biography
| name: |
Wakefield, Edward Gibbon
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1796–1862)
|
| biography:
| Originator of subsidized emigration from Britain, born in London, UK. He was imprisoned for tricking an heiress into marriage, and was inspired by the plight of his fellow prisoners to write A Letter from Sydney (1829), in which he proposed the sale of small units of crown land in the colonies to subsidize colonization by the poor from Britain (rather than convicts). His proposals (later called Wakefield settlements) were adopted in 1831, and in the South Australia Act of 1834. He influenced the South Australian Association (1836), formed the New Zealand Association (1837), and inspired the Durham Report (1839) on colonial affairs in Canada. He emigrated to New Zealand in 1853, and was a member of the General Assembly until a breakdown forced his retirement. |
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