William Colenso

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The first public notice in New Zealand, printed by William Colenso’s press.

William Colenso (7 November 1811 – 10 February 1899) was born in Penzance, Cornwall. He was the cousin of John William Colenso, Bishop of Natal and trained as a printer's apprentice.

A plaque in Paihia commemorating William Colenso.

He travelled to New Zealand in 1834 to work for the Church Missionary Society as a printer/missionary. He was responsible for the first printing of the Treaty of Waitangi and a Māori language translation of the New Testament. He was an avid botanist; detailing and transmitting to Kew Gardens in England previously unrecorded New Zealand flora. In 1866 he was the first New Zealander to be elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society. He wrote several books, and contributed over a hundred papers to scientific journals.

A press at ‘Haven of History’, a reconstruction of the Church Missionary Society mission station in Paihia, with a press in the same style of William Colenso’s.

His standing in New Zealand colonial society and the Church Missionary Society, along with his fervent hope of ordination, was lost when it was discovered that he had sired a son (Wiremu) by the Maori maid (Ripeka) of his wife (Elizabeth Fairburn Colenso). Following a long wilderness period (during which he continued his botany work) he took an active role as a local politician in Napier, New Zealand.

He died in Napier in 1899, leaving two sons and daughter. His son from Ripeka, Wiremu/William, left New Zealand for Cornwall, married a cousin and lived in Penzance until his death. His son from Elizabeth Fairburn, Ridley Latimer, attended Cambridge, and finally settled in Scotland. His daughter Frances Mary married William Henry Simcox and settled in Otaki New Zealand. Neither of his sons had surviving children - Frances had nine.

[edit] References

William Colenso: Printer, Missionary, Botanist, Explorer, Politician by A. G. Bagnall & G. C. Petersen (1948, AH & AW Reed, Wellington)
The Controversial Colensos by A. L. Rowse (1989, Cornish Publications, Redruth, Cornwall) ISBN 1 85022 047 6 (Bishop Colenso of Natal and his cousin William Colenso, naturalist)