William Colenso

William Colenso (undated)

William Colenso , in later years (undated)

William Colenso (born November 17, 1811 in Penzance , Cornwall , England , † February 10, 1899 in Napier , New Zealand ) was a New Zealand printer, botanist, naturalist, missionary and politician. He was a cousin of John William Colenso .

Life

William Colenso was born on November 17, 1811, the first child of Mary Veale Thomas and her husband, Samuel May Colenso , a saddler and councilor, in Penzance , Cornwall , England . He received his school education from a private teacher and from 1826 completed an apprenticeship as a printer in St Ives , the next largest city.

In 1833 he went to London and worked as a printer for Richard Watts , whose company worked for the Church Missionary Society . Through this work he came into contact with this religious society, which at that time was looking for a printer for their church in Paihia in the Bay of Islands in New Zealand. Colenso agreed and traveled in June 1834 on the Prince Regent first to Australia and then on the schooner Blackbird from Sydney to New Zealand, where he reached Paihia on December 30, 1834 .

The first years were not easy for him, as the working conditions were not good due to insufficient technology and materials. But his ingenuity made the work successful. His first work on February 17, 1835, was a sixteen-page translation of the Apostle Paul's letter to the Philippians and the Apostle Paul's letter to the Ephesians in the Māori language . Further orders followed, such as 5,000 copies of " William Williams's Maori New Testament " or 27,000 copies of the Book of Common Prayer in Māori . But he was not only active for the church, James Busby , British resident in New Zealand, also had him printed, as did later the colonial government their first New Zealand Government Gazette on December 30, 1840.

Role in the Treaty of Waitangi

Colenso is primarily associated with his printed translation of the Waitingi Treaty into the Maori language, which he submitted on February 17, 1840, and pointed out to Deputy Governor William Hobson that most Māori would not be able to read the text to understand within his grasp what Hobson brusquely rejected at the time.

Colenso then summarized his observations and experiences in his 1890 published work " The authentic and genuine history of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi " (The authentic and unadulterated history of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi ).

Colenso as a botanist

The visit of Charles Darwin in 1835 in the Bay of Islands promoted interest in the nature of the country, including at Colenso , who in 1838 by the chief botanist of the government of New South Wales , Allan Cunningham received a short training. Later in 1841 he went on a six-month research trip with the British botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker , from which a lasting friendship with Hooker remained. In the years 1841 to 1842 and 1843 to 1844 he undertook further extensive research trips to the North Island.

Colenso as a missionary

During his diverse activities, Colenso did not forget his Christian missionary mandate and developed a dogmatic, self-examining form of conversion activity which the Church Missionary Society , for which he still worked, was suspicious and a request on his part to serve as a minister , initially refused.

When Colenso married Elizabeth Fairburn , the daughter of a missionary, in Otahuhu , Auckland on April 27, 1843 , fulfilling an important condition of the Church, Bishop George Augustus Selwyn was ready to accept him as a priest. Colenso was finally ordained on September 22, 1844 and moved with his wife to Hawke's Bay on December 13 to lead a mission. From 1848 Colenso found himself facing increasing difficulties in his missionary work. His inflexible, arrogant and humorless manner led to tension between him and the Māori chiefs. After he had an affair with a young Maori woman, he was finally suspended from his office in November 1852.

Colenso as a politician

In 1858 Colenso became a political figure and was elected to the Hawke's Bay Provincial Council for Napier on February 16, 1859 . He initially took over the office of financial auditor and then later took over the office of treasurer himself. In 1861 he was elected to Napier's General Assembly (General Assembly) in Wellington . In 1866 he had to give up his seat to Donald McLean after a lost election . Although Colenso could stay in politics for some time, he lacked the tact to listen and compromise. His speeches were often lengthy and obscure. Colenso remained in the provincial council until its dissolution on October 12, 1875.

His last years

In his final years Colenso devoted himself to his works and writings on botanical issues. In 1865 he was accepted as a Fellow in the Linnean Society (FLS) and honored for his scientific work in 1886 by being accepted as a Fellow in the Royal Society (FRS).

In 1894 his suspension as a deacon was lifted. He died in Napier on February 10, 1899.

literature

• David Mackay : Colenso, William . In: GH Scholefield (Ed.): Dictionary of New Zealand Biography . Volume 1 , 1990 (English, online [accessed January 19, 2017]).

Web links

• Author entry and list of the described plant names for William Colenso at the IPNI