1. Captain Arthur Wakefield served with the Royal Navy before joining his brother, Edward Gibbon Wakefield, in founding the New Zealand Company settlement of Nelson in New Zealand.
16 Facts About Arthur Wakefield
1. 2.
Arthur Wakefield was born in Essex, England, a son of Edward Wakefield, a distinguished surveyor and land agent, and Susanna Crash.
3.
Arthur Wakefield's grandmother, Priscilla Wakefield, was a popular author for the young, and one of the introducers of savings banks.
4.
Arthur Wakefield was the brother of Catherine Gurney Wakefield, Edward Gibbon Wakefield, Daniel Bell Wakefield, William Hayward Wakefield, John Howard Wakefield, Felix Wakefield, Priscilla Susannah Wakefield, Percy Wakefield, and an unnamed child born in 1813.
5.
Arthur Wakefield saw action in the Dutch East Indies, and was part of the force that captured and burnt Washington, DC during the War of 1812.
6.
Arthur Wakefield took part in the bombardment of Algiers in 1816.
7.
Arthur Wakefield then spent several years off the coast of West Africa as part of the flotilla engaged in the suppression of the slave trade.
8.
Arthur Wakefield saw duty in the North Atlantic, the West Indies and the Mediterranean Sea.
9.
Arthur Wakefield was eventually given command of his own ship, HM steam frigate Rhadamanthus.
10.
Immediately after Arthur Wakefield left the Navy in 1841, his brother, Edward Gibbon Wakefield recruited him to join the New Zealand Company, tasking him to select settlers for a new settlement to be named Nelson, escort the party to New Zealand, and supervise the growth of the new town.
11.
Arthur Wakefield sailed from London on the Whitby in April 1841 and reached Wellington in September 1841.
12.
The New Zealand Company, and particularly Arthur Wakefield's brother, had made extravagant promises to the settlers about the availability of land.
13.
In summary, Arthur Wakefield found he had far more settlers than he had land for and they were not happy.
14.
For once, Edward Gibbon Wakefield urged caution, but he was in London and his brother Arthur was the man on the spot.
15.
Arthur Wakefield's brother had told him that the claim to the land was invalid.
16.
Fort Arthur Wakefield, built in 1843, once stood on the hill where Christ Church Cathedral, Nelson, now stands.