William Fox
William Fox was an influential figure in New Zealand's early political landscape, born on January 20, 1812, in County Durham, England. After completing his education at Oxford and briefly practicing law, he emigrated to New Zealand in 1842, where he initially encountered disillusionment with colonial life. Fox became a journalist, writing for local newspapers and later rising to the position of principal agent for the New Zealand Company. His political career began in 1852 following the establishment of self-governance, leading to multiple terms as premier and various roles in parliament.
Fox was known for advocating for Māori rights, proposing reforms that allowed for greater political involvement of Māori people, though he also supported land purchases for European settlers. His tenure was marked by significant challenges, including conflicts over land and governance. After retiring from politics in 1881, he became an advocate for temperance and women's suffrage. Fox passed away on June 23, 1893, and his legacy is commemorated through geographical features and his contributions to New Zealand's development, as well as his artistic endeavors as a painter.
William Fox
Politician
- Born: January 20, 1812
- Birthplace: Westoe, England (now South Shields, England)
- Died: June 23, 1893
- Place of death: Auckland, New Zealand
Significance: William Fox was a politician who served in New Zealand’s Parliament and was premier four times.
Background
William Fox was born on January 20, 1812, in Westoe, County Durham, England, to Ann Stote Crofton Fox and George Townshend Fox. He grew up in County Durham, where he attended grammar school. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Wadham College, Oxford, in 1832. In 1838, he studied law at the Inner Temple, London, and was called to the bar in April 1842.
Journalist and Political Critic
Fox was a supporter of Edward Gibbon Wakefield, who had founded the New Zealand Company with the goal of colonizing New Zealand. In 1842, Fox wrote a pamphlet, Colonization and New Zealand, that idealized the colony and portrayed it as a destination to fulfil one’s dreams. He and his wife emigrated to New Zealand and arrived in Wellington in November 1842. There Fox realized the colony did not meet his expectations. Denied the opportunity to practice law due to his refusal to take a good-conduct oath required by the chief justice, Fox began writing for two newspapers, the Wellington Spectator and the New Zealand Gazette, and became the editor of the latter. He used the papers as a platform to express his opinions about the shortcomings of the colony and its administration.
In September 1843, Fox became the New Zealand Company’s agent in Nelson after Wakefield’s son, Arthur, was killed in a conflict with Māoris at Wairau. Wakefield alleviated settlers’ dissatisfaction with the settlement by devising a scheme that gave them small land plots and part-time employment. In 1848, after Edward Wakefield’s death, Fox became the principal agent of the New Zealand Company and took control of it. The company was declining and Fox spent most of his time settling land distribution issues and accounts. He continued his attacks on the colonial system of government. He also criticized Governor George Grey for failing to support self-government.
Fox traveled to London in 1851 to lobby for Wellington settlers in regard to the proposed constitution. He was credited with the creation of a sixth province, New Plymouth, but failed to gain greater local autonomy. In London, he published The Six Colonies of New Zealand (1851), which combined a description of the colonies with a screed against colonial administration, particularly in terms of its Māori policy. Fox supported Māori assimilation into European settlements and the purchase of Māori land for those settlements. The book raised his public profile in Auckland while also intensifying his rivalry with members of the government.
Political Career
Fox entered the government following the enactment of the Constitution of 1852, which granted New Zealand self-government. He was elected to a seat on the Wellington Provincial Council in 1854. In November 1855, he was elected to the House of Representatives for Wanganui. He served until May 1860 and, with the exception of absences between elections, served in Parliament through 1881.
Fox, a provincialist leader, opposed the administration of New Zealand’s first premier, Henry Sewell, who sought a balance between centralism and provincialism. Sewell’s premiership lasted about two weeks, from May 7 to May 20, 1856, when Fox moved dissolve Sewell’s ministry and then became premier himself. Fox’s first premiership would be even briefer than Sewell’s, however; it ended a little more than a week later on June 2, when Fox was succeeded by Edward William Stafford.
In 1859, Fox became the commissioner of Crown lands for Wellington. As commissioner, he supported expanded land purchases for settlers, but opposed forcing Māori to sell their land. In the 1860 Parliament, Fox unofficially led the opposition against Stafford, which voted him out through a no-confidence motion. Fox subsequently became premier for a second term on July 12, 1861. During this ministry, he proposed a temporary halt on Māori land purchases and introduced Māori assemblies, which provided partial indirect rule in Māori districts. His plan to allow Māoris to have more political control was overridden by Governor George Grey when he ordered the construction of a road through the Waikato region and moved troops to its border. Fear of an impending war with Māoris led to Fox’s ministry being defeated in August 1862.
Fox joined Frederick Whitaker’s ministry in October 1863 as colonial secretary and also served as leader of the House of Representatives. War had broken out a few months earlier, and Whitaker’s administration confiscated nearly three million acres of Māori land. Fox later justified the land confiscations in the 1866 revised edition of his 1860 work The War in New Zealand.
Reelected to Parliament as the member for Rangitikei in 1868, Fox became premier again on June 28, 1869, and appointed Julius Vogel his colonial treasurer. As the dominant figure in this ministry, Vogel attempted to implement a policy of economic development based on overseas borrowing. Vogel’s policy was opposed by the House, however, and Fox’s ministry fell on October 11, 1872. On March 3, 1873, Fox briefly led a caretaker government after Premier George Waterhouse’s unexpected resignation. He was replaced on April 8, 1973 by Stafford.
Fox resigned from Parliament in March 1875 and then was re-elected to Parliament as the member for Wanganui in September 1876, a seat he held until August 1879. From May 1880 to November 1881, he was the member for Rangitikei.
After Fox retired from politics in 1881, he advocated for temperance and women’s suffrage. He died in Auckland on June 23, 1893.
Impact
Fox was honored for his contributions to the early political development of New Zealand by having Fox Peak, Fox Glacier, and the town of Foxton named after him. He is also remembered for his work as a member of the West Coast Commission in 1880 in restoring more than 250,000 acres of land taken from the Taranaki Māori.
In addition to being a politician, Fox was a painter whose watercolors of New Zealand landscapes are in the collections of the Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington and the Hocken Library in Dunedin.
Personal Life
Fox and Sarah Halcomb married in 1842. The Foxes had one child, Wiremu Pokiha Omahura, whom they adopted when they were in their sixties. Sarah Fox died in 1892, about a year before Fox.
Bibliography
Bulovic, Annette. “Sir William Fox (1812–1839).” Discover the Delights in Peeling Back History, 10 July 2013. www.peelingbackhistory.co.nz/sir-william-fox-1812-1893/. Accessed 15 June 2020.
“Fox, Sir William.” A Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, Vol. 1, edited by G. H. Scholefield, 1940, pp. 273–279. New Zealand History,nzhistory.govt.nz/files/documents/dnzb-1940/scholefield-dnzb-v1.pdf. Accessed 15 June 2020.
Sinclair, Keith, and Raewyn Dalziel. “Fox, William.” Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, 1990. Te Ara—The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/1f15/fox-william. Accessed 15 June 2020.
Sotheran, Cheryll. “The Later Paintings of William Fox.” Art New Zealand, Spring 1975, www.art-newzealand.com/Issues11to20/fox.htm. Accessed 15 June 2020.
Stephens, Joy. “William Fox (1812–1839).” The Prow, 9 Apr. 2020, www.theprow.org.nz/people/william-fox-1812-189/#.Xn6AkC2ZNmp. Accessed 26 May 2020.