Frederic Carrington

Who was Frederic Carrington?

Frederic Alonzo Carrington was a 19th-century New Zealand politician and surveyor. He is regarded as the Father of New Plymouth.

Carrington was born in Chelmsford, Essex, England in 1807 or 1808, the son of Captain William Carrington.

He was 15 years in the Ordnance Survey Department. Then he was appointed by the New Zealand Company as Chief Surveyor to the Plymouth Company and surveyed the new settlement of New Plymouth. He arrived in Wellington with his family in the ship London in December 1840 as a cabin passenger. In 1844 he returned to England, and undertook surveying for parliamentary committees in England and Scotland. From 1851 to 1856 he investigated business proposals in California and other parts of America, Paris and Belgium.

He left for New Zealand with his family in January 1857 and was made Engineer for roads in Taranaki. He finally obtained a grant of land in 1877.

He was Superintendent of Taranaki Province from 1869 to 1876, and was the member of Parliament for Omata in 1870 and then Grey and Bell from 1871 to 1879 when he retired. He was a member of the Harbour Board, and an advocate of an adequate harbour for New Plymouth.