William Hobson

Captain William Hobson (26 September 1792 – 10 September 1842) was a Royal Navy officer and colonial administrator who served as the first governor of New Zealand from 1841 to 1842.^[14] He was a co-author of the Treaty of Waitangi^[15] which he, as Crown representative, and several Maori chiefs signed on 6 February 1840. On 3 May 1840, he proclaimed British sovereignty over New Zealand.^[16] He also selected the site for a new capital, which he named Auckland. In May 1841, New Zealand was constituted as a separate Crown colony with Hobson promoted to governor and commander-in-chief. In his final months, Hobson was dogged by poor health which left him detached from political affairs. He died in office in September 1842.

William Hobson was born in Waterford, Kingdom of Ireland, the son of Samuel Hobson, a barrister, and Martha Jones.^[14] He grew up in an Anglo-Irish Anglican family^[17] and attended a private school.

He enrolled in the Royal Navy as a Volunteer 2nd Class, at Deptford, on 25 August 1803, assigned to HMS Virginie under the command of Captain Sir John Beresford,^[18]: 119 served in the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812,^[19] and was later involved in the suppression of piracy in the Caribbean. He advanced to midshipman in 1806 and seven years later was commissioned first lieutenant on 11 November, 1813.^[2]: 24

In September 1822, Nassau merchants provided Admiral Sir Charles Rowley with two sloops to be crewed from HMS Tyne, to cruise against pirates—the Eliza, 40 tons bm armed with one 12-pounder carronade, commanded by Lieutenant Hugh Nurse, with George White, midshipman, and 23–24 men, and Whim, 43 tons bm, commanded by Lieutenant Hobson, with Holloway and Phillips, midshipmen, and 20 men.

Whilst anchored at Cayo Guajaba, in the province of Camagüey, Cuba, on 29 September 1822, Whim was captured by pirate leader Pepe Diablito. The pirates maltreated and starved their Royal Navy captives for several or eight days, by accounts, including placing rope around of Hobson's neck and those of his men with apparent intent to hang them. A cook suffered the worst:

A cry was raised to sacrifice the black cook, a native of Jamaica (and consequently if not an Englishman, one under the protection of the English flag), whom they had removed from a vessel they had captured. In vain did the poor fellow implore their mercy. They dragged him from his occupation, and instantly spritsail-yarded him, having secured him in a position to offer the fairest mark; these infamous villains amused themselves for 20 minutes, slightly wounding him at every shot before their savage pastime was surfeited, and the coup de grace inflicted.^[20]: 272

Contrary to their unscrupulous reputation, the pirates returned Hobson and his crew to their sloop, though, without provisions, rudder, boom and anchor, and set them adrift at sea. Several days later and very thirsty, they were located and rescued by Nurse and crew of Eliza off Cayo Romano.^{[11][20][18]: 123–125}

Continuing on to suppress the pirate swarm interrupting trade in Caribbean waters, Rowley assigned two schooners to hunt them. Volunteering, Lieutenant Hobson was given command of HMS Lion, formerly La Gata captured by HMS Grecian on 20 March 1823,^[21] and Lieutenant Thomas Marriott command of the schooner HMS Union, at Jamaica, on 30 January 1823.^[22][23][24]

Whilst watering in the Colorados Archipelago on 28 March 1823, HM Schooners Lion, Union and boats of HMS Tamar caught sight of a large schooner, of about 80 tons (bm), and immediately took chase. On nearing, the pirates set their schooner alight and ran it aground. Some 160 pirates escaped to the beach. The schooner was found to have three heavy guns and a cargo recently plundered from a French ship. After rescuing the cargo, pirate schooner 104, as marked on mast and sail, was destroyed.^[21][25]

The next day, 29 March, a pirate sloop was seen close to shore in Baja Bay. Lion and Union immediately manned their boats, and together with two launches from HMS Tamar or HMS HMS Hyperion, went after it. On approaching the sloop, the Royal Navy was drawn into a heavy four-and-a-half-hour firefight. The pirates, believed to number some 160 from104 and La Gata, suffering two dead and several wounded, then retired into the woods. A schooner, 80 tons (bm), mounted with one gun, found moored with three cables up a narrow creek, was seized and burnt.^[21]

Under Hobson's command, Lion and Union located a pirate schooner, 60 tons (bm), armed with a pivot mounted long gun, in La Carna Bay, Colorados Archipelago, on 30 March. When pursued and fired upon by Lion, Union and two launches from Hyperion, the pirates ran their schooner ashore and escaped. Union freed the schooner and with Lion brought their prize into Port Royal at noon on Tuesday, 6 May 1823. HMS Tamar parted company with Lion and Union on 5 April, bound for Vera Cruz and Portsmouth.^[21][25] Hyperion continued on in the West Indies until 15 May 1824.

Lion and Union went on to capture the pirate vessel Flor de la Mar on 5 June 1823, and with boats of HMS Tyne, captured a pirate felluca on 6 July 1823^[25]

Lieutenant Thomas Marriott, commanding HMS Union, died of yellow fever on 17 September 1823. Captain John George Graham of HMS Icarus and Hobson erected his memorial tablet at St Peter's Anglican Church, Port Royal, Jamaica.^[26][27] Hobson was promoted to rank of commander on 18 March 1824,^[28] his capture of pirate vessels also earning him the nickname "Lion Hobson".^{[18]: 123–125}

Assigned to command of the sloop HMS Ferret from 1 January 1825,^[6] Hobson now had the company of his nephew on board—Thomas McGwire, midshipman, the eldest son of his sister Mary and Captain William McGwire, RN. McGwire, though, died of yellow fever at Jamaica on 23 September 1825, aged 15 years. "The idol of his uncle's heart", Hobson erected his memorial tablet within St Peter's Anglican Church, Port Royal.^[29][27][26]

Tasked with abolition of the slave-trade, Hobson and crew of HMS Ferret captured the Spanish schooner Fingal on 3 February 1826. It had run aground near Salt Key, Cuba, in the preceding day or two, having a cargo of 58 African slaves. Hobson brought the schooner in to Havannah, Cuba, on 15 February 1826. Fingal, its owner-master and crew, had sailed from Havannah for Africa on 1 February 1825, and claimed that 17 days after their departure from Africa for Havannah on 1 January 1826, they fell in with a French brig which pressed them to take 61 slaves on board. The owner-master and his crew's accounts having been found to be improbable, the Mixed Commission Court condemned the vessel, to sale by auction, and ordered emancipation of the slaves.^[30] From 17 October 1827, respective proportions of the bounty on the pirates and moiety of hull were made available to Hobson, officers and company of HMS Ferret who were present at the capture of Fingal.^[31][32]

Hobson was assigned command (acting) of the HMS Scylla, based in Jamaica, on 14 March 1826; the sloop having suffered severe losses though yellow fever.^[33][34] At some point the Spanish 22-gun letter of marque ship Fama encountered and fired into Scylla, killing one of the men. In return Scylla fired a single broadside at Fama, silencing and almost sinking her.^[35]

Through frequent visits to Nassau, The Bahamas, he met and married Eliza Ann Elliott, only daughter of Robert Wear Elliott (1784–1830) and Eliza McPherson (–1832), at Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas, on or about 17 December 1827. They were to have four daughters and a son.^[19]

Hobson having returned Scylla to Britain to be paid off in mid-1828, Prince William, Duke of Clarence and St Andrews and Lord High Admiral, and Sir Robert Stoppford, Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth, visited the ship. Prince William expressed the highest commendation of the discipline and condition of the ship, and in consequence promoted Hobson to post captain, from 9 July 1828.^[36][35][37]

In December 1834 he obtained a commission from the First Lord of the Admiralty – George Eden, 1st Earl of Auckland – to the East Indies on HMS Rattlesnake.^[8]

In 1836, he was ordered to Australia, arriving at Hobart on 5 August 1836, and at Sydney 18 days later. On 18 September 1836, HMS Rattlesnake left for Port Phillip District (later Melbourne) conveying Captain William Lonsdale and other officials to the new colony. During the next three months, Hobson and his officers thoroughly surveyed Port Phillip, the northern portion of which, by direction of Governor Sir Richard Bourke, was named Hobsons Bay, after him. (Thus the local government area of the City of Hobsons Bay is indirectly named after him.)

His ship was involved in the founding of the port of Williamstown. He was offered the position of Superintendent of the Bombay Marine at a salary of £2000 a year, but he had taken a liking to Australia and was a candidate for the governorship of Port Phillip, although the salary was not expected to be more than £800 a year.

In 1837, Bourke sent Hobson, aboard HMS Rattlesnake, to New Zealand' having received news from Busby, the British Resident at the Bay of Islands, of the outbreak of an inter-tribal Maori war.^[39] He arrived on 26 May, and two months later, with his task completed, he returned to Sydney and submitted a report that advocated negotiating with Maori for the creating a series of factory enclaves around New Zealand under British sovereignty, similar to that involving the Hudson's Bay Company in North America. Hobson was then sent to India and thence returned to England shortly afterwards to be put on half-pay.^[39][40]

By 1838, the need for adequate law and order in New Zealand had become urgent. On 13 August 1839, the government in London appointed Hobson as consul in New Zealand. It also extended the boundaries of New South Wales to include New Zealand and appointed Hobson as lieutenant-governor on 30 July 1839, under the new governor in Sydney, George Gipps. Hobson was then dispatched to New Zealand with instructions to treat with Maori for the cession of the islands.^[41][39][42] He reached first, Sydney in December 1839, and thence left for the Bay of Islands abourd HMS Herald, arriving on 29 January 1840.^[39]

Hobson helped draft what became known as the Treaty of Waitangi and headed the British signatories. As each chief signed, Hobson said "He iwi tahi tātou", meaning "We are [now] one people".^{[43][44]: 35} To enhance the authority of the treaty, eight further copies were made and sent around the country to gather additional signatures. After the initial signing at Waitangi, Hobson travelled to the Waitematā Harbour to obtain more signatures and to survey a suitable location for a new capital. After suffering a stroke on 1 March 1840, he was taken back to the Bay of Islands where he recovered sufficiently to continue work.

On 21 May 1840, in response to actions of the New Zealand Company settlers at Port Nicholson, who were laying out a new town under the flag of the United Tribes of New Zealand,^[45] Hobson asserted British sovereignty over the whole of New Zealand.^[46] He sent soldiers to Port Nicholson on 25 May 1840: the council of the settlers was disbanded and their leader, William Wakefield later pledged allegiance to the Crown. His suggestion to make Port Nicholson the capital was rejected in favour of Hobson's plan for a new town on Waitematā Harbour, to be named Auckland after the Earl of Auckland.

On 11 July 1840, the French frigate L'Aube arrived at the Bay of Islands on its way to Banks Peninsula as part of the settlement plan of the Nanto-Bordelaise Company. Hobson sent two magistrates to Akaroa to establish the British claim to sovereignty by holding courts. Near the end of 1840, the Port Nicholson settlers sent a petition to Queen Victoria calling for Hobson's dismissal over his treatment of them. Hobson responded on 26 May 1841 to the Foreign Secretary.

In November 1840, the Queen signed a royal charter for New Zealand to become a Crown Colony separate from New South Wales. Hobson was sworn in by the Chief Justice as Governor of New Zealand on 3 May 1841.^[15] On the same day, the General Legislative Council came into being, with Hobson in charge of appointing its membership.^[47]

Hobson travelled to Wellington in August 1841 where he heard the complaints of settlers and selected magistrates. He then visited Akaroa to settle the French claims. Back in Auckland, he had some difficulty with the Māori, and his government was ridiculed by journalists in Wellington and Auckland. He responded by closing down the New Zealand Herald and Auckland Gazette. With his government low on funds, he resorted to issuing unauthorised bills on the British Treasury in 1842. Hobson faced opposition from the "Senate clique" radicals who sent a petition to the Foreign Secretary to have Hobson recalled. One of Hobson's last actions was to declare an Auckland Anniversary Day to mark the anniversary of his arrival in the Bay of Islands.

Hobson suffered a second stroke. Prior to being relieved of office, the Auckland Times reported his death 10 September 1842, which is confirmed on his tombstone.^[48][36] Following his funeral, he was buried in the Symonds Street cemetery, Auckland, on Tuesday, 13 September.^[49] A great number of Māori attended his funeral. Uhunga (expressions of grief) were performed as if for one of their own great chiefs. Copies of Ko te Karere o Nui Tireni directed Māori mourners to follow the funeral precession to the burial in the Symonds Street cemetery. Almost every Māori man carried a musket which they fired off once the military salute had been fired. Most of the Māori women had their hair ornamented with wreaths of flowering supplejack.^[49][50]

Several places in New Zealand are named after Hobson including:^[51]

• Hobsonville, Hobson initially considered this to be a potential site for the Government of New Zealand, but after advice from the Surveyor-General of New Zealand, Felton Matthew this idea was rejected. The area was later named after him.
• Hobson Bay
• Mount Hobson, Auckland
• Hobson Hill, a small hill located Northeast of Waitangi, Northland.^[52]
• Hobson Street^[53]

• Hobson, W. Papers, 1833–1846. MS Papers 46. WTU
• Lambourn, Alan (1988). The Treatymakers of New Zealand: Heralding the Birth of a Nation. Lewes, Sussex: Book Guild. ISBN 9780863322679.
• Moon, Paul (1998). Hobson: Governor of New Zealand, 1840–1842. Auckland: David Ling. ISBN 9780908990542.
• Orange, Claudia (1987). The Treaty of Waitangi. Wellington: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 0868616346.
• Scholefield, Guy Hardy (1934). Captain William Hobson, First Governor of New Zealand. London: Oxford University Press.
• UK Parliament. Correspondence and other papers relating to New Zealand, 1835–1845. In Irish University Press series of British parliamentary papers. Colonies: New Zealand. Vols 3 & 4. Shannon, 1970

• E. J. Tapp, 'Hobson, William (1793–1842)', Australian Dictionary of Biography