Felton Mathew
Felton Mathew (* 1801 in London , United Kingdom , † 1847 in Lima , Peru ) was a British geodesist and the first chief surveyor ( Surveyor-General ) of New Zealand .
Life
Mathew was the cousin of George Felton Mathew, a friend of the poet John Keats . In 1829 he took a position as a geodesist in New South Wales , in 1832 he married his cousin Sarah. In 1839 he was appointed New Zealand's first Surveyor General . In January 1840 he reached the Bay of Islands . Together with Governor William Hobson, he explored Waitemata Harbor in the same year to choose a location for New Zealand's future capital, Auckland . In 1841 he went on an exploratory trip to what is now New Zealand's capital Wellington . After returning to England in 1845 , his activity in New Zealand, where he also had police power, ended in 1847. On the return trip to England, Mathew fell ill and died in Peru's capital Lima, which the ship had called as a stopover. The Mount Mathew in Antarctica bears his name.
Web links
- Mathew, Felton (1801-1847). Short biography on the homepage of the Victoria University of Wellington (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Mathew, Felton |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British geodesist, New Zealand's first surveyor-general |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1801 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | London , UK |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1847 |
| Place of death | Lima , Lima |