Theophilus Heale (1816–1885) was a 19th-century British Pākehā settler, later a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

from

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.

Biography

Heale was the captain part-owner of one of the first British migrant ships to arrive in Wellington. During the 1830s and 1840s, Heale was one of the investors in the failed logging and trading colony established at

Cornwallis, New Zealand Cornwallis is a western coastal settlement of West Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand and forms part of the Waitākere Ranges Regional Park, bordering the Manukau Harbour. It is situated on the Karangahape Peninsula (previously called the Puponga ...

. Heale sailed from New Zealand to America to investigate the latest milling techniques, and later to England to purchase equipment for the venture. The settlement was established in 1840, however due to problems with land ownership and the high cost of milling kauri wood in the

Waitākere Ranges The Waitākere Ranges is a mountain range in New Zealand. Located in West Auckland between metropolitan Auckland and the Tasman Sea, the ranges and its foothills and coasts comprise some of public and private land. The area, traditionally kno ...

, the settlement struggled. After the death of

William Cornwallis Symonds Captain William Cornwallis Symonds (1 August 1810 – 23 November 1841) was a British Army officer who was prominent in the early colonisation of New Zealand. Symonds was born at Lymington, Hampshire in 1810, the eldest son of William Symo ...

in 1841, Heale became the main representative for the Cornwallis company in 1843, however the settlement continued to struggle. By the 1860s, Heale salvaged the boiler from the Cornwallis steam mill and repurposed it for the

Kawau Island Kawau Island is in the Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana, close to the north-eastern coast of the North Island of New Zealand. At its closest point it lies off the coast of the Northland Peninsula, just south of Tāwharanui Peninsula, and about ...

copper mine. He represented the

Suburbs of Auckland This is a list of suburbs in the Auckland metropolitan area, New Zealand, surrounding the Auckland Central Business District. They are broadly grouped into the local government areas that existed from 1989 to 2010. Auckland central This ar ...

electorate in 1860, from 25 January (elected in the electorate's first by-election that year) to 5 November, when he was defeated for Parnell. He had been chief surveyor for the Southland and Auckland Provincial Councils, and a judge of the Native Land Court. He died at Orpington, Kent, England.

References

1816 births 1885 deaths Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives New Zealand MPs for Auckland electorates Unsuccessful candidates in the 1866 New Zealand general election Members of the New Zealand Legislative Council (1841–1853) 19th-century English people 19th-century New Zealand judges 19th-century New Zealand public servants Settlers of New Zealand English emigrants to New Zealand English sailors {{NewZealand-politician-stub