Carl Sylvius Völkner

Carl Sylvius Völkner (c. 1819-1865) was a German-born Protestant missionary in New Zealand.

He was born in Kassel, Hesse, Germany, probably in 1819. Völkner was one of several missionaries sent to New Zealand by the North German Missionary Society. He arrived in New Zealand in August 1849. In 1852 he offered his services to the Church Missionary Society (CMS). He married Emma Lanfear, sister of a CMS missionary. Völkner took charge of the CMS mission station at Opotiki in August 1861. There he worked among Te Whakatohea, who built a church and a school for him.

Völkner died on March 2, 1865 at the hands of Hauhau militants in the Volkner incident. The local Anglican church in Opotiki has been named as St Stephen the Martyr in memory of his brutal death by hanging with decapitation and the swallowing of Völkner's eyeballs by the Hauhau leader, Kereopa Te Rau.

References

*Lyall, A. C., (1979) "Whakatohea of Opotiki". A.H. & A.W. Reed.
* [http://www.waitangi-tribunal.govt.nz/reports/viewchapter.asp?reportID=A949CD08-4825-48BF-B038-FAC923793297&chapter=6 Chapter 5: The Völkner and Fulloon Slayings] , in The Ngati Awa Raupatu Report. Waitangi Tribunal, 1999.