Wakefield, EDWARD GIBBON

Wakefield, EDWARD GIBBON, born in London 20th March 1796, was in 1826 imprisoned for abducting a young lady and marrying her at Gretna Green. During his imprisonment he studied colonial questions with zeal, and after his liberation assisted in the colonisation of South Australia. He was private secretary to Lord Durham in Canada in 1838, but is best known for his services as manager of the New Zealand Association. He was a founder of the High Church colony of Canterbury, where he died, 16th May 1862. See his Life by N. Garnett (1898).