Robert Wynyard
Sir Robert Henry Wynyard (24 December 1802 – 6 January 1864) was a New Zealand colonial administrator, serving at various times as Lieutenant Governor of New Ulster Province, Administrator of the Government, and was the first Superintendent of Auckland Province.
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Lieutenant Governor of New Ulster
From 26 April 1851 to 7 March 1853, Sir Robert Henry Wynyard was Lieutenant-Governor of New Ulster, a province of New Zealand encompassing much of the North Island. This office was abolished when New Zealand was divided into several smaller provinces under the 1852 Constitution Act.
Superintendent of Auckland Province
Wynyard was Superintendent of the new Auckland Province from 12 July 1853 to 5 January 1855.
Administrator of Government
Wynyard served for two periods (3 January 1854 to 6 September 1855 and 3 October 1861 to December 1861) as Administrator of the Government, in each case between the recall of one Governor and the arrival of the next.
Wynyard opened the 1st New Zealand Parliament on 24 May 1854.[1] He was quickly confronted by the demands of the new Parliament that responsible government be granted immediately; on 2 June the House of Representatives passed a resolution, sponsored by Edward Gibbon Wakefield, to that effect. Wynyard refused, stating that the Colonial Office made no mention of responsible government in its dispatches. The appointed Executive Council advised Wynyard against implementing responsible government, and in the meantime he sent a dispatch to London requesting clarification. Wynyard then offered to add some elected members of parliament to the Executive Council, and appointed James FitzGerald, Henry Sewell and Frederick Weld to the council. The compromise worked for a few weeks, but on 1 August Parliament demanded complete power to appoint ministers. Wynyard refused, and all three MPs resigned from the council. In response, Wynyard prorogued Parliament for two weeks. On 31 August he appointed Thomas Forsaith, Jerningham Wakefield and James Macandrew to the Executive Council, but when Parliament met again it moved a motion of no confidence in the members.
Parliament met on 8 August 1855, by which time Wynyard had received instructions from the Colonial Office to introduce responsible government. Fortunately for Wynyard, the new Governor, Sir Thomas Gore Browne, arrived on 6 September 1855 and relieved Wynyard of his duties. He resumed his military career and belonged to the 58th Regiment.[2] On 28 January 1858, Wynyard was appointed to the New Zealand Legislative Council.[3] He resigned on 3 November of that year, as the 58th Regiment was recalled to England.[2][3]
Wynyard's second term as Administrator in 1861 was much less eventful. Filling in between Gore Browne and Sir George Grey, he governed New Zealand for a short period with the advice of responsible Ministers, under Premier William Fox.
Acting Governor of Cape Colony
He acted for Sir George Grey as Governor of Cape Colony twice, from 1859 to 1860 and from 1861 to 1862.
He died in Bath, England, in 1864.
References
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| New office | Superintendent of Auckland Province 1853–1855 |
Succeeded by William Brown |
| Government offices | ||
| Preceded by | Governor of the Cape Colony, acting 1861–1862 |
Succeeded by Sir Philip Wodehouse |
