosophy and literature.

Military career

In early 1859 his military career began. The Taranaki Rifle Volunteer Corps had been founded late the last year, in response to growing settler concerns about Maori resistance to their land-buying approaches. A nomination of officers was held on 12 February 1859. Nine gentlemen were elected as officers, and Isaac Newton Watt was elected as captain. On 22 February 1860 Taranaki erupted into open war, as the

First Taranaki war The First Taranaki War (also known as the North Taranaki War) was an armed conflict over land ownership and sovereignty that took place between Māori and the New Zealand government in the Taranaki district of New Zealand's North Island from M ...

began after the illegitimate purchase of the Waitara block. The Taranaki militia was called out for active service. This militia included the Taranaki Rifle Volunteer Corps as well as a small mounted company. The Corps was involved in the

through 1860 into early 1861, and later in 1863–1866.

Member of Parliament

He represented the Town of New Plymouth electorate from to 1863, when he resigned. He was a member of the Taranaki Provincial Council, representing the New Plymouth electorate from 1853 to 1861. He was the first Speaker of the Provincial Council from 1853 to 1856, and was a member of the Executive Council from 1857 to 1859.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watt, Isaac Newton 1821 births 1886 deaths Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives New Zealand MPs for North Island electorates People from London English emigrants to New Zealand People of the New Zealand Wars 19th-century New Zealand politicians