Edward Shortland

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Edward Shortland , MA , MRCP (* 1812 in Courtlands near Plymouth , England , † July 1, 1893 in Plympton , now a district of Plymouth ) was an English-born physician and New Zealand linguist .

Life

Edward Shortland was in 1812, the third son of Captain Thomas George Shortland and his wife Elizabeth Tonkin in Courtlands near Plymouth born in the south of England, and on 19 May 1812 in Charles in the county of Devon baptized. Shortland received his education at the Grammar School in Exeter and then at Harrow College and Pembroke College , Cambridge , where he last graduated in 1835 with a Bachelor of Arts and in 1839 with a Master of Arts . He then studied medicine at the Royal College of Physicians in London .

At the invitation of his eldest brother Willoughby Shortland , who was accompanying the then Deputy Governor of New Zealand, William Hobson , Edward Shortland followed his brother and reached the country, which was then still a colony, in March 1841. Just three months later, on June 25, 1841, Shortland got the post of private secretary to the governor in Auckland . In April 1842 Shortland , accompanying the governor, traveled through the Waikato region and thus made his first long contacts with the Māori . In just 28 days he acquired a deep understanding of the tribal politics of the local people and thus got to know Pōtatau Te Wherowhero from the tribe of the Ngāti Mahuta , an influential tribal leader of the Māori .

In July, Shortland accompanied George Clarke on his trip to the Thames area , where a conflict between the tribal leader Taraia Ngakuti Te Tumuhuia and the representative of the British Crown was simmering. After Auckland back of the position adopted by a police judge and protector of Māori for the eastern district where about 25,000  Māori lived and deep-continuous dispute between Māori and between Māori and Pākehā be settled had. On July 11, 1843, Shortland was commissioned to accompany Colonel EL Godfrey to the South Island as an interpreter, where land claims had to be settled. On the way he met Māori leader Te Rauparaha to hear and document his version and view of the violence that went down in history as the Wairau tumult . Shortland toured the South Island, gained valuable dispute settlement experience, returned to Wellington and Auckland , faced the reduction of his salary from £ 150 to  £ 90 and reluctantly accepted the demotion and secondment to Wellington in April 1845, where he was a got subordinate position. To mediate in a military conflict he was finally ordered back to Auckland and was awarded a war medal in January 1846 for his services. A short time later he decided to return to England.

On his return trip he traveled to the European continent from 1846 to 1850, went back to England in 1851 and initially found a job as a doctor again. In 1860 he was appointed a member of the Royal College of Physicians (MRCP). Shortland then traveled back to New Zealand in 1862 to assist Governor George Edward Gray in implementing a new plan for the management of Māori affairs. Shortland got the post of secretary for Māori affairs on August 14, 1863 , but filled the position only briefly. In 1865 he traveled back to England and then stayed with his family for three years in Italy .

In 1869 he went back to New Zealand one more time and tried to simplify and improve the procedures for land transfer, in which there were frequent conflicts. He failed but stayed in the country. In February 1873 Shortland won £ 30 in a competition to design improvements to the Albert Barracks Reserve in Auckland , a barracks complex. Disgruntled competitors and their supporters subsequently claimed he had swayed the judges, which was covered extensively in the Auckland press . Shortland eventually received the award and returned to England in June of that year.

In 1880 he traveled to New Zealand for the last time, lived in the district of Parnell in Auckland , published in 1882 and 1883 both of his last works, and went in October 1889 for getting back to England.

Edward Shortland died on July 1, 1893 in Plympton , near Plymouth .

family

In 1851 he married his wife Eugenia Maria Francisca Basilica Ilardi, who was born in Palermo , Italy . The marriage had eleven children, four sons and seven daughters.

Works

  • 1851 - The Southern Districts of New Zealand . A Journal, with Passing Notices of the Customs of the Aborigines . Longmans, Brown, Green, & Longmans , London 1851 (English).
  • 1854 - Traditions and Superstitions of the New Zealanders . with Illustration or Their Manners and Custom . 2nd Edition. Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans & Roberts , London 1856 (English, online [accessed May 31, 2020] 2018 reissued by Forgotten Books ISBN 978-1-333-86657-0 ).
  • 1868 - A short Sketch of the Maori Races . In: James Hector (Ed.): Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute . Volume 1 . Wellington 1868 (English, online [PDF; 738 kB ; accessed on May 31, 2020]).
  • 1882 - Maori , Religion and Mythology . Illustrated by Translations of Traditions, KARAKIA, & c. to which are added Notes on Maori Tenure of Land. . Longmans, Green and Co. / Upton & Co. , London; Auckland 1882 (English).
  • 1883 - How to learn Maori, a short treatise on the structure and idiom of the language . Upton & Company , Auckland 1883 (English).

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h Anderson : Shortland, Edward . In: Dictionary of New Zealand Biography . 1990.
  2. ↑ a b c Una Platts : Shortland, Edward 1812-1893 . In: Nineteenth Century New Zealand Artists: A Guide & Handbook . Avon Fine Prints , Christchurch 1980 (English, online [accessed May 31, 2020]).
personal data
SURNAME Shortland, Edward
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British-New Zealand doctor and linguist
DATE OF BIRTH 1812
PLACE OF BIRTH Courtlands near Plymouth , England
DATE OF DEATH July 1, 1893
Place of death Plympton , now part of Plymouth