Jerningham Wakefield

Jerningham Wakefield
Portrait of Jerningham Wakefield from ca 1850
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Christchurch Country
In office 27 August 1853 – 15 September 1855
Preceded by	New constituency
Succeeded by	Dingley Askham Brittin John Hall
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Christchurch City East
In office 18 January 1871 – 6 December 1875
Preceded by	New constituency
Succeeded by	In abeyance
Personal details
Born	25 June 1820 – 3 March London, England
Died	3 March 1879(1879-03-03) (aged 58) Ashburton, New Zealand
Relations	Edward Gibbon Wakefield (father) Edward Wakefield (grandfather) Daniel Bell Wakefield (uncle) William Wakefield (uncle) Arthur Wakefield (uncle) Felix Wakefield (uncle) Charles Torlesse (cousin)

Edward Jerningham Wakefield (25 June 1820 – 3 March 1879), known as Jerningham Wakefield, was the only son of Edward Gibbon Wakefield. As such, he was closely associated with his father's interest in colonisation. He worked for the New Zealand Company and later was a member of the Canterbury Association. He was active as a politician in New Zealand, both at national and provincial level, but became an alcoholic and died penniless in an old people's home.

Early life

Nina and Jerningham Wakefield in 1822

Wakefield was born in London in 1820. His parents were Edward Gibbon Wakefield and Eliza Anne Frances Pattle, but his mother died within days of his birth. Together with his sister Nina, he was mostly brought up by Catherine Torlesse, his father's sister and mother of Charles Torlesse. Wakefield was known by his middle name^[1] and educated at Bruce Castle School and King's College London.^[2]

Later life

Night-time camping scene at Rangiora bush with John Robert Godley, Charlotte Godley, Arthur Godley, Charles Torlesse, Charles Hunter Brown, and Jerningham Wakefield. Painted on 6 December 1850 by Frederick Weld.

In 1839 he accompanied his uncle, Colonel William Wakefield to New Zealand on the New Zealand Company ship Tory. This expedition was an advance party seeking a suitable site to found a colony in the Cook Strait area. In 1840 he explored the coast from Wellington to Whanganui River guided by a group of Maori he referred to as his "slaves".^[3]

Jerningham Wakefield had intended to stay in New Zealand for only a few months but he found the growth of the new colony so fascinating that it was four years before he returned to England in 1844. He quickly assembled his journals and they were published as Adventures in New Zealand in April 1845. The favourable picture he presented of the colony founded by the New Zealand Company helped the Company to avoid censure in the House of Commons.

For the next five years Jerningham Wakefield lived a dissipated life in London. In September 1845 he attended a lecture at the Royal Adelaide Gallery in London by the tattooed Pākehā Māori, Barnet Burns, who had previously applied without success to join the New Zealand Company on the Tory. He joined the Canterbury Association on 6 May 1848, but resigned again on 8 November 1849.^[2] Then, in 1850, faced with bankruptcy, Wakefield sailed for New Zealand, this time with the advance party for the Canterbury settlement.

He entered politics, in New Zealand's 1st Parliament, as one of the two members for Christchurch Country for 1853–1855; and was a member of the 5th Parliament for Christchurch City East for 1871–1875.^[4] He moved to Wellington in 1855 to be near his sick father, and represented the City of Wellington in the Provincial Council from 1857 to 1861.

He stood in the 1875 election in the Christchurch electorate, where six candidates were contesting three available positions, but he came fifth and was thus defeated.^[5]

Because of his increasing alcoholism his behaviour was very erratic and he was an embarrassment to his supporters. He was one of the MPs sometimes locked in small rooms at Parliament by Whips to keep them sober enough to vote in critical divisions, though in 1872 this was defeated when political opponents lowered a bottle of whisky down the chimney to him.^[6] Gradually over the next few years he dissipated his wealth and substance and destroyed his health.

He died, penniless, in Ashburton, New Zealand in 1879.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jerningham Wakefield.

•  "Wakefield, Edward Gibbon". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900. 
• Mennell, Philip (1892). " Wakefield, Edward Jerningham". The Dictionary of Australasian Biography. London: Hutchinson & Co. Wikisource