page_title: Edmund Halswell
section_title: New Zealand
hierarchical_section_title: Edmund Halswell / New Zealand
caption_attribution_description: English: Residence of judge Halswell in Brooklyn (then known as Ohiro District)
context_page_description: Edmund Storr Halswell QC, born Edmund Storr Haswell, was an English barrister. He came to New Zealand on behalf of the New Zealand Company and lived there from March 1841 to April 1845, and held some official positions, including commissioner of native reserves and judge. After he had returned to England, he became a member of the Canterbury Association and was one of just two people in England at the time who had actually seen the Canterbury Plains. Some landmarks are named after him, including the Christchurch suburb of Halswell and Point Halswell in Wellington Harbour.
context_section_description: Halswell was appointed by the New Zealand Company as commissioner of native affairs and arrived in Wellington Harbour on the Lady Nugent on 17 March 1841, with his son (Hugh Beauchamp Halswell) accompanying him. He lived in the Wellington suburb of Brooklyn.
  On 20 July 1841, Halswell was appointed chairman of the courts of quarter sessions, "Protector of Aborigines in the Southern District of this Island" (i.e. Māori people), and Commissioner for the Management of the Native Reserves. On 26 February 1842, he was appointed judge of the County Court of the southern portion of New Ulster Province. On 3 May 1841, Halswell was appointed to the General Legislative Council as one of the country's three senior justices. Halswell's term on the Legislative Council ended on 10 July 1841, which coincides with the end of the first session of the council. There was no contemporary reporting why his term came to an end; he was the first person to retire from this institution. In May 1842, Governor William Hobson appointed Halswell as one of his deputies. As a judge, he appears to have had the trust of Māori, over whom he sometimes had to preside.
  On 24 April 1845, Halswell attended a farewell function for James Sea, who was to go to New South Wales to become the first manager of the Sydney branch of the Union Bank of Australia. Halswell's own departure for England was toasted at that function, and both Sea and Halswell left two days later on the Comet for Sydney via Nelson. They arrived in Sydney on 17 May. Halswell's return to England was caused by conflicts with the governor; the New Zealand Company had a fraught relationship with all governors as the company's objectives were not supported by the New Zealand government.
caption: Halswell's residence in 1847, now approximately the site of Brooklyn Primary School
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