Godley and the Founding of Canterbury
John Robert Godley
Born: May 29 1814, in Dublin, Ireland
Died: 17 November 1861, in London, England
Early life
- John Robert Godley was the eldest son of an Irish landlord, John
Godley, and his wife, Katharine Daly. He attended school at Harrow,
and later Christ College, Oxford.
- He always suffered from poor health, which prevented him from
making a career as a lawyer.
Adult
life
- As a young man Godley travelled in Ireland and North America
and developed ideas about how colonies should be established and
governed.
- Edward
Gibbon Wakefield and the New
Zealand Company had set up a scheme for the settlement of
New Zealand and asked Godley to found a colony in New Zealand
which would follow the teachings of the Church of England.
- Wakefield persuaded Godley to lead the new colony, and he was
able to use his influence with his friends to raise money for the
scheme.
- The Canterbury Association was
set up in early 1848, the main town was named (Christ Church),
negotiations began to buy land off the New Zealand Company, and Captain
Joseph Thomas was sent to Canterbury to choose a site and prepare
for the arrival of the new settlers.
- Godley and his family (he married Charlotte Griffith Wynne in
September 1846) arrived in Port Cooper (Lyttelton) in April 1850.
- He was met by Captain Thomas and shown the plans for three towns,
and housing for the new settlers at Lyttelton.
- The fleet of the first
four ships reached Lyttelton in December 1850 and was met
by Godley.
- He was the leader of the settlement for the next two years,
and in this time changed the Canterbury Association's conditions
for the pastoral leases (land in the surrounding countryside leased
for farming), so that the new settlement was able to make a good
start to establishing a strong farming base.
- Godley believed that the purpose of the Association was to found
Canterbury, not govern it, and that the people living there on
the spot should decide how it was run, not people in England.
- Godley returned to England in December 1852, where he wrote
for some of the newspapers on the subject of colonial reform.
- He later worked for the War Office and continued to argue for
self-government for the British colonies.
- Godley died on 17 November 1861 in London. In 1867 the citizens
of Christchurch put up a statue of him in Cathedral
Square .
Summary
- John Robert Godley is known as the "Founder of Canterbury" even
though he lived there for only two and a half years.
- Without his leadership the Canterbury Association back in England
would have controlled the settlement more.
- The way in which Godley led the settlement and the changes he
made helped establish the strong farming base and prosperity Canterbury
has always relied on.
Explanations
- New Zealand Company
- The New Zealand Association (later the New Zealand Company) was
formed in England in 1837 to carry out Edward Gibbon Wakefield's
dream of an organised English colonisation or settlement of New
Zealand. It was responsible for the European settlement of Wellington,
New Plymouth and Nelson, and supported the church settlements in
Canterbury and Otago.
- Canterbury Association
- The Association was formed in 1848 and was supported by a number
of members of parliament and English peers, including the Archbishop
of Canterbury. The capital city of the new colony was to be called
Christ Church, after the Oxford College John Robert Godley attended.
The agricultural settlement planned was to be made up of selected
Anglican families, with the land sold to the settlers to raise
money for the building of schools, roads, and churches. The Canterbury
Association bought the land from the New Zealand Company. The rural
sections were sold in lots of no less than 50 acres for 3 an acre.
The land in the city (1,000 acres) was divided into quarter acre
sections, and balloted out to the new settlers. The Association
hoped to establish a colony of 15,000 people, with a bishop (and
a cathedral), 21 clergy, and 20 schoolmasters. Twelve shiploads
of settlers were planned, with the first four leaving England in
September 1850.
Sources
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