- John Robert Godley
John Robert Godley (
May 29 ,1814 -November 17 ,1861 ) was Irishstatesman andbureaucrat . Godley is considered to be the founder ofCanterbury, New Zealand , although he lived there for only two years.Early life
Godley was the eldest son of John Godley and Katherine Daly. His father was an Irish
landlord . He attended the prestigious schools ofHarrow School andChrist Church, Oxford inEngland . He was always very sickly. This prevented him from pursuing a career inlaw .Adult life
After graduating from college, Godley traveled over much of
Ireland andNorth America . His traveling influenced and helped to form his ideas about the establishment and governing of colonies. Because of his extensive travel and ideas on the subject of colonies Godley was asked byEdward Gibbon Wakefield , the owner of theNew Zealand Company , to found acolony inNew Zealand that would follow the beliefs of theChurch of England . Godley was persuaded to lead this new colony because of his political connections. Using these connections, Godley was able to help fund the colony. He married Charlotte Griffith Wynne in September 1846.Four years later he and his family arrived in
Port Cooper (Lyttelton) in April 1850. Upon arrival he was met byCaptain Joseph Thomas and shown the construction plans for three separate towns and housing plans for the current settlement at Lyttelton. A fleet of four ships reached Lyttelton in December 1850. The "Randolph", the "Cressy", the "Sir George Seymour", and the "Charlotte-Jane " all carried pilgrims and supplies for the planned colony. For the next two years he served as leader of the settlement, which was called Christchurch. He negotiated with theCanterbury Association in order to get them to change their conditions for pastoral leases to ensure that the colony was able to make a good start with a strong farming base. Godley believed that the Canterbury Association's purpose was to found Canterbury not to rule it. He thought that the colony should be self-governing.He later returned to
England in December 1852, where he worked as acolumnist andessayist for several newspapers. He mainly wrote about colonial reform, a subject clearly dear to his heart. He also was employed at theWar Office . There he continued his argument for the self-governing of the British colonies. Godley died onNovember 17 ,1861 in London. A statue bearing his likeness was erected inCathedral Square by the people of Christchurch in 1867.His nephew Sir
Alexander Godley commanded theNZEF in WWI.ource
* [http://library.christchurch.org.nz/Childrens/EarlyChristchurch/JohnRobertGodley.asp Christchurch article on Godley]
* [http://www.teara.govt.nz/1966/G/GodleyJohnRobert/GodleyJohnRobert/en Biography from 1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand]
* [http://www.teara.govt.nz/1966/G/GodleyCharlotte/GodleyCharlotte/en Biography of Charlotte Godley from 1966 Encyclopaedia of NZ]
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