Charles Rooking Carter (10 March 1822 – 22 July 1896) was a New Zealand contractor, politician, and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

from England.

Biography

Carter was born in

Kendal, Westmorland Kendal, once Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England, south-east of Windermere and north of Lancaster. Historically in Westmorland, it lies within the dale of th ...

, the son of a builder, John Carter. Carter lived 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 ...

from the age of 21 and through adult education classes at the Westminster Institution, broadened his knowledge and outlook. His studies led him to advocate

emigration Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

and, in particular, emigration to New Zealand, as one means of relieving distress. Following his marriage to Jane Robieson in 1850, he left for New Zealand with his wife. 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 ...

he quickly made a position for himself as a resourceful and enterprising contractor, among the works which he completed being harbour reclamation,

seawall A seawall (or sea wall) is a form of coastal defense constructed where the sea, and associated coastal processes, impact directly upon the landforms of the coast. The purpose of a seawall is to protect areas of human habitation, conservation ...

s, and the Wellington Provincial Buildings (1857). In 1853 he was elected to the committee of the

Wairarapa The Wairarapa (; ), a geographical region of New Zealand, lies in the south-eastern corner of the North Island, east of metropolitan Wellington and south-west of the Hawke's Bay Region. It is lightly populated, having several rural service ...

Small Farms Association, an organisation responsible for the settlement of Greytown and

Masterton Masterton ( mi, Whakaoriori), a large town in the Greater Wellington Region of New Zealand, operates as the seat of the Masterton District (a territorial authority or local-government district). It is the largest town in the Wairarapa, a r ...

. In 1867 his suggestion that the unsold lands should be used for educational purposes within the district led directly to the establishment of the Greytown and Masterton land trusts. Carter represented the Wairarapa in the

Wellington Provincial Council Wellington Province, governed by the Wellington Provincial Council, was one of the provinces of New Zealand from 1853 until the abolition of provincial government in 1876. It covered much of the southern half of the North Island until November ...

from 1857 to 1864, and in the General Assembly (for

) from 1859 to 1865. The settlement was named in his honour 'Carterville', these days called Carterton. Carter's business success permitted his early return to England in 1863 for a four-year interval and again for most of the latter part of his life. Between 1857 and 1863, by a series of purchases of small holdings, he had formed the East Taratahi or Parkvale estates. While overseas he kept in touch with Carterton, and his direct assistance to the borough library made it, by the mid-1880s, probably the best in the country outside the main centres. Carter died at Wellington on 22 July 1896, and was buried at Clareville Cemetery in Carterton. He bequeathed a significant book and pamphlet collection to The New Zealand Institute, and the residue of his estate went towards the erection of an astronomical observatory for Wellington – the Carter Observatory.

Publications

Victoria, the British "El Dorado" : Or: Melbourne in 1869 ; Shewing the ...
(1870)

Notes

References

*''Life and Recollections of a New Zealand Colonist,'' Carter, C. R., et al. (3 vols., 1866–75) *''A History of Carterton,'' Bagnall, A. G. (1957). {{DEFAULTSORT:Carter, Charles Rooking 1822 births 1896 deaths New Zealand philanthropists Members of the Wellington Provincial Council Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives Burials at Clareville Cemetery New Zealand MPs for North Island electorates People from Kendal English emigrants to New Zealand 19th-century New Zealand politicians 19th-century philanthropists Carterton, New Zealand