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Sir Frederick Weld | |
|---|---|
 Sir Frederick Weld, date unknown | |
| 6th Premier of New Zealand | |
| In office 24 November 1864 – 16 October 1865 | |
| Monarch | Victoria |
| Governor | George Grey |
| Preceded by | Frederick Whitaker |
| Succeeded by | Edward Stafford |
| Constituency | Wairau,Cheviot |
| 8th Governor of Western Australia | |
| In office 30 September 1869 – 13 January 1875 | |
| Monarch | Victoria |
| Preceded by | Benjamin Pine |
| Succeeded by | William C. F. Robinson |
| 4th Governor of Tasmania | |
| In office 13 January 1875 – 5 April 1880 | |
| Monarch | Victoria |
| Preceded by | Charles Du Cane |
| Succeeded by | George Strahan |
| 12th Governor of the Straits Settlements | |
| In office 16 May 1880 – 17 October 1887 | |
| Monarch | Queen Victoria |
| Colonial Secretary | James W. W. Birch Thomas Braddell |
| Preceded by | William C. F. Robinson |
| Succeeded by | Cecil Clementi Smith |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1823-05-09)9 May 1823 Bridport, Dorset, England |
| Died | 20 July 1891(1891-07-20) (aged 68) Chideock, Dorset, England |
| Political party | None |
| Spouse | Filumena Mary Anne Lisle Phillipps (m. 1859) |
| Children | 13 |
| Parent(s) | Humphrey Weld Christina Maria Clifford |
| Education | Stonyhurst College |
| Alma mater | University of Fribourg |
| Signature |  |
Sir Frederick Aloysius WeldGCMG (9 May 1823 – 20 July 1891), was anEnglish-bornNew Zealand politician and colonial administrator ofvarious British colonies and territories located inOceania andSoutheast Asia. He was the sixthPrime Minister of New Zealand, and later served asGovernor of Western Australia,Governor of Tasmania, andGovernor of the Straits Settlements.
Weld was born nearBridport, Dorset, England, on 9 May 1823. His mother, Christina Maria Clifford, was the daughter ofBaron Clifford of Chudleigh. Both of his parents were from oldrecusantCatholic families.[1]
His father, Humphrey Weld ofChideock, was a member of the Weld family. Humphrey's fatherThomas Weld (of Lulworth) donated the land and endowed theJesuit college atStonyhurst. Weld's upbringing was strongly grounded in theRoman Catholic faith. His early years were spent with his parents in theRestored Kingdom of France. Later, he received a good education, studying at Stonyhurst before attending a predecessor of theUniversity of Fribourg inSwitzerland, where he studiedphilosophy,chemistry,European languages, andlaw. He had originally intended to pursue a military career, but was convinced otherwise by his tutor at Fribourg. He instead decided to seek a career in theBritish colonies, and arrived inWellington,Colony of New Zealand, on 22 April 1844.
In the Colony of New Zealand, he entered a partnership with his cousin,Charles Clifford. The two established a number of sheep stations around the country, and Weld became relatively prosperous. Weld found a life of agricultural management to be too mundane, however, and soon became active in political concerns. One of his more significant campaigns was to ward against any potentialdiscrimination against Roman Catholics in New Zealand. He later became active in lobbying forrepresentative government in New Zealand.
In 1848, Weld declined an offer by theGovernor of New Zealand, SirGeorge Grey, of a seat on a proposed nominee council. In 1852 he visited England, where he published a pamphlet,Hints to Intending Sheep Farmers in New Zealand, which ran into three editions.
| Years | Term | Electorate | Party | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1853–1855 | 1st | Wairau | Independent | ||
| 1858–1860 | 2nd | Wairau | Independent | ||
| 1861–1866 | 3rd | Cheviot | Independent | ||
When the creation of theNew Zealand Parliament was announced, Weld stood for election. He became a member of the1st Parliament as the representative ofWairau, an electorate in the northeast of theSouth Island; he was declared elected unopposed.[2] The main political division of the day was between "centralists" (favouring a strong central government) and "provincialists" (favouring strong regional governments). On this spectrum, Weld established himself as a moderate centralist, although he tended to oppose the extremes of either side.
Weld was also a member of the brief "cabinet" formed aroundJames FitzGerald. This represented an attempt by Parliament to assume direct responsibility for administering New Zealand. ActingGovernorRobert Wynyard managed to block this move, however, and Weld's role as a "minister" came to an end. Despite the failure of the FitzGerald "cabinet", Weld was pleased that Catholics were able to participate fully in politics. The fact thatCharles Clifford, also a Catholic, had becomeSpeaker was also encouraging to him.
Weld resigned from Parliament in June 1855, a short while before the end of its first term, returning to England for a brief time.[1][3] When he returned, he was elected to the2nd Parliament in aby-election, again representing Wairau.[4] He briefly returned to England again in late 1858 to marry his second cousin, Filumena Mary Anne Lisle Phillipps, daughter ofAmbrose Lisle March Phillipps De Lisle and a great grandchild of the 4thBaron Clifford of Chudleigh like Weld, with whom he would have thirteen children.[1]
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In 1860, Weld was invited to joinEdward Stafford's government, taking over responsibility for Native Affairs fromWilliam Richmond. In this role, Weld had to contend with conflicts such as theFirst Taranaki War. Although Weld disliked the prospect of war, and believed that GovernorGeorge Grey had mishandled the situation, he believed strongly in the need to assert the power of the government, describing it as a "painful duty".[1] He unexpectedly lost the1861 election in Wairau againstWilliam Henry Eyes,[5] but due to the staggered election dates successfully stood in the neighbouringCheviot electorate a fortnight later, where he defeatedCharles Hunter Brown.[6] Weld lost his ministerial position when the Stafford administration was defeated.
In 1864, the government ofFrederick Whitaker resigned due to disputes with the Governor. The point in question was who should bear responsibility for funding British troops stationed in New Zealand. Weld, believing that it was British ineptitude that caused conflict with the Māori in the first place, strongly objected to Grey's demands that Parliament should fund the troops. Weld instead believed that British troops should be removed from New Zealand altogether, and be replaced by local forces.
As Premier, Weld met with mixed success. In 1865 thecapital was moved to Wellington, and his proposals for Māori relations were adopted. These two things generated considerable bitterness, however – Aucklanders were angry about the change of capital, and Māori were angry about theconfiscation of over a million acres (4,000 km2) of land in theWaikato area. Weld's other success, the withdrawal of British troops from New Zealand, was also controversial, and generated considerable hostility from the Governor. In addition, the government's financial situation was precarious. A little less than a year after taking office, Weld's government resigned.
Weld, suffering from poor health and stress, retired from politics in 1866, and returned to England the following year. However his health improved, and he began working again. In 1869 he publishedNotes on New Zealand Affairs, and in March of the same year he began a career as a British colonial governor with an appointment to the post ofGovernor of Western Australia.
Weld arrived inWestern Australia in September, 1869. He immediately embarked on a series of tours of the state, which saw him travel about 1,200 miles (1,900 km) on horseback in his first six months in office. Impressed by the state's isolation, he urged the establishment of telegraph lines and improvements to transportation. In March, 1870, he sentJohn Forrest to explore and survey a possible route for a telegraph line betweenAlbany andAdelaide. This was later built, and by 1874, the state had more than 900 miles (1400 km) of operational telegraph line. Weld also oversaw the establishment of asteamship service along the coast, and the beginnings of arail system.
Weld saw his appointment to the governorship as a mandate to institute similar constitutional changes to that achieved in New Zealand. With the enthusiastic support of hisColonial SecretaryFrederick Barlee, he set about promotingrepresentative government. At the first opportunity, Weld introduced a Bill which provided for the election of 12Members of theLegislative Council, to sit with six official and nominee members. The Bill was eventually passed on 1 June 1870. Barlee then began agitating for responsible government, and in 1874 the Legislative Council passed a resolution calling for it. Although Weld did not think that Western Australia was ready for responsible government, he accepted the situation and passed on the request to theColonial Office inLondon. The Colonial Office were strongly against granting responsible government, and were critical of Weld for allowing the situation to arise. In 1874, Weld went on leave to New Zealand to look after his partnership affairs. He is said to have remarked, upon his departure, "At last she moves", in reference to the improvements he perceived in Western Australia.[7] On this return, he was transferred to the post ofGovernor of Tasmania, and the issue of responsible government was dropped until 1890.
Weld was Governor of Tasmania from 1875 to 1880. He found the role much less taxing than in Western Australia, as Tasmania already had responsible government and his main duty was to preside at meetings of the Executive Council. From 1880 to 1887, he wasGovernor of the Straits Settlements, consisting ofMalacca,Penang, andSingapore. Louch (1966) writes of Weld's seven years in Singapore: "It was there with his wealth of experience that he found the fullest scope for his talents as a colonial administrator, and where he is best remembered now." He was appointedCompanion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in 1875, promoted toKnight Commander of the order (KCMG) in the1880 Birthday Honours, and promoted again toKnight Grand Cross (GCMG) in the1885 Birthday Honours.[8][9]
He was a devout Catholic all his life, and thePope made him a knight of theOrder of Pius IX.
In 1880, Sir Frederick Weld arrived in theStraits Settlements. He began to take personal interest in the development of theMalay States. In the middle of 1881, Weld visited the town ofTaiping, inPerak. He found "the revenue increasing and everything going on excellent well..." but "labour for public works and roads and to develop other industries and sources of revenue besides tin-mining," he lamented, "is the great want". he also reported that:
"Water supply for Taiping from the hill (Maxwell Hill), the roads to Krian, which will connect Taiping town centre withProvince Wellesley, and a rail and tramway from Taiping to the port (Port Weld, which was named after him) are amongst the next most necessary works to be undertaken. the town of Taiping has been much improved since the fire, which took place rather more than a year ago; new streets have been laid out to considerable width, and a better class of houses has been built"
The construction of the Taiping – Port Weld railway was the beginning of a major transformation altering radically the landscape of the Malay Peninsula. It also brought the first influx of Indians (mainly Tamils) and Ceylonese to Perak. Sir Frederick Weld was in Taiping again in 1883 where he "inspected everything". He spent time going down the Port Weld railway line, then in the course of construction, "on a truck behind the Engine". He also put into effect plans to build a telegraph line along the road linking Taiping with Province Wellesley. It was nearing completion after which a railway along the same route would be constructed.
Weld finally retired from political life in 1887, although he remained active in other fields of work. In 1891, visiting theStraits Settlements once again, he contracted a serious illness, and returned to England. He died inChideock on 20 July 1891.
| Government offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Premier of New Zealand 1864–1865 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Governor of Western Australia 1869–1875 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Governor of Tasmania 1875–1880 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Governor of the Straits Settlements 1880–1887 | Succeeded by |
| New Zealand Parliament | ||
| New constituency | Member of Parliament for Wairau 1853–1855 1858–1860 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by William Wells | Succeeded by | |
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament for Cheviot 1861–1866 | Succeeded by |
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