Letters from Edmund Hobhouse to his family in England, 1858-1864

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File 1

Content Summary:

The bulk of the letters were sent to Hobhouse's sister, Eliza Hobhouse. There are also single letters to his brothers Henry and Reginald, Rev. David Williams (Warden of New College, Oxford), and Rev. E.H. Hansell. Some of the original letters are missing, but there are typed transcripts of all the letters, typed extracts from some letters, and occasional notes by Dorothy Hobhouse.

The letters describe the voyage to Australia on the Collingwood, including landings at Malta and Egypt, conditions on the ship, his arrival in New Zealand, the state of the Church in the Nelson district, visits to Maori pahs and gold diggings, the isolation of the clergy, the first diocesan synod, recruitment of clergy and the appointment of lay readers, the acquisition of books, family news, his household, travels to the remoter regions of the South Island, meetings with settlers, living conditions on sheep stations, the arrival of Rev. R.H. Codrington (1860), the causes of the Maori War and its effects on religious progress, the new province of Marlborough, the purchase of the west coast by the Crown and the extinction of native title, the condition of the Diocese of Nelson (April 1861), the views of Bishop C.J. Abraham on Maori matters, financial transactions, the provincial synod, the creation of the Melanesian Mission by Bishop G.A. Selwyn, Hobhouse's concern that extracts from private letters were published in England, his resignation as bishop and his determination to remain in the diocese.

(43 items).

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