Captain William Cornwallis Symonds (1 August 1810 – 23 November 1841) was a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

officer who was prominent in the early colonisation of New Zealand. Symonds was born at Lymington,

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

in 1810, the eldest son of

William Symonds Sir William Symonds CB FRS (24 September 1782 – 30 March 1856, aboard the French steamship ''Nil'', Strait of Bonifacio, Sardinia)Surveyor of the Navy, who was a prominent member of the

New Zealand Association 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 ...

. He was commissioned into the

38th Foot The 38th (1st Staffordshire) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1705. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 80th Regiment of Foot (Staffordshire Volunteers) to form the South Staffordshire Regim ...

, promoted to the rank of lieutenant in 1832, transferred to the 74th Foot in 1835, and promoted

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in 1838. He came to New Zealand in the early 1830s as an agent of the Waitemata and Manukau Land Company and was instrumental in the founding of

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 ...

and the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. He was one of Governor William Hobson's closest and most effective officials and was one of the first six Police

Magistrates The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

in New Zealand. Symonds was instrumental in convincing Hobson to make Auckland the Capital of New Zealand in 1840. He was Chief Magistrate of Auckland and in 1841 was appointed Deputy

Surveyor-General A surveyor general is an official responsible for government surveying in a specific country or territory. Historically, this would often have been a military appointment, but it is now more likely to be a civilian post. The following surveyor gen ...

of New Zealand, and laid out Auckland under

Felton Mathew Felton Mathew (1801 – 26 November 1847) was New Zealand's first Surveyor General. Central Auckland was laid out by him. Felton Mathew Avenue was named after him, and is a difficult incline amongst the cycling community in Auckland. Early life ...

. In the late 1830s, Symonds, alongside Theophilus Heale and Dudley Sinclair (son of Scottish aristocrat Sir George Sinclair), attempted to develop a section of coast alongside the Waitākere Ranges as a trading post and timbermill, which Symonds named Cornwallis after his late uncle, Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis. The plan of the township was laid out, however it was never developed. After the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, Symonds was summoned to testify at the Crown Land Commission to examine the private land deal that led to the creation of Cornwallis, however the court was dissatisfied at the lack of information around the trade goods that were given to Ngāti Whātua, and banned logging activities at Cornwallis for two years until the agreement could be settled. When Scottish settlers arrived at the barren settlement in 1840, he provided them food and support. On 20 March 1840, Symonds and James Hamlin organised for a signing of the Treaty of Waitangi on the Āwhitu Peninsula, where

Apihai Te Kawau Apihai Te Kawau (died November 1869) was a paramount chief of the Ngāti Whātua Māori ''iwi'' (tribe) of Auckland (), New Zealand in the 19th century. Te Kawau's father was Tarahawaiki and his grandfather was Tūperiri, the principal leader o ...

of Ngāti Whātua signed, but several Waikato Tainui chiefs refused.

During 1841, Symonds accompanied the naturalist

Ernst Dieffenbach Johann Karl Ernst Dieffenbach (27 January 1811 – 1 October 1855), also known as Ernest Dieffenbach, was a German physician, geologist and naturalist, the first trained scientist to live and work in New Zealand, where he travelled widely under t ...

in his survey of the

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

. On 3 May 1841, Symonds was appointed to the original Legislative Council. He died in a boating accident on 23 November 1841, while sailing across the Manukau Harbour to deliver supplies to the sick wife of missionary James Hamlin on the Āwhitu Peninsula. His death was deeply regretted by Hobson.

Symonds Street Symonds Street is a street in Auckland, New Zealand's most populous city. The road runs southwest and uphill from the top of Anzac Avenue (originally Jermyn Street), through the City Campus of University of Auckland, over the Northwestern Motorw ...

and Symonds Street Cemetery in Auckland are named after him. Symonds Street in the Auckland suburb of Onehunga is named after his brother Jermyn.

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Further reading