William Feilding

Who was William Feilding?

General The Honourable William Henry Adelbert Feilding was a British soldier of the Coldstream Guards.

Feilding was a son of William Feilding, 7th Earl of Denbigh and his wife Lady Mary Elizabeth Kitty Moreton. He served in the Crimean War and was British commissioner to the French Army during the Franco-Prussian War. He was decorated in the field by General Chanzy with the Legion d'honneur for saving the wounded under fire in a burning hospital. He became a Colonel in the Coldstream Guards and was Inspector-General of the Recruiting HQ from 1891 to 1894. The town of Feilding in New Zealand was named after him.

In 1871, the Directors of the Emigrants and Colonists Aid Corporation began to look at selecting a block of land so they could proceed with their proposed emigration scheme for the labouring class. Feilding, a colonel at the time, and one of the Directors of the Corporation, was selected to travel to both Australia and New Zealand looking at possibilities. During his trip his social standing gave him an entree to the people who mattered in government circles in both countries. Finding the land and conditions of sale and settlement in Australia were not in line with the expectations of the Corporation, Feilding sailed for New Zealand and arrived in Auckland on 2 December 1871. By 12 December he was in Wellington and being put up at Government House at the invitation of Sir George Bowen Governor of New Zealand. By 11.30am that same morning, he was in discussion with "the ministers at the Government building" about possible blocks of land that might suit the Corporation. Co-operation was such that Feilding was able to request a rough draft of possible conditions the New Zealand Government would be prepared to offer the Corporation by the very next day.