- Born:
- March 20, 1796, London, Eng.
- Died:
- May 16, 1862, Wellington, N.Z. (aged 66)
Edward Gibbon Wakefield
-
Who was Edward Gibbon Wakefield?
Edward Gibbon Wakefield (1796â1862) was a British colonizer of South Australia and New Zealand, who inspired the Durham Report (1839) on Canadian colonial policy.
While in prison for abducting an heiress, Wakefield concluded that low-cost settlement of ordinary citizens (not convicts) would best solve British poverty and crime. In A Letter from Sydney . . . (1829), he proposed selling crown lands at a "sufficient price" to fund emigration from Great Britain.
Wakefield's ideas influenced the South Australian Act of 1834, which forbade convict settlements and incorporated the "sufficient price" concept to subsidize immigration. He also influenced the formation of the New Zealand Association in 1837, hastening British annexation of New Zealand.
1 Britannica SourceCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What was Edward Gibbon Wakefield's main role as a British colonial administrator?
Edward Gibbon Wakefield was not primarily a British colonial administrator but rather a colonizer whose ideas significantly influenced British colonial policies in South Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.
Wakefield advocated for the controlled settlement of ordinary citizens in colonies to address poverty and crime. His "sufficient price" concept, where crown lands were sold at a fixed price to fund emigration, was applied in New South Wales and influenced the South Australian Act of 1834, which forbade convict settlements. He also formed the New Zealand Association in 1837, hastening British annexation. Additionally, Wakefield's ideas influenced the Durham Report on Canadian colonial policy, advocating for a union of Upper and Lower Canada.
1 Britannica SourceCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
Which countries did Wakefield help colonize?
Edward Gibbon Wakefield was instrumental in the colonization efforts of South Australia and New Zealand. His theories on systematic colonization, which involved selling crown lands at a "sufficient price" to fund emigration, influenced the South Australian Act of 1834. This act led to the founding of South Australia as a colony that did not use convict labor.
Wakefield also formed the New Zealand Association in 1837, which later merged to become the New Zealand Company. His brother William led a party to New Zealand in 1839 to purchase land from the MÄori, which ultimately hastened British annexation of New Zealand.
1 Britannica SourceCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What was Wakefieldâs theory for settling new colonies?
Edward Gibbon Wakefield advocated for a theory of "systematic colonization" in 1829. This theory involved synchronizing land sales at fixed prices with the introduction of capital and labor. Wakefield aimed to make emigration more appealing to ordinary British citizens and to eliminate the association of Australian colonization with convict labor.
Wakefield proposed selling crown lands in small units at a "sufficient price" to fund emigration from Great Britain. Emigrants were to be equally divided by sex and represent a cross-section of English society. Regulations embodying the "sufficient price" concept were later applied to New South Wales and Cape Colony.
2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
How did Wakefieldâs ideas influence the development of Australia and New Zealand?
Edward Gibbon Wakefield significantly shaped the development of Australia and New Zealand through his colonization theories. While imprisoned, Wakefield developed the idea that poverty and crime in Britain could be solved by settling ordinary citizens in colonies South Australia and New Zealand. He advocated for selling crown lands at a "sufficient price" to finance the emigration of a balanced cross-section of British society.
Wakefield's ideas influenced the South Australian Act of 1834, which promoted subsidized immigration and forbade convict settlements. He also formed the New Zealand Association in 1837, which later merged to become the New Zealand Company. This hastened British annexation, potentially preventing France from claiming the territory.
1 Britannica SourceCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What criticisms have historians made about Wakefield's approach to colonization?
Historians have noted that Edward Gibbon Wakefieldâs colonization theories, specifically his concept of a "sufficient price" for land, aimed to solve social problems by enabling controlled, low-cost settlement of ordinary citizens, not convicts, in colonies such as South Australia and New Zealand. This approach sought to address poverty and crime resulting from rapid population growth in Britain and to make emigration more appealing to ordinary British citizens.
However, Wakefield's schemes also faced legal and moral objections, especially concerning land acquisition from native populations like the Maori in New Zealand. His "systematic colonization" in South Australia, while intended to synchronize land sales with the introduction of capital and labor, suffered from administrative ambiguities and severe factional bickering, leading to a financial crisis in 1841â42 that necessitated British government intervention.
2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Edward Gibbon Wakefield (born March 20, 1796, London, Eng.âdied May 16, 1862, Wellington, N.Z.) was a British colonizer of South Australia and New Zealand and inspirer of the Durham Report (1839) on Canadian colonial policy.
In 1814 Wakefield became secretary to the British minister at Turin, Italy, and in 1816 he married. His wife died in 1820, and in 1826, while on the staff of the British embassy in Paris, he tricked a young heiress into marrying him. Wakefield was tried and convicted of abduction and sentenced to three yearsâ imprisonment, and the marriage was dissolved by an act of Parliament. While confined in Newgate Prison, London, Wakefield saw firsthand the immense problems of the penal system and learned of the forcible removal of convicts to British overseas possessions, where squalid and often brutal conditions prevailed. He concluded that the controlled low-cost settlement of ordinary citizens (not convicts) in the colonies would best solve the problems of poverty and crime caused by the sharp increase in the British population. In his first important book, A Letter from Sydney . . . (published in 1829 while he was still in prison), which was thought by many to have come from Australia, he proposed the sale of crown lands there in small units at a âsufficient priceâ (fixed and modest), rather than the granting of large tracts free. The proceeds would pay for sending emigrants from Great Britain, who were to be equally divided by sex and to represent a cross-section of English society.
In 1831 regulations embodying the âsufficient priceâ concept were applied to New South Wales (originally settled by convicts) in Australia and to Cape Colony in southern Africa. Further, Wakefieldâs anonymous England and America . . ., 2 vol. (1833), an elaboration of his theories, influenced the South Australian Act of 1834, which forbade the organization of South Australia as a convict settlement and incorporated the notion of the âsufficient priceâ for subsidizing immigration. The colony was founded Dec. 28, 1836.
Through Wakefieldâs influence, the New Zealand Association was formed in 1837; it was amalgamated with two other groups in 1838 as the New Zealand Company. On Sept. 24, 1839, a party headed by his brother William Wakefield arrived in New Zealand to buy land from the native Maori. Legal and moral objections were raised, but the land companyâs activities doubtless hastened the British annexation of New Zealand and may have forestalled a similar move by France.
Meanwhile, in 1838, Wakefield had spent five months in Canada as unofficial adviser to John George Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, the governor general and lord high commissioner, whose chief secretary, Charles Buller, was an enthusiast for Wakefieldâs ideas. Durhamâs Report on the Affairs of British North America (submitted to Parliament on Jan. 31, 1839) advocated the union of Upper Canada (Ontario) and Lower Canada (Quebec) under a single legislature to which, as Wakefield had urged, the colonial Executive Council would be responsible. Wakefieldâs encouragement and ideas influenced Durham in writing the report. In the new Canadian legislature Wakefield briefly represented Beauharnois, Que., and he planned the Beauharnois Canal on the St. Lawrence River.
Subsequently, Wakefield projected a Church of England settlement, Canterbury, on the South Island of New Zealand. Between 1847 and 1850, the bulk of the âCanterbury Pilgrimsâ emigrated there, and on Feb. 2, 1853, Wakefield himself reached New Zealand. He became a member of the General Assembly there, but lived in retirement following a breakdown in December 1854.