SIR GEORGE GRAY (1812–1898) – Governor and Premier
Sir George Grey, KCB (14 April 1812 – 19 September 1898) was a British soldier, explorer, colonial administrator and writer. He served in a succession of governing positions: Governor of South Australia, twice Governor of New Zealand, Governor of Cape Colony, and the 11th premier of New Zealand. He played a key role in the colonisation of New Zealand, and both the purchase and annexation of Māori land.
Grey was the most influential figure during the European settlement of New Zealand. Governor of New Zealand initially from 1845 to 1853, he was Governor during the initial stages of the New Zealand Wars. Learning Māori to fluency, he became a scholar of Māori culture, and wrote a study of Māori mythology and oral history. He developed a cordial relationship with the powerful rangatira Potatau Te Wherowhero of Tainui, in order to deter Ngāpuhi from invading Auckland. He was knighted in 1848. In 1854, Grey was appointed Governor of Cape Colony in South Africa, where his resolution of hostilities between indigenous South Africans and European settlers was praised by both sides. After separating from his wife and developing a severe opium addiction, Grey was again appointed Governor of New Zealand in 1861, three years after Te Wherowhero, who had established himself the first Māori King in Grey’ absence, had died. The Kiingitanga posed a significant challenge to the British push for sovereignty, and with his Ngāpuhi absent from the movement, Grey found himself challenged on two sides. He struggled to reuse his skills in negotiation to maintain peace with Māori, and his relationship with Te Wherowhero's successor Tāwhiao deeply soured. Turning on his former allies, Grey began an aggressive crackdown on Tainui and launched the Invasion of the Waikato in 1863, with 14,000 Imperial and colonial troops attacking 4,000 Māori and their families. Appointed in 1877, he served as Premier of New Zealand until 1879, where he remained a symbol of colonialism.