Guide to the Papers of Bishop George Augustus Selwyn (as filmed by the AJCP), 1831-1952
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Collection context
Summary
- Collection number:
- M590, M1093-M1100
- Creator:
- Selwyn, George A. , 1809-1878
- Extent:
- 617 items
- Language:
- English
- Preferred citation:
-
Acknowledgement of use of this material should refer to the location of the original material and to the Australian Joint Copying Project.
Items from this collection should include references to the location of the original material and to the AJCP nla.obj number, which serves as the online identifier for the digital copy.
Example: M Series: Journal of Capt. James Cook, 18 February-23 September 1770, British Library Add. MS 27885 (AJCP ref: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-987654321)
- Availability:
- Available
- Access conditions:
- Available for reference.
Background
- Content Summary:
-
Journal of Bishop Selwyn January 1843 to March 1844 including copies of letters, details of missions, notes in the Maori language and sketches.
Journal of a voyage to Melanesia, July - November 1857. Recorded on board Southern Cross travelling to Norfolk Island, the New Hebrides, Fiji, the Solomon Islands and New Caledonia.
Correspondence of Bishop George Selwyn. Main correspondents include William Selwyn, Reverend Edward Coleridge, Reverend Edward Hawkins, Laetitia Selwyn, J.M. Herbert, Captain A.H. Markham, Archbishop William Howley, Sarah Selwyn, Reverend William Cotton. Subjects include: conditions and plans of the New Zealand Church, financial and land concerns, relations with Maori communities, education of children, journeys through the Pacific and to England, St. John's College, Maori Wars, social and domestic news.
Addresses presented to Bishop Selwyn mostly upon his departure from New Zealand in 1868.
Correspondence of Sarah Selwyn. Main correspondents include: Fanny Selwyn, Mary Palmer, Reverend Edward Coleridge, Caroline Palmer, Miss Parker, Reverend William Cotton, Sarah Cotton, Phoebe Cotton. Subjects include: Death of Reverend Thomas Whytehead, St. Johns College, Bishop Selwyn, journey and arrival in New Zealand, family and social news, receipts of gifts.
Papers of Bishop Selwyn including sketches, photographs, addresses, newspaper clippings, published material and reports.
Sermons of Bishop Selwyn delivered in Windsor, Eton and throughout New Zealand.
Miscellaneous correspondence and papers relating to Bishop Selwyn. Main correspondents include: Sir George Grey, Bishop John C. Patteson, Reverend Edward Coleridge, Reverend Charles Abraham, Reverent Hawtrey, Caroline Abraham, Reverend William Cotton, Sarah Cotton, Phoebe Cotton, Arthur Cotton, Agnes Cotton, Henry Cotton, Reverend William Dudley, Thomas Hutton, Reverend Gilbert, Mary Ann Martin. Subjects include: Arrival of Selwyn, voyages and journeys taken in the Pacific region, relations with Maori communities, Bishop Selwyn's decisions and activities, St. John's College, Norfolk Island, John Heke's attack, Wairau massacre and results, social and domestic news, missionary matters,
Letterbook. Main correspondents include: Dandeson Coates, Reverend H. Cowper, Reverend Geroge Clarke, R. Davis, Church Missionary Society, Reverend Henry Venn, Reverend Octavius Hadfield, Reverend Henry Williams, Captain George Grey, Reverend George Kissling, Reverend William Williams. Subjects include: Church Missionary Society, land purchases, money payments, missionaries, grants of land made by Maoris, Maori war and impact on missionaries, land question.
Letters patent includes appointment of George Selwyn as Bishop of New Zealand and royal letters patent.
- Biographical / Historical:
-
George Augustus Selwyn (1809-1878) was born in London, the son of William Selwyn, K.C. He was educated at Eton and St John's College, Cambridge, graduating as a B.A. in 1831 and a M.A. in 1834. He was ordained as an Anglican priest in 1834 and served in the parish of Windsor. He married Sarah Richardson in 1838. He was consecrated the first Bishop of New Zealand on 17 October 1841 and left for New Zealand in December 1841.
He was first based at Waimate, near the Bay of Islands, and immediately began the arduous journeys that were a feature of his bishopric. He moved to Auckland in 1844. In 1847-1851 he made annual cruises to the islands of Melanesia. Selwyn visited England in 1854-1855 and enlisted the services of the Reverend John Patteson, the future Bishop of Melanesia, and secured a missionary schooner, Southern Cross. In 1856-1858 the original diocese was divided into New Zealand (later Auckland), Christchurch, Waiapu, Wellington and Nelson and Selwyn was made Primate. A strong advocate of Maori rights, he was disheartened by the war which broke out in Taranaki in 1863. He attended the Lambeth Conference in 1867 and was enthroned as Bishop of Lichfield on 9 January 1868. He made a farewell visit to New Zealand in July 1868. As a memorial to his life, Selwyn College, Cambridge, was founded in 1882.
Sarah Selwyn (1809-1907) was the daughter of Sir John Richardson, a judge in the Court of Common Pleas. She married George Selwyn on 25 June 1838. Two of their sons were Anglican priests. William Selwyn (1840-1914) was the vicar of Bromfield, Salop, from 1866 to 1907 and was secretary of the English Melanesian Committee for 35 years. John Richardson Selwyn (1844-1898) joined the Melanesian Mission in 1873 and was Bishop of Melanesia from 1877 to 1890.
Charles John Abraham (1814-1903) was educated at Eton and Cambridge University and was ordained a priest in 1839. He was a master at Eton and a lecturer in divinity at St George's Chapel, Windsor. He married Caroline Palmer, a cousin of Sarah Selwyn, in 1850. They migrated to New Zealand in the same year and Abraham was appointed Master of St John's College, Auckland. He became Archdeacon of Waitemata in 1853. He visited England in 1857-1858 and was consecrated the first Bishop of Wellington in 1858. He returned to England in 1870 and was coadjutor to the Bishop of Lichfield until his retirement in 1890.
Edward Coleridge (1800-1883) was educated at Eton and Oxford University, graduating as a M.A. in 1825. He was appointed an assistant master at Eton in 1824 and lower master in 1850. In 1857 he became a fellow of Eton and rector of Mapledurham, Oxfordshire. He was the uncle of John Coleridge Patteson, the Bishop of Melanesia.
William Charles Cotton (1813-1879), the son of a businessman and philanthropist, was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, graduating in 1836. He was ordained as a priest in 1839 and was curate in the parish of Windsor in 1839-1841. He accompanied Bishop Selwyn to New Zealand in 1841-1842 and was his domestic chaplain and headmaster of the mission school at Waimate. He moved to Auckland in 1844 and established St John's College. He returned to England in 1848. He was the Rector of Frodsham, Cheshire, from 1857 until his death.
Reference: Allan K. Davidson, ed. A controversial churchman: essays on George Selwyn, Bishop of New Zealand and Lichfield, and Sarah Selwyn, Wellington, 2011.
Access and use
- Conditions Governing Access:
- Available for Access.
- Conditions Governing Use:
- Many of the records digitised as part of the AJCP are still in copy right. Readers wishing to publish or reproduce documents should seek permission, in the first instance, from the owner of the original material.
- Preferred citation:
-
Acknowledgement of use of this material should refer to the location of the original material and to the Australian Joint Copying Project.
Items from this collection should include references to the location of the original material and to the AJCP nla.obj number, which serves as the online identifier for the digital copy.
Example: M Series: Journal of Capt. James Cook, 18 February-23 September 1770, British Library Add. MS 27885 (AJCP ref: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-987654321)
- Location of this collection:
-
Parkes PlaceCanberra ACT 2600, Australia
- Contact: