William Willis (1853 - 1907)

Ancestors

WILLIAM WILLIS 1856 - 1907

William Willis was born in Clooncumber, county Leitrim, Ireland on the 13th November 1853, where his father Robert Willis was stationed in the Irish Constabulary. William immigrated with his younger brother Charles on the Maraval in 1878. His brother Robert “got them all out” as William’s niece Louise said, “He would send the money home for them and they repaid him when they got a job.”

The Maraval, flagship of the New Zealand Shipping Company, left Plymouth on October 15th 1878 with a full compliment of 328 immigrants, arriving in Auckland 17th January 1879 after 94 days at sea. The New Zealand Herald reported “The ship Maraval 93 days from London arrived in the channel last night and will come up the harbour this morning, after she has been inspected by the Health Officer and Immigrant Commissioners. Passengers include single men”. Amongst the “Colonial nominated single men” were William Willis age 22 farm laborer and Charles Willis age 20 general servant.

Six months after they arrived, William enlisted in the New Zealand Armed Constabulary. He enlisted on the 10th June and was sworn in on 14th December 1879. William’s Constabulary record describes him as a labourer, 5 foot 10 inches tall with a sallow complexion, dark brown hair and blue eyes. Like his brother Robert, William is remembered to have been amongst the Constabulary force that destroyed the Maori settlement at Parihaka in 1881.

Parihaka was a Maori settlement established in Taranaki by Te Whiti and Tohu Kakahi in a well-organised campaign of peaceful protest at the increasing appropriation of land by the British. The settlement became a refuge for Te Atiawa and Ngatirarua as they struggled to survive after the Taranaki land confiscations, many dispossed Maori from areas outside Teriyaki found refuge there too. A 10-year Government delay in surveying and selling this land lulled Maori into thinking confiscation had been abandoned, they were wrong. Revenue from the sale of land vital to the development of the colony; the Government began their survey of the Waimate Plains in 1878 and even before the promised Maori reserves were set aside, the Government was advertising “choice land on the Waimate Plains” for sale.

Parihaka was a successful community but it ran into trouble in 1879 when surveyors began cutting their roads through Maori cultivations and Maori retaliated by removing the survey pegs. The Government took a hard line and Maori began ploughing settler land in protest. Colonists became alarmed and prepared for war. Hoping to contain the situation, the Constabulary began arresting the ploughmen, only to see them replaced by more Maori eager to keep up their peaceful protest.

Following the land wars of the 1860s, Taranaki Maori declared an aukati from the Hangatahua (Stoney River) at Okato to the Waingongoro River that runs from the Mountain via Eltham to Ohawe beach. Work on a coastal road to link New Plymouth with Hawera breached the autaki and was met with peaceful protest as Maori built fences across the road. Like the ploughers, the Parihaka fencers were regularly arrested & imprisoned. Released prisoners returned to Parihaka and protest activities escalated to the point that the Government felt they had no alternative but to remove the troublemakers from Parihaka so that the settlement of the Waimate Plains district could proceed safely.

More than one thousand five hundred Regular, Reserve and voluntary men of the Armed Constabulary were brought in and concentrated in camps near Parihaka and on the 19th of October 1881, Maori at Parihaka were given two weeks to come to terms with colonial settlement on the confiscated land; if not voluntarily, then by force. Public opinion about the land sales in southern Taranaki and the activities of Maori living at Parihaka was divided; there was a sense of shame at the way in which Maori were deprived of their land and considerable sympathy for the problems now faced by Maori.The press were keeping a very close watch on what was happening and sent special correspondents to cover the arrest of the leaders at Parihaka, Te Whiti and Tohu; and Hiroki who was wanted for the murder of a surveyor and was being sheltered at Parihaka.

Click here for the background to conflict at Parihaka [1]

Click here for a newspaper description of the police action at Parihaka [2]

William was stationed at the Constabulary Headquarters on Point Halswell in Wellington (the Mt.Cook barracks). When Charles was killed in 1885, a note was found leaving his affairs in the hands of his brother William in Wellington

In June 1886, William was “discharged at his own request” from the Armed Constabulary and went to join his brother Robert on the Skeet Road farm in Kapuni which Robert had bought the year before, in 1885. In the Hawera & Normanby Star of 2nd February 1887, the Waimate Road Board records the transfer of Sections 33, Block 14 Kaupokunui from J. Dunn to R. & W. Willis. ^[1] The 1893 Electoral Roll records both Robert and William Willis at Skeet Road where William lived on a fenced off corner of the Skeet Road farm. Robert’s children had many memories of their Uncle William on the farm – each day they carried a billy of fresh milk over the paddocks to William. He kept a pony, a lively pony that they exercised, dashing across the paddocks in wild races which William enjoyed as much as the children. William continued to live in his home on the Kapuni farm when Robert and family moved up to Rowan and John and Margaret took over the farm.

William's grave in Manaia Cemetery

William died of pneumonia on 7th September 1907, while being nursed by Margaret at Skeet Road. The Hawera and Normanby Star reported “With regret we record the death, at the age of 54, of Mr.William Willis of Skeet Road Kapuni. Mr.Willis had been ill only a short time. He was a Settlor in this district of twenty-two years standing and was very much respected by his friends and all with whom he came into conrtact.”

William never married.

William is buried in Manaia Cemetery

Sources

1. ↑ Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume IX, Issue 1541, 2 February 1887, Page 2

• Baptism - 13th November 1853 (father recorded as Robert A. Willis) Clooncumber Church of Ireland, County Leitrim
• N.Z. DEATHS - 1907/5347 - Willis William aged 54 years