Captain William Hobson was a British Royal Navy officer who served as the first Governor of New Zealand.
25 Facts About William Hobson
2.
William Hobson was a co-author of the Treaty of Waitangi.
3.
William Hobson was sworn in as Lieutenant-Governor in Sydney and arrived in New Zealand on 29 January 1840.
4.
On 5 February 1840, William Hobson met with Maori chiefs at Waitangi, and the following morning they signed a treaty by which the chiefs purportedly voluntarily transferred sovereignty to the British Crown in return for guarantees respecting their lands and possessions and their rights as British subjects.
5.
Three months later, William Hobson proclaimed British sovereignty over the islands of New Zealand.
6.
William Hobson selected the site for a new capital, which he named Auckland.
7.
In May 1841, New Zealand was constituted as a separate Crown colony, with William Hobson promoted to Governor and Commander in Chief.
8.
William Hobson was born in Waterford, Ireland, the son of Samuel Hobson, a barrister and Martha Jones.
9.
William Hobson attended a private school, but despite this disadvantage he joined the Royal Navy on 25 August 1803 as a second-class volunteer.
10.
William Hobson served in the Napoleonic wars and was later involved in the suppression of piracy in the Caribbean.
11.
William Hobson became a midshipman in 1806 and some seven years later was a first lieutenant.
12.
William Hobson's ship was involved in the founding of Williamstown.
13.
On 26 May 1837 William Hobson sailed to the Bay of Islands, New Zealand, in response to a request for help from James Busby, the British Resident, who felt threatened by wars between Maori tribes.
14.
On his return to England in 1838, William Hobson submitted a report on New Zealand, in which he proposed establishing British sovereignty over the islands in small pockets similar to the Hudson's Bay Company in Canada.
15.
On 21 May 1840, in response to the creation of a "republic" by the New Zealand Company settlers of Port Nicholson, who were laying out a new town under the flag of the United Tribes of New Zealand, William Hobson asserted British sovereignty over the whole of New Zealand, despite the incompleteness of the treaty signing.
16.
William Hobson sent Willoughby Shortland and some soldiers to Port Nicholson on 25 May 1840, and the council of the settlers was disbanded.
17.
William Hobson immediately sent two magistrates to Akaroa to establish the British claim to sovereignty by holding courts.
18.
William Hobson responded on 26 May 1841 to the Foreign Secretary.
19.
William Hobson was sworn in by the Chief Justice as Governor of New Zealand on 3 May 1841.
20.
William Hobson travelled to Wellington in August 1841, where he heard the complaints of settlers and selected magistrates.
21.
William Hobson then visited Akaroa to settle the French claims.
22.
William Hobson responded by closing down the New Zealand Herald and Auckland Gazette.
23.
William Hobson faced opposition from the "Senate clique" radicals who sent a petition to the Foreign Secretary to have William Hobson recalled.
24.
William Hobson suffered a second stroke and died on 10 September 1842, prior to being recalled from office.
25.
William Hobson was buried in the Symonds Street cemetery in Auckland.