1. Sir George Grey, KCB was a British soldier, explorer, colonial administrator and writer.
89 Facts About George Grey
1. 2.
George Grey served in a succession of governing positions: Governor of South Australia, twice Governor of New Zealand, Governor of Cape Colony, and the 11th premier of New Zealand.
3.
George Grey played a key role in the colonisation of New Zealand, and both the purchase and annexation of Maori land.
4.
Grey was born in Lisbon, Portugal, just a few days after his father, Lieutenant-Colonel George Grey, was killed at the Battle of Badajoz in Spain.
5.
George Grey oversaw the colony during a difficult formative period.
6.
George Grey was the most influential figure during the European settlement of New Zealand.
7.
George Grey developed a cordial relationship with the powerful rangatira Potatau Te Wherowhero of Tainui, in order to deter Ngapuhi from invading Auckland.
8.
In 1854, George Grey was appointed Governor of Cape Colony in South Africa, where his resolution of hostilities between indigenous South Africans and European settlers was praised by both sides.
9.
The Kiingitanga posed a significant challenge to the British push for sovereignty, and with his Ngapuhi absent from the movement, George Grey found himself challenged on two sides.
10.
George Grey struggled to reuse his skills in negotiation to maintain peace with Maori, and his relationship with Te Wherowhero's successor Tawhiao deeply soured.
11.
Cyril Hamshere argues that George Grey was a "great British proconsul", although he was temperamental, demanding of associates, and lacking in some managerial abilities.
12.
George Grey was the daughter of a retired soldier turned Irish clergyman, Major later Reverend John Vignoles.
13.
George Grey's uncle was John Gray, who was Owen Wynne Gray's son from his second marriage.
14.
George Grey was sent to the Royal Grammar School, Guildford in Surrey, and was admitted to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst in 1826.
15.
George Grey was promoted lieutenant in 1833 and obtained a first-class certificate at the examinations of the Royal Military College, in 1836.
16.
In 1837, at the age of 25, George Grey led an ill-prepared expedition that explored North-West Australia.
17.
British settlers in Australia at the time knew little of the region and only one member of George Grey's party had been there before.
18.
In September 1838 George Grey sailed to Perth hoping to resume his adventures.
19.
In February 1839 George Grey embarked on a second exploration expedition to the north, where he was again wrecked with his party, again including Surgeon Walker, at Kalbarri.
20.
George Grey adopted Annie Maria Matthews in 1861, following the death of her father, his half-brother, Sir Godfrey Thomas.
21.
George Grey married Seymour Thorne George on 3 December 1872 on Kawau Island.
22.
George Grey was the third Governor of South Australia, from May 1841 to October 1845.
23.
George Grey was governor during another mass murder: the Rufus River Massacre, of at least 30 Aboriginals, by Europeans, on 27 August 1841.
24.
Gawler, to whom George Grey ascribed every problem in the colony, undertook projects to alleviate unemployment that were of lasting value.
25.
In 1844, George Grey enacted a series ordinances and amendments first entitled the Aborigines' Evidence Act and later known as the Aboriginal Witnesses Act.
26.
George Grey served as Governor of New Zealand twice: from 1845 to 1853, and from 1861 to 1868.
27.
On 18 November 1845 George Grey arrived in New Zealand to take up his appointment as governor, where he was greeted by outgoing Governor FitzRoy, who worked amicably with Grey before departing in January 1846.
28.
In January 1846 fifteen chiefs of the area, including Te Rauparaha, had sent a combined letter to the newly arrived Governor George Grey, pledging their loyalty to the British Crown.
29.
George Grey was receiving and sending secret instructions to the local Maori who were attacking settlers.
30.
George Grey spoke to Te Rauaparaha and persuaded him to give up all outstanding claims to land in the Wairau valley.
31.
Auckland was made the new capital in March 1841 and by the time George Grey was appointed governor in 1845, it had become a commercial centre as well as including the administrative institutions such as the Supreme Court.
32.
Governor George Grey had to contend with newspapers that were unequivocal to their support of the interests of the settlers: the Auckland Times, Auckland Chronicle, The Southern Cross, which started by William Brown as a weekly paper in 1843 and The New Zealander, which was started in 1845 by John Williamson.
33.
George Grey was "shrewd and manipulative" and his main objective was to impose British sovereignty over New Zealand, which he did by force when he felt it necessary.
34.
The first Anglican bishop of New Zealand, George Selwyn, took the side of Grey in relation to the purchase of the land.
35.
George Grey twice failed to recover the land in the Supreme Court, and when Williams refused to give up the land unless the charges were retracted, he was dismissed from the CMS in November 1849.
36.
In 1854 Williams was reinstated to CMS after Bishop Selwyn later regretted the position and George Grey addressed the committee of the CMS and requested his reinstatement.
37.
Also in 1861 Henry Williams' son Edward Marsh Williams was appointed by Sir George Grey to be the Resident Magistrate for the Bay of Islands and Northern Districts.
38.
George Grey responded to Earl Grey that the Act would lead to further hostilities and that the settlers were not ready for self-government.
39.
Earl George Grey agreed and in December 1847 introduced an Act suspending most of the 1846 Constitution Act.
40.
George Grey wrote a draft of a new Constitution Act while camping on Mount Ruapehu in 1851, forwarding this draft to the Colonial Office later that year.
41.
George Grey's draft established both provincial and central representative assemblies, allowed for Maori districts and a Governor elected by the General Assembly.
42.
George Grey was briefly appointed Governor-in-Chief on 1 January 1848, while he oversaw the establishment of the first provinces of New Zealand, New Ulster and New Munster.
43.
In 1861, Governor George Grey agreed to consult the ministers in relation to native affairs, but this position only lasted until his recall from office in 1867.
44.
Grey's successor as governor, George Bowen, took direct control of native affairs until his term ended in 1870.
45.
George Grey took pains to tell Maori that he had observed the terms of the Treaty of Waitangi, assuring them that their land rights would be fully recognised.
46.
George Grey was less successful in his efforts to assimilate Maori; he lacked the financial means to realise his plans.
47.
When George Grey was knighted he chose Tamati Waka Nene as one of his esquires.
48.
George Grey gave land for the establishment of Auckland Grammar School in Newmarket, Auckland in 1850.
49.
Chris Laidlaw concludes that George Grey ran a "ramshackle" administration marked by "broken promises and outright betrayal" of Maori people.
50.
George Grey was Governor of Cape Colony from 5 December 1854 to 15 August 1861.
51.
George Grey founded Grey College, Bloemfontein in 1855 and was the benefactor for Grey High School in Port Elizabeth, founded by John Paterson in 1856.
52.
In spite of their instructions, George Grey continued to advocate union, and, in connection with other matters, such as the attempt to settle soldiers in South Africa after the Crimean War, instructions were ignored.
53.
George Grey had scarcely reached England before a change of government led to the offer of another term, on the understanding that he abandon schemes for the federation of South Africa and, in future obey his instructions.
54.
George Grey was convinced that the boundaries of the South African colonies should be widened, but could not obtain support from the British government.
55.
George Grey was still working for this support when, war with the Maori having broken out, it was decided that Grey should again be appointed governor of New Zealand.
56.
George Grey was again appointed governor in 1861, to replace Governor Thomas Gore Browne, serving until 1868.
57.
George Grey launched the invasion of the Waikato in June 1863 amid mounting tension between Kingites and the colonial government and fears of a violent raid on Auckland by Kingite Maori.
58.
George Grey used as the trigger for the invasion Kingite rejection of his ultimatum on 9 July 1863 that all Maori living between Auckland and the Waikato take an oath of allegiance to Queen Victoria or be expelled south of the Waikato River.
59.
George Grey was greatly respected by some Maori and often travelled with a company of chiefs.
60.
George Grey induced leading chiefs to write down their accounts of Maori traditions, legends and customs.
61.
George Grey learned Maori and persuaded Maori authorities to commit their legends and traditions to writing, some of which were subsequently published.
62.
George Grey's collected papers would turn out to be the largest single repository of Maori-language manuscripts.
63.
George Grey bought Kawau Island in 1862, on his return to New Zealand for a second term as governor.
64.
George Grey enlarged and remodeled Mansion House, the former residence of the copper mine superintendent.
65.
George Grey amassed a celebrated collection of rare books and manuscripts, many purchased from the Auckland bibliophile Henry Shaw, artworks and curiosities, plus artefacts from Maori.
66.
On his return journey to England from New Zealand, George Grey worked on preparing previously compiled Maori myths for publication; this work led to Ko Nga Mahinga a Nga Tupuna Maori and the English translation Polynesian Mythology and Ancient Traditional History of the New Zealand Race as Furnished by Their Priests and Chiefs.
67.
Polynesian Mythology was well received by the European public, with George Grey receiving many letters of praise.
68.
In 1870, at a parliamentary by-election for the Borough of Newark that followed the death of the sitting Liberal MP, George Grey stood as an independent liberal against Gladstone's Liberal candidate Sir Henry Knight Storks.
69.
Storks was rewarded with the post of Surveyor-General of the Ordnance and George Grey returned to New Zealand later that year.
70.
In 1875 Sir George Grey was elected Superintendent of Auckland Province.
71.
On election day, George Grey attracted the highest number of votes and, unexpectedly, Rowe beat Vogel into second place.
72.
On 15 July 1876, George Grey announced that he would represent Thames, and he moved that a by-election be held in Auckland West for the seat that he would vacate there.
73.
George Grey opposed the abolition of the provinces, but his opposition proved ineffective; the provincial system was abolished in 1876.
74.
George Grey asked Governor Lord Normanby for a dissolution of parliament but was flatly refused.
75.
George Grey thought New Zealand's unique constitutional provincialism was under threat, so championed radical causes, such as one man-one vote.
76.
George Grey's government did not operate particularly well, with Grey seeking to dominate the government came into conflict with the governor.
77.
Towards the end of 1879, George Grey's government got into difficulties over land tax.
78.
George Grey was elected in both the Thames and the City of Christchurch electorates in September 1879.
79.
George Grey came first in the three-member Christchurch electorate.
80.
George Grey kept the Thames seat and remained a member of parliament through that electorate.
81.
The retiring member, David Goldie, asked George Grey to take his seat.
82.
George Grey was prepared to put his name forward only if the election was unopposed, as he did not want to suffer the excitement of a contested election.
83.
In December 1893, George Grey was again elected, this time to Auckland City.
84.
George Grey left for England in 1894 and did not return to New Zealand.
85.
George Grey died at his residence at the Norfolk Hotel, Harrington Road, South Kensington, London, on 19 September 1898, aged 86 years, and was buried in St Paul's Cathedral.
86.
George Grey's Spring, sometimes called George Grey's Well, is a historic site in Kalbarri, Western Australia.
87.
In 1904, a statue of George Grey was erected on the corner of Greys Avenue and Queen Street, later moved to Albert Park in 1922.
88.
George Grey's statue has been the target of vandalism and activism, including in 1987, when the head of the statue was broken off on Waitangi Day.
89.
The Governor, an historical drama miniseries based on George Grey's life, was made by TVNZ and the National Film Unit in 1977, featuring Corin Redgrave in the title role.