Arthur Hamilton Gordon
Arthur Hamilton Gordon was born on 25 November 1829 in London, England to parents George Hamilton Gordon and Harriet Douglas. George Hamilton Gordon, fourth earl of Aberdeen, was the prime minister of the United Kingdom holding office from 1852-1855. Due to his father’s influence and his work with William Gladstone (high commissioner), Arthur became interested in colonial affairs. The start of Gordon’s career was when he served as lieutenant governor of New Brunswick (1861-66), governor of Trinidad (1866-70), governor of Mauritius (1871-74), first governor of Fiji (1875-80), consul general and high commissioner for the western Pacific (1877-83), governor of New Zealand (1880-82) and governor of Ceylon (1883-90). When Gordon arrived in New Zealand, 1880, his ambitious nature and desire to promote public welfare[1] and advocate for humanitarian concerns was met with frustration as the free reign he experienced in England was not granted due to limits faced in New Zealand. He once wrote about his role being ‘highly paid, well housed and well fed, for performing the functions of a stamp’. [2] During his term, the Parihaka settlement dominated much of his time with one of his first tasks being the reporting of the situation to the Colonial Office. Through this, he criticised the government for failure to handle the fencing issue and said that Maori were ‘substantially in the right, although undoubtedly wrong in the mode they took to assert their pretensions’.[3]Gordon spent his time in New Zealand showing courage and compassion to the Parihaka Maori, criticising the actions of the governemnt and the way they went about treating the people of the settlement. When Gordon left, 24 June 1882, he was caught up in a case of injudiciously providing G.W Rusden with information that criticised Bryce that was further published in Rusden’s History of New Zealand in 1883. Bryce started a case against Rusden in which Gordon was said to have given such libel information while they were still working together. Because of this, Gladstone suspended his recommendation for a peerage and he had to wait until 1893 until he was eligible for the honour.
Arthur Gordon became a significant figure during and in the lead up to the Parihaka Invasion as he disagreed with the punishments and treatment imposed on Maori, criiticising the government, further envoking a backlash from political leaders. Gordon showed that no matter what status of power an individual is in, it is in the person’s right to stand up to injustices and try to make a change.
[1] http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/2g13/gordon-arthur-hamilton
[2] IBID
[3] IBID
Arthur Gordon became a significant figure during and in the lead up to the Parihaka Invasion as he disagreed with the punishments and treatment imposed on Maori, criiticising the government, further envoking a backlash from political leaders. Gordon showed that no matter what status of power an individual is in, it is in the person’s right to stand up to injustices and try to make a change.
[1] http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/2g13/gordon-arthur-hamilton
[2] IBID
[3] IBID