Edward Wingfield Humphreys

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Edward Wingfield Humphreys (1841–1892) Photo c. 1890/91

Edward Wingfield Humphreys (* 1841 in Montgomeryshire , Wales , † April 12, 1892 in London , England ) was a Welsh lawyer , New Zealand politician and, as a farmer, the founder of the town of Middlemarch in the Otago region , New Zealand .

Wales / England

Edward Wingfield Humphreys was born in Garthmyl in the Welsh county of Montgomeryshire in 1841 . It can be assumed that his father was the attorney Erskine Humphreys of Garthmyl, who probably passed on the family tradition of entering into a legal profession, and the grandfather of his presumed father, Arthur James Johnes (1809–1871), too Was a lawyer and a judge on the county court in Wales. It must also be assumed that he had a brother, Arthur Charles Humphreys-Owen (1836-1905), who also became a lawyer and later was a politician in Wales.

Edward studied, like his supposed brother, at the traditional elite school Harrow School in Harrow on the Hill , today located in the north-east of London. It is not known where he graduated as a lawyer.

New Zealand

The first entry to be found on Edward Wingfield Humphreys in New Zealand refers to his land holdings on Run 213A, the northern part of Strath Taieri , which comprised 25,600 acres , which is almost 104 km² of land in metric dimensions . 67 cows and 15,100 sheep were also registered . In addition to him, a certain McFarlane was entered in the books in 1866, but he never appeared again later. When and where Humphreys came to New Zealand is not known.

On April 21, 1869, he married Alice Hawdon in Christchurch . The marriage remained childless. Not only interested in farming, Humphreys was elected to the Royal Society of New Zealand, founded in 1867 on the British model, on November 22, 1870 .

In 1878, in competition for ownership, Humphreys bought additional land in the Six Mile Creek area, becoming one of Otago's largest landowners. The fight for the still free land was followed very critically by the press. The fact that he was called a squatter hit him very hard.

The high point of his involvement in Strath Taieri was probably the construction of his stately home on his farm, which he called Garthmyl, in memory of his homeland in Wales. In addition, in anticipation of the planned construction of the Otago Central Railway, which began in 1879, he initiated the founding of Middlemarch , which later became a railway station and largest town in the Strath Taieri plain. On December 14, 1880, Humphreys deposited a little more 13 acres (approx. 53,600 m²) of land near the Chas. Bank in Dunedin and thus laid the "foundation stone" for the city. In the same year, on August 17, 1880, he was elected a member of the Otago Institute, founded on July 24, 1869.

In 1885 Humphreys left the farm with his wife, had movable property auctioned, the farm was leased because it was not for sale, and moved to Christchurch, where he wanted to devote himself to politics from now on. From 1889 to 1890 he was a representative of Christchurch North in the House of Representatives and from 1890 he was a councilor of the City Council (council) of his new residence. Not born to be a politician, he left no traces in either political office.

In 1891 he went back to England with his wife to receive treatment for his cancer. He did not survive this and succumbed to his disease on April 12, 1892 in London.

His farm Garthmyl was divided up among several new owners by auction on November 26, 1891.

In an obituary by Otago Witness on May 12, 1892, Humphreys was described as a Christian, liberal man, driver and companion, always friendly, generous and with the good manners of a sincere gentleman . In the history of New Zealand and Otago, however, he has only earned a name as the founder of Middlemarch.

literature

  • Helen M. Thompson : East of the Rock and Pillar . Dunedin Otago Centennial Historical Publications , Dunedin 1949 (English).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Arthur James Johnes - Welsh Biography Online
  2. ↑ Arthur Charles Humphreys-Owen - Welsh Biography Online
  3. ^ Edward Wingfield Humphreys - Cricket Archive
  4. ↑ 8./9. July 1859, Eton College v. Harrow School - Cricket Archives
  5. ^ Otago Witness, May 12, 1892, p. 18
  6. ^ Otago Institute - National Library of New Zealand
  7. ↑ Handbook - Councilors of the City of Christchurch 1862 to current . Christchurch City Council , archived from the original on July 20, 2011 ; accessed on August 10, 2014 (English, original website no longer available).
  8. ↑ The Late EW Humphreys. Otago Witness, 12 May 1892, Page 18
personal data
SURNAME Humphreys, Edward Wingfield
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Welsh lawyer, New Zealand politician and, as a farmer, the founder of the town of Middlemarch in New Zealand
DATE OF BIRTH 1841
PLACE OF BIRTH Montgomeryshire , Wales
DATE OF DEATH April 12, 1892
Place of death London , England