Isaac Featherston

Born in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1813, Isaac Featherston spent his early life studying medicine in Edinburgh and working as a physician in Italy and across Europe.

Suffering from persistent ill health and a weak constitution, he eventually travelled further afield in search of a more suitable climate. Featherston made his passage to New Zealand as surgeon superintendent aboard the Olympus, a ship owned by the New Zealand Company, through which he had purchased land in the new settlement of Wellington.

In 1845 Featherston became the first editor of the Wellington Independent, using his position to articulate the growing demand from Wellington settlers for some form of representative government. He was known as a staunch provincialist and advocated strongly for the maximum possible devolution of functions and powers to the provincial councils. It is no surprise that successive Governors found him highly difficult and insubordinate.

In 1853 Featherston was elected unopposed as provincial Superintendent. He went on to serve as a member of the House of Representatives, colonial secretary and minister without portfolio. Later, he was appointed New Zealand’s first Agent-General, playing an instrumental role in shaping the country’s early immigration policy.

Featherston passed away in 1876. He is remembered as a complex but powerful figure, who led the city, district and province of Wellington with all the courage of his convictions.