Hōri Te Waru

Hōri Te Waru was a Ngāti Te Apakura rangitira (chief) who signed the Manukau-Kāwhia Treaty of Waitangi sheet on 25 May 1840 in Kāwhia. He was from Rangiaowhia (sometimes called Rangiaohia), near Te Awamutu, and was primarily involved in agriculture.

Te Waru had travelled to Australia, where he decided to support British law in Aotearoa (New Zealand). Te Waru and Hoani Pāpita Kahawai wrote letters to Queen Victoria to update her on their progress in adopting Pākehā ways of working the land. They said that they had bought a mill, carts, ploughs and horses and sent a gift of flour as thanks for the queen’s goodness. In response she sent them two framed pictures of the royal family. Te Waru engaged a Pākehā named Carter to work the land with him, in exchange for paying for half of the equipment, Carter kept half of the crop grown.

As Governor George Grey was leaving New Zealand in 1853, Hōri Te Waru and others from Rangiowhia wrote to Grey. Te Waru wrote,

Our love for you is great because you have shown us much kindness. You have elevated us and provided teachers to instruct our children and implant good principles in their hearts. [1]

In 1854 missionary John Morgan wrote to government land agent Donald McLean reminding him of Te Waru’s wish to sell land at Waipā without delay to raise funds for the erection of a new church at Rangiowhia. In 1876 the name Hōri Te Waru appears on a deed of sale for land near Ōtaki called the Pukehou no. 5c block, though this is after an obituary notice for Hōri Te Waru of Waikato in June 1871.

Te Waru became involved in the Kīngitanga (Māori King) movement. In July 1863, during the Waikato war, Te Waru (at this time well-known as ‘King George’) and his son Taati led an attack on a British military escort at Kohiroa, then retired to Kīngitanga pā at Rangiriri. Later in 1863 some Kīngitanga followers were taken prisoner at Rangiriri. The prisoners wrote to Wiremu Tāmihana Tarapīpipi Te Waharoa, Te Waru and others of Waikato in November, saying that only 175 of them remain alive and were at the Queen’s Redoubt (Pōkeno). They said peace was made, and asked for Waikato to join them in peace and ‘Let the mana be given up to the Governor.’ [2] Te Waru lost land as a result of joining with the ‘rebels’.

At Te Waru’s tangi (funeral) in 1871, the chief speaker, Tāpihana, was reported as saying ‘that there would be no peace, and that the killing of Europeans should not cease’. [3]

---

[1] Quoted in ‘“Aroha” for the governor.’ New Zealand Railways Magazine 8, no. 2 (1 June 1933), p. 19. (NZETC)

[2] Taranaki Herald, 5 December 1863, p. 3 (Papers Past)

[3] Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, 3 June 1871, p. 5. (Papers Past) 

---