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SIR WILLIAM FOX (1812-1893)

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Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 768 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SIR See also:WILLIAM See also:FOX (1812-1893)  , New See also:Zealand statesman, third son of See also:George See also:Townshend See also:Fox, See also:deputy-See also:lieutenant for See also:Durham See also:county, was See also:born in See also:England on the 9th of See also:June 1812, and educated at Wadham See also:College, See also:Oxford, where he took his degree in 1832, Called to the See also:bar in 1842, he emigrated immediately thereafter to New Zealand, where, on the See also:death of See also:Captain See also:Arthur See also:Wakefield, killed in 1843 in the Wairau See also:massacre, he became the New Zealand See also:Company's See also:agent for the See also:South See also:Island . While holding this position he made a memorable exploring See also:march on See also:foot from See also:Nelson to See also:Canterbury, through Cannibal See also:Gorge, in the course of which he discovered the fertile See also:pastoral See also:country of Amuri . In 1848 See also:Governor See also:Grey made Fox See also:attorney-See also:general, but he gave up the See also:post almost at once in See also:order to join the agitation, then at its height, for a See also:free constitu-tion . As the See also:political agent of the See also:Wellington settlers he sailed to See also:London in 1850 to urge their demands in See also:Downing See also:Street . The colonial See also:office, however, refused to recognize him, and, after See also:publishing a See also:sketch of the New Zealand settlements, The Six Colonies of New Zealand, and travelling in the See also:United States, he returned to New Zealand and again threw himself with See also:energy into public affairs . When See also:government by responsible ministers was at last initiated, in 1856, Fox ousted the first See also:ministry and formed a See also:cabinet, only to be himself beaten in turn after holding office but thirteen days . In 1861 he regained office, and was somewhat more fortunate, for he remained premier for nearly thirteen months . Again, in the latter See also:part of 1863 he took office: this See also:time with See also:Sir See also:Frederick See also:Whitaker as premier, an arrangement which endured for another thirteen months . Fox's third premier-See also:ship began in 1869 and lasted until 1872 . His See also:fourth, which was a See also:matter of temporary convenience to his party, lasted only five See also:weeks in March and See also:April 1873 . Soon afterwards he See also:left politics, and, though he reappeared after some years and led the attack which overthrew Sir George Grey's ministry in 1879, he lost his seat in the See also:dissolution which followed in that See also:year and did not again enter See also:parliament . He was made K.C.M.G. in 1880 .

For the See also:

thirty years between 185o and 188o Sir See also:William Fox was one of the See also:half-dozen most notable public men in the See also:colony . Impulsive and controversial, a fluent and rousing See also:speaker, and a ready writer, his warm and sympathetic nature made him a See also:good friend and a troublesome foe . He was, considered for many years to be the most dangerous See also:leader of the Opposition in the colony's parliament, though as premier he was at a disadvantage when measured against more patient and more astute party managers . His activities were first devoted to secure self-government for the New Zealand colonists . Afterwards his sympathies made him prominent among the champions of the See also:Maori See also:race, and he laboured indefatigably for their rights and to secure permanent See also:peace with the tribes and a just See also:settlement of their claims . It was during his third premiership that this peace, so See also:long deferred, was at last gained, mainly through the See also:influence and skill of Sir Donald M'Lean, native See also:minister in the Fox cabinet . Finally, after Fox had left parliament he devoted himself, as See also:joint-See also:commissioner with Sir See also:Francis See also:Dillon See also:Bell, to the See also:adjustment of the native See also:land-claims on the See also:west See also:coast of the See also:North Island . The able reports of the commissioners were his last public service, and the carrying out of their recommendations gradually removed the last serious native trouble in New Zealand . When, however, in the course of the native See also:wars from 186o to 1870 the colonists of New Zealand were exposed to cruel and unjust imputations in England, Fox zealously defended them in a See also:book, The See also:War in New Zealand (1866), which was not only a spirited vindication of his See also:fellow-settlers, but a scathing See also:criticism of the generalship of the See also:officers commanding the imperial troops in New Zealand . Throughout his See also:life Fox was a consistent See also:advocate of See also:total See also:abstinence . It was he who founded the New Zealand See also:Alliance, and he undoubtedly aided the growth of the See also:prohibition See also:movement after-wards so strong in the colony . He died on the 23rd of June 1893, exactly twelve months after his wife, Sarah, daughter of William Halcombe .

(W . P .

End of Article: SIR WILLIAM FOX (1812-1893)
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