In account of the recent Waitangi, we have been learning about it's history, people involved and their roles. Each student would then select someone to research about and create a detailed biography about their chosen character. I chose Henry William because I thought it would be interesting to learn about his life; so here is my biography.
Henry Williams was born on the 11th / Feb / 1792, in Gosport, England. Son of Thomas Williams and Mary Marsh, British and along with 8 other siblings. Henry was the 5th born child, one of nine; six including himself were born in Gosport, England while the other three were born in Nottingham, England. At 11 years old his father died, in 1803.
3 years later in 1806, at 14 Williams joined the Royal Navy, serving the HMS Barfleur. A large 90-gun second-rate ship designed by Sir Thomas Slade. Under Captain Samuel Hood, he spent 9 years serving before he retired at half-pay becoming a Christian Missionary in 1815 when peace was granted after the Treaty of Ghent in the United States.
In 1840 he arrived in New Zealand and was headed as the CMS's mission (church missionary society) in NZ. He convinced multiple Maori to convert, spread and influence Christian / Catholic religion around the North Island. Henry Williams was incharge of the translation between the technical language of Maori & English, for the draft done by William Hobson and James Busby. This was done with Henry's son (Edward Marsh) over night. He supported this treaty and British Annexation because he felt it was important to protect Maori from lawless Europeans & dishonest dealings. He arrived in the Bay of Islands, there Maori gave Henry the nickname Karu-wha (four-eyes as he wore spectacles). He later died on the 16th of July 1867 at the age of 75.
I enjoyed learning about Waitiangi's history and Henry William's story, I hope to carry this information and share it with others.
I found this task challenging but I found this an interesting topic to research about.
