William Rolleston
Honorific prefixThe Honourable
Order3rd Leader of the Opposition
Term start31 August 1891
Term end8 November 1893
PredecessorJohn Bryce
SuccessorWilliam Russell
Order 112th Minister of Native Affairs
Prime minister 1John Hall
Term start 1February 1881
Term end 119 October 1881
Predecessor 1John Bryce
Successor 1John Bryce
Order 26th Minister of Justice
Prime minister 2John Hall
Term start 215 December 1880
Term end 223 April 1881
Predecessor 2John Sheehan
Successor 2Thomas Dick
Constituency mp 4Avon
Parliament 4New Zealand
Term start 48 June 1868
Term end 427 June 1884
Constituency mp 5Geraldine
Parliament 5New Zealand
Term start 522 July 1884
Term end 515 July 1887
Constituency mp 6Halswell
Parliament 6New Zealand
Term start 65 December 1890
Term end 68 November 1893
Constituency mp 7Riccarton
Parliament 7New Zealand
Term start 74 December 1896
Term end 715 November 1899
Order 84th Superintendent of Canterbury Province
Term start 822 May 1868
Term end 81 January 1877
Birth date19 September 1831
Birth placeYorkshire, England
Death date8 February 1903 (aged 71)
Death placeCanterbury, New Zealand
SpouseMary Rolleston (married 1865)
RelationsRolleston family
ProfessionFarmer

William Rolleston (19 September 1831 – 8 February 1903) was a New Zealand politician, public administrator, educationalist, and Canterbury provincial superintendent.

Biography

Early life

Rolleston was born on 19 September 1831 at Maltby, Yorkshire, the 9th child of the Rev. George Rolleston and Anne Nettleship. His older brother was the physician and zoologist George Rolleston.[1] He attended Rossall School and Emmanuel College,[2] where he graduated in 1855 with second class honours in the classical tripos. He had intended to move to Canterbury but his father advised against it so he took up tutoring. However, this was merely a means of raising enough money to leave England in order to reject 'Conservatives and Ecclesiastics'.[3]

Political career

Rolleston first joined the Canterbury Provincial Council when he was appointed to the Canterbury Executive Council on 4 December 1863. His tenure on the Executive Council finished on 16 June 1865.[4] On 23 January 1864, he was elected as a provincial councillor in the Heathcote electorate and remained a councillor until 23 June 1865.[5] On 22 May 1868, he was elected unopposed[6] as the 4th (and last) Superintendent of the Canterbury Province. He held that office until the abolition of the provinces on 31 October 1876.[7]

Rolleston represented the Avon electorate from a by-election in 1868 to 1884. In 1878 as an MP Rolleston proposed a school for deaf children. The government agreed to open a state school for the deaf in Christchurch, and the Sumner Deaf and Dumb Institution opened in 1880.[8]

In the 1879 general election, he was returned unopposed.[9] He then represented Geraldine from 1884 to 1887. The Geraldine electorate was abolished in 1887 and replaced with the , where he was defeated by Searby Buxton. He then represented Halswell from 1890 to 1893. The Halswell electorate was abolished in 1893, and he contested Ellesmere, where he was defeated. He then represented Riccarton from 1896 to 1899. He had won the 1896 election against George Russell, but was defeated by him in 1899 by just one vote.[10]

Rolleston served as Minister of Justice in the government of Premier John Hall from December 1880 to April 1881. He was also appointed Minister of Native Affairs in January 1881 after the resignation of John Bryce, heading the department as the Government prepared to invade the Māori settlement of Parihaka in November. Rolleston stood aside as minister on the night of 19 October 1881 after the Hall government's Executive Council held an emergency meeting in the absence of Governor Sir Arthur Gordon to issue a proclamation against Māori prophet Te Whiti and the inhabitants of Parihaka, ordering them to leave Parihaka and accept the sale and dismemberment of their land or face "the great evil which must fall on them".[11] He was replaced as minister by his predecessor, John Bryce, who three weeks later led a raid by 1600 Armed Constabulary on the settlement, the centre of a passive resistance campaign against the sale of Māori land.

In 1891 he was elected unopposed as Leader of the Opposition.[12]

In 1893 he supported women's suffrage, and subsequently claimed the credit in the .

Later life and commemoration

He married Elizabeth Mary Brittan in 1865 at Avonside, Christchurch; she was the daughter of Joseph Brittan. They had four daughters and five sons, including John, Frank and Arthur Rolleston. William Rolleston died at his Rangitata farm at Kapunatiki on 8 February 1903. He is buried in the grounds of the former Holy Trinity Avonside church in Linwood, which was demolished in 2011 following an earthquake.[13] A new church was built on the same site. A statue of William Rolleston was erected in front of the Canterbury Museum.

Notes

  1. ^ "The Hon. William Rolleston". The Cyclopedia of New Zealand : Canterbury Provincial District. Christchurch: The Cyclopedia Company Limited. 1903. p. 38.
  2. ^
  3. ^
  4. ^ Scholefield 1950, p. 191.
  5. ^ Scholefield 1950, p. 196.
  6. ^ "Superintendency of Canterbury. Election of Mr. Rolleston". The Evening Post. Vol. IV, no. 86. 25 May 1868. p. 2. Retrieved 22 April 2010.
  7. ^ Scholefield 1950, p. 188.
  8. ^ "1880". Christchurch City Libraries. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  9. ^ "The General Elections.". The Star. No. 3551. 28 August 1879. p. 2. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  10. ^
  11. ^ The Taranaki Report: Kaupapa Tuatahi by the Waitangi Tribunal, chapter 8.
  12. ^ "The Opposition Leadership". The Press. Vol. XLVIII, no. 7962. 9 September 1891. p. 5. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  13. ^ Crean, Mike (30 July 2011). "Anguish over unique church". The Press. p. C12.

References

  • Scholefield, Guy (1950 [First ed. published 1913]). New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1949. 3rd ed. Wellington: Govt. Printer.

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