Grey, Governor George
b. 1812-04-14
d. 1898-09-19
George Grey, son of Lieutenant Colonel George Grey and Elizabeth Anne Vignoles, was governor of South Australia, twice governor of New Zealand, governor of Cape Colony (South Africa), and the 11th premier of New Zealand.1
In this letter to Pakington, on schools for the First Nations in British Columbia, Straith includes Grey’s report on industrial schools for New Zealand’s native populations.
Grey was offered governorship of South Australia in 1840, after writing a report to Lord John Russell on the assimilation of Indigenous peoples.2 He was appointed governor of New Zealand in 1845 and managed affairs between the Maori peoples and the colony from 1845 to 1853.3 In late 1853, Grey departed New Zealand to become governor of the Cape Colony and high commissioner for South Africa.4
When war broke out in 1857 in Taranaki, New Zealand, Grey returned to New Zealand to help make peace.5 He was terminated as governor in 1868 after evading instructions from the British government to withdraw troops from New Zealand.6
In 1875, Grey was elected superintendent of Auckland province and then became premier in 1877.7 He resigned in 1879 but remained in Parliament as a backbencher.8 Grey was chosen to represent New Zealand at the Australian Federal Convention in 1891, where he played a prominent role despite his old age.9
Grey was keenly interested in animal and plant life, old books, and Aboriginal cultures.10 He wrote books on Australian Aboriginal vocabularies, on Maori language and culture, and on his western Australian explorations.11
In this letter to Pakington, Straith includes a despatch from Governor George Grey regarding the development of industrial schools for Indigenous peoples in New Zealand.
  • 1. Keith Sinclair, Grey, George, Te Ara.
  • 2. Ibid.
  • 3. Ibid.
  • 4. Ibid.
  • 5. George Grey, New Zealand History Online.
  • 6. Ibid.
  • 7. Keith Sinclair, Grey, George, Te Ara.
  • 8. Ibid.
  • 9. Ibid.
  • 10. Ibid.
  • 11. Ibid.
Mentions of this person in the documents
The Colonial Despatches Team. Grey, Governor George. The Colonial Despatches of Vancouver Island and British Columbia 1846-1871, Edition 2.0, ed. The Colonial Despatches Team. Victoria, B.C.: University of Victoria. https://bcgenesis.uvic.ca/grey_nz.html.

Last modified: 2020-03-30 13:22:16 -0700 (Mon, 30 Mar 2020) (SVN revision: 4193)