and then moved into Onehunga and practised his profession. He took a great interest in local affairs, and on the retirement of Stark (q.v.) was elected to the Provincial Council for Onehunga. At the following election he was defeated by O'Rorke (1869), but at once entered the lists for the Northern Division and was elected. Gillies called upon him to lead the executive, in which he was provincial secre- tary and treasurer from Dec 1869 to the end of 1870, when failing health compelled him to retire. He retired from the Council in 1873 and died on 8 Jan 1875. Nicholson was a strong advocate of total abstinence and held high office in the Good Templars.
Auckland P.C. Proc.; N.Z. Herald, 9 Jan 1875. NICHOLSON, THOMAS DICKSON (1817- 64), who came from Freeth, Scotland, was a minister of the Free Church, and was at Lo- wick, England, when he was appointed by the Colonial committee to Nelson. He sailed in the John Wickliffe in 1848 and preached at the emigration barracks at Dunedin on 9 Apr 1848. In Jun he reached Nelson, where he was received by M. Campbell (q.v.), who had al- ready organised the Nelson School Society. Nicholson's wife died in 1856, and in 1857 he resigned the Nelson charge and became Pres- byterian minister for the Wairau district. He settled at Renwicktown, and was responsible for the building of the first church, and for the charge of a wide district, including Picton, the Awatere valley, and He died on 16 Jul 1864.
Dickson (p); Arnold; Marlborough Express, 1 Sep 1937.
NICHOLSON
bravery and devotion to duty dur- ing an attack, when he led a detachment for- ward and captured an enemy strong-point and a machine-gun post with all its crew. He was killed in action on 23 Oct 1918.
N.Z. Army records; Ferguson, History of the Cant. Regiment,1921 (p); Stewart, Official History of New Zealand's Effort in the Great France, 1921; London Gaz., 8 Jan 1918,II Mar 1919; N.Z. Press Association, 12 Jan 1918.
NICHOLAS, JOHN LIDDIARD was born in England, and came to New South Wales in Earl Spencer in 1814, intending to enter into business there. He became acquainted with Samuel Marsden and accompanied him on his first visit to New Zealand in the Active in Nov 1814. About 1817 Nicholas returned to England and in that year published his Narrative
of
a Voyage to New Zealand, which is one of the most authoritative works on that period of New Zealand history. In 1820 he saw a good deal of Tuhi and Titore. He gave evidence before the House of Lords committee on New Zealand in 1838.NICHOLLS, CHARLES HENRY SINDERBY (1814-88) was born in England and educated there. Having been ordained by Dr Langley (afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury), he was for 12 years engaged in clerical and scho- lastic pursuits in Leeds under Dr Farquhar Hook, vicar of St Peter's. He was very suc- cessful as a teacher, but in 1852, owing to iII- health, he came to Lyttelton in the Stag. Short- ly afterwards he settled in Wanganui, where he was for a time curate of Christ Church and had charge of the industrial school for Maori children in avenue, which was after- wards merged in Wanganui Collegiate school. He was for 20 years engaged in Wanganui parish and as chaplain to the troops. About 1871 Nicholls moved to Upper Hutt, where he was curate of St John's for 10 years before retiring. He was a good preacher, and a sound English scholar. He died on 11 Jan 1888.
G. V. Kendrick,Parochial DistrictofUpper Hutt, 1935; Woon (p); N'z. Times,26 Jan 1888. NICHOLSON, JOHN ROBINSON (1831-75) was born at Redditch, Worcestershire. Mter qualifying as a medical practitioner he came to New Zealand and for the benefit of his health took up land at Ararimu, north Auck- NICHOLAS
schooner, the Albert, to the order of Governor FitzRoy. In 1845 he built the brig Krankin for W. S. Grahame, in 1846 the Undine for R. C. Barstow and in 1850 the 90-ton schooner His partner (Sharp) having died the early fifties, carried on the bus- iness alone, building many small vessels for the coastal and intercolonial trade and for the Government of Tonga, including the Albatross (in which Earl Pembroke cruised in the Pa- cific), the Novelty barque for the Circular Saw line; and theEclipse topsail schooner.
In 1864 removed his yard to North Shore, where he laid down a patent slip, the only one then in the colony. There he built his first steamer, the Southern Cross 300 tons and many more trading vessels and 'yachts, cluding the Waitangi, which won the commo- dore's challenge cup at Port Jackson. Alto- gether by 1887 he had built 181 vessels, aggre- gating 10,519 tons. Niccol was a member of the first Auckland harbour board and chair- man of the Devonport highway board. He died on 9 Nov 1887.
His son, MALCOLM NiccOL (1844-1925) who was born in Auckland, and educated at Gor- rie's school, was in business as a chandler, ship- broker and agent. He was a member of many local bodies, five times mayor of Devonport be- tween 1882 and 1902, and 20 years a member of the Auckland harbour board (six years cIlairman). For 60 years a freemason, he was grand secretary (1900-21). Niccol died on 27 Jul 1925.
N.Z. Herald, Jun, II Nov 1887; 28 Ju1 1925; Barclay; Who's Who 1924; Cye!. N,Z., ii (p). NICHOLAS, HENRY JAMES (1891-1918) was born at Lincoln, Canterbury, the son of Rich- ard Nicholas. He was educated at the Normal and East Christchurch schools; served his ap- prenticeship to a builder in Christchurch, aud worked for four years at that trade in Aus- tralia. He was a keen sportsman and a suc- cessful amateur boxer. In 1916 he enlisted in the 1st field company New Zealand Engineers, and on reaching Europe was drafted to the Canterbury in France. (Lance- sergeant, Mar 1918; sergeant, Jun). Nicholas received the Military Medal for gallantry. Later he showed exceptional valour and cool- ness under fire, and was awarded the V.C. for
NIKORIMA
married a sister of a Ngaiterangi chief. Edu- cated at the Rev B. Y. Ashwell's school at Taupiri, he became a farmer, and later until 1872 a native interpreter and agent. He was a member of the first Ohinemuri county coun- cil for nine years (five years chairman). In 1913 Nikora was called to the Legislative Council, of which he was a member when he died (15 Jul 1915).
N.Z.P.D., 16 Ju1 1915.
NIKORIMA TE RANGI·NOHO·IHO (?-1876), one of the last of the old chiefs of Tara- naki, traced a distinguished line of ancestry back to Ao-nui. His hapu were Ngati-Hau- mia aud Nga-Ruahine. He is said to have lived in the time of Captain Cook. His first note- worthy expedition was under the leadership of Te Rangi-i-Runga at Patupohue, where he is said to have killed two men. Later, under the same leader, he killed three men at Te Ahoroa (Hingakaka, Waiapu). At the battle of Rewa- rewa in 1805 he took prisoner the Ngamotu chief Takarangi. He himself escaped severely wounded from the fight at Tawhiri-Ketetahi. Being surprised in the Pukekohatu pa with only a few children, the men and women being away, he putitin a state of defence and threw down the ladder to prevent the entrance of the enemy, who thereupon retired. Nikorima died on 27 Jul 1876.
S. P. Smith, Taranaki.
NIXON, MARMADUKE GEORGE
was born at Valetta, Malta, where his father was town major, and educated at Sandhurst. He got his ensigncy in the 39th in 1831. (Lieutenant 1834; captain 1838; bre-
vet-major major 1846.) He
served in India, being present at the Coorg campaign (1834) and at Maharajpur (1843). Being unable financially to continue in the army, he retired in 1851 and came to New Zealand in the Cresswell (1852).
Acting on the advice of Colonel Haultain, Nixon took up land at Tautauroa, Man- gere, and had to encounter most of the troubles of pioneering. In 1860 he was gazetted lieut.- colonel commanding the Royal Cavalry volun- teers, which he helped to raise for the protec- tion of the settlements at Otahuhu, Panmure and Howick, and the line of the Tamaki from the Waitemata to the Manukau. In 1861 he
NOLAN
was elected to Parliament for Franklin, whicll he represented until his death. When fighting commenced in Waikato, Nixon was entrusted with raising a mounted defence force, which he commanded in the field, taking part in all the early fighting. He was mortally wounded at the battle of Rangiaowhia (21 Feb 1864), while leading his men at the storming of huts garrisoned by Kingites. He died on 27 May.
Family information from Miss A. E. Hewett; (p); Cowan, i; Otahuhu Borough Coun- cil (diamond jubilee); Taranaki Herald, 8 May 1863; Southern Cross, 14 May 1868; N.Z. Herald, 28 1864.
NOLAN, SIR ROBERT HOWARD (1855- 1923) was born at Bathurst, New South Wales, the son of David Nolan (1828-1901, of London- derry and Auckland). Educated at Wesley College and Auckland College and Grammar school, he went to the Thames goldfields, where he built and operated the Eglinton battery. Returning to Auckland, he entered the ware- house of McArthur and Co., whom he repre- sented for some years in the South Sea islands and afterwards in New Zealand. He was one of the early members of the Pakuranga hunt club and attended most of its meetings.
In 1880 Nolan established an auctioneering and stock agency business in Hawera (in whi"ch he was joined later byA. S. Tonks). The bus- iness prospered and Nolan took a leading part in the life of the district. He was secretary for many years (to 1889) and afterwards pre- sident of the Egmont Racing club; judge for the Patea and Waverley and Waitotara clubs, and secretary of the Egmont hunt club. He represented Taranaki district clubs on the rac- ing conference, and was one of the first appeal judges in New Zealand racing. As a volunteer Nolan was a lieutenant in the Hawera He was chairman of the Mokoia domain board before it was taken over by the government, chairman of the Hawera Gas Co. and a di- rector of the permanent building society. No- lan married (1882) Octavia, daughter of Major D. S. Durie (q.v.). Mter retiring from bus- iness he spent some years in London. During the great war he managed a soldiers' club in Bloomsbury and was an untiring official of the New Zealand War Contingent Association. Created C.B.E. in 1918, he was knighted in Jun 1923 and died on 13 Jul (his widow
"I
NOPERA
being granted the style and title of 'Lady.') Cycl. N.2., vi (p); Chadwick; Who's Who N.Z., 1924; N.2. Herald, 11Jan 1901, 14 Jul 1923. NOPERA, NGAKUKU PANAKAREAO (?- 1856), a chief of Te Patu hapu of Rarawa and of Aupouri, was the son of Te Kaka, a brave and influential chief who was driven from his lands at Oruru and took refuge in the Three Kings islands. His son took the name 'Pana Kareao' from an incident of the flight when Te Kaka was tangled in the vines and almost captured. With a Rarawa and Aupouri con- tingent, Panakareao accompanied Titore against the Thames tribes in 1831-33 and car- ried on a separate campaign as far as Whaka- tane, where he suffered a repulse at the hands of the Ngati-Awa. A mission station was es- tablished at Kaitaia in 1833, and shortly after- wards Panakareao's wife (later baptised as Eleonora) was converted. This masterful woman was one of the three women who signed the Treaty of Waitangi.
Panakareao having adopted Christianity, was a practical missionary, carrying the Bible from village to village and urging the tribes to adopt the new faith. In 1837 he complained to Bus- by of the conduct of the Ngapuhi fighting in Busby's presence. He asked for a resident and soldiers at Kaitaia. Hobson was much im- pressed by his civilised and cleanly mode of life and fine manners. His speech in favour of the Treaty carried the meeting at Kaitaia.
In the earliest days of British sovereignty Panakareao reoccupied his tribal lands, and sold a large area to Hobson. This led in Apr 1843 to renewed fighting with Heke, against whom Panakareao built a pa. Eventually the missionaries settled the dispute and he with- drew and settled again at Kaitaia. Bishop Sel- wyn also was impressed by the Christian spirit of Nopera, the neat little church in which he regularly attended service, by his observ- ance of family prayers. Nevertheless Nopera did not enjoy the full confidence of the mis- sionaries. At the time of the outbreak at Bay of Islands in 1845 his influence prevented the Whangaroa and Kaitaia chiefs from allowing their people to go to the Bay, and obviated the widening of the trouble. He himself ren- dered valuable service in the field. Colonel Despard found him shrewd, sensible, thought-
NORMANBY
ful and deliberate in his judgment. Nopera died on 12 Apr 1856 from cold contracted by riding twice through a swollen stream.
G.B.D.P., Buller; Carleton; Buick, Waitangi; W. Williams.
NORMANBY, GEORGE AUGUSTUS CON· STANTINE PHIPPS, 2nd marquis of (1819- 90), was the son of the Ist marquis. At the age of 19 entered the Scots Fusilier Guards, with which he served in Canada. He resigned his commission in 1847 was elected Lib- eral member for Scarborough, a seat which he held for II years. He was a whip during three administrations, and was Controller of the Household (1851), treasurer of the Royal Household (1853-58) and a member of the Privy Council. In 1858 he was appointed lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia, a position he filled until 1863, when on succeeding to his father's title he returned to England.
In 1871 Normanby was appointed Gover- nor of Queensland. Three years later, having been created a K.C.M.G., he was appointed Governor of New Zealand. He assumed the administration on 3 Dec 1874. He was a mali of considerable experience, who appeared to be indolent and good-natured, with little abil- ity and an indisposition for trouble and respon- sibility. A series of constitutional disputes de- monstrated, on the contrary, that he had clear perception, good political knowledge and a strict sense of public duty. He saw the pro- vinces abolished, the counties established and the education act passed-a very revolutionary programme for those days. He had no disputes at all with Vogel, Pollen and Atkinson; but when Grey came into office it was soon clear that there would be constant friction between these two strong personalities. Every step in the conquest of ministerial supremacy the governor was watched with interest both in New Zealand and other self-governing col- onies. Knowing thoroughly the rules by which governors were then guided, Normanby was not disposed to seek the line of least resistance. Grey at an early stage asked for a dissolution, on the ground that the House had been elected (two years earlier) under the auspices of the Atkinson Government, and was not likely to enablehim to carry out his policy. Normanby contended that an election would not produce any considerable change in the House. A vote
NORRIE
of censure was passed on _the Governor by the House for refusing to make an appointment to the Legislative Council when a vote of no- confidence was pending. Grey and his col- leagues held that the Governor had no right to take cognisance of a matter which was being agitated in the lower house as a reason for de- clining to act on the advice of his ministers. When Normanby asked what reply he should make to this resolution, the ministry declined to give any advice or to accept his suggestion that, failing such advice, they should resign. In both these cases the Secretary of State up- held the Governor, but he was advised to con· sider carefully the views of his ministers. In Dec 1877 Grey advised the Governor not to assent to the land bill which had originated with the previous Government but had been passed in the session just concluded (after Grey took office). Normanby refused on the reasonable ground that Grey should have taken the responsibility of defeating the bill in Par- liament. Grey and Normanby were in conflict during the whole time they were working to- gether. Grey accused the Governor of treat- ing his ministers not as advisers but as ser- vants.
Normanby was created G.C.M.G. in 1877. He left New Zealand on 21 Feb 1879, having been appointed to the governorship of Vic- toria. There again he was involved in some- what similar disputes with ministers-a pheno- menon of the times. It was proposed to ap- point him thereafter to South Australia, but a protest was made in that colony. Conse- quently he returned to England (1884) and retired from public life, being rewarded with the G.C.B. He died on 3 Apr 1890. Norman- by married (1844) Laura, daughter of Cap- tain Robert Russell, R.N.
App. H.R.,1877 A7; 1878 AI, A2, A4;N.z. Gaz., 1878, pass.; Gisbome (p); Saunders; Rusden; Dilke; Des Voeux, i, 145-6; Keith; Hight and Bamford; The Times, 4 Apr 1890. Portrait: Par- liament House; Government House, Wellington. NORRIE, THOMAS (1825-1905) born at Montrose. He was a fellow student at Edin- burgh with the Revs David Bruce and William Will (q.v.). Being licensed to preach, he was appointed assistant in the parish of Tolbooth, Edinburgh. Ordained in 1855 by the Free Church presbytery of Brechin, he married Eliza
NORTH
Angus Stevens (d. 1898) and sailed in tlle Joseph Fletcher for Auckland, arriving in Oct. Having first preached in the Wesleyan chapel, Norrie received a call and was appointed to have charge of the district south of Auckland, which included Papakura, Drury and Wairoa. He lived in Drury until a manse was built (1860). The Waikato war breaking out and extending into the heart of his district, he became a military chaplain, and saw a great deal of service attending to the spiritual wants of settlers and soldiers. He held a ser- vice at the camp at Rangiriri on 22 Nov 1863, after the battle. His church at Pukekohe was centre of hard fighting in Sep. Norrie died on 11 May 1905.
Dickson (p); N.Z. Herald, 12 May 1905. NORRIE, WILLIAM was born in 1843 in Scot- land, and educated at Greenock Academy and Glasgow and Edinburgh Universities, gradua- ting M.A. high honours in classics. He taught at Greenock Academy, the Edinburgh Institution and Merchiston Castle School. In 1875 he was classical master in Dr A. H. Bryce's collegiate school in Edinburgh, when he was