William Arthur Satchell (1 February 1861 – 21 October 1942) was a New Zealand orchardist, writer, stockbroker, novelist and accountant. Satchell 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 ...

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in 1861. In 1886 he decided to emigrate to New Zealand for his health, and settled at Waimā in the

Hokianga The Hokianga is an area surrounding the Hokianga Harbour, also known as the Hokianga River, a long estuarine drowned valley on the west coast in the north of the North Island of New Zealand. The original name, still used by local Māori, is ...

area 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 a property that he cleared and farmed. He married Susan Bryers at Rawene on 15 November 1889. Between 1902 and 1914 Satchell wrote four novels, all set in New Zealand. ''The Greenstone Door'' (1914) is a romantic adventure of inter-racial relationships set in the

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 ...

region during the wars in the middle decades of the nineteenth century. Satchell was granted a

civil list A civil list is a list of individuals to whom money is paid by the government, typically for service to the state or as honorary pensions. It is a term especially associated with the United Kingdom and its former colonies of Canada, India, New Zeal ...

pension in 1939 in recognition of his literary services. He died in

in October 1942. His wife predeceased him by six years; he was survived by five sons and four daughters. In her book ''The New Zealand Novel 1860–1965'' (1966),

Joan Stevens Joan Stevens (10 December 1908 – 11 June 1990) was a notable New Zealand teacher and university professor of English. She was born in Southwick, Sussex, England, in 1908. In the 1974 Queen's Birthday Honours, Stevens was appointed a Comm ...

says Satchell is the only New Zealand novelist, "in all the early years up to 1910, whose work has endured and is still readable in its own right". In 1996, in the ''

Dictionary of New Zealand Biography The ''Dictionary of New Zealand Biography'' (DNZB) is an encyclopedia or biographical dictionary containing biographies of over 3,000 deceased New Zealanders. It was first published as a series of print volumes from 1990 to 2000, went online i ...

'',

Kendrick Smithyman William Kendrick Smithyman (9 October 1922 – 28 December 1995) was a New Zealand poet and one of the most prolific of that nation's poets in the 20th century. Family and early life Smithyman was born in Te Kōpuru, a milling and logging t ...

said ''The Land of the Lost'', ''The Toll of the Bush'' and ''The Greenstone Door'' "represent the most significant achievement in New Zealand fiction before the First World War". A biography, ''The Maorilander'', by Phillip Wilson, was published in 1961. Wilson wrote an expanded version, titled ''William Satchell'', in 1968.

Books

*''The Land of the Lost'' (1902) *''The Toll of the Bush'' (1905) *''The Elixir of Life'' (1907) *''The Greenstone Door'' (1914)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Satchell, William 1861 births 1942 deaths British emigrants to the Colony of New Zealand New Zealand male novelists New Zealand horticulturists New Zealand orchardists 20th-century New Zealand novelists 20th-century New Zealand male writers