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John Morgan (6 May 1812 – 8 June 1865) was an Anglican missionary and a member of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) mission in New Zealand in the 19th century. He was an important missionary to the Māori who established the Te Awamutu district.

Morgan was born on 6 May 1812 in Low Hill, Liverpool, the son of John and Patty Morgan. Morgan joined the Church Missionary Society and attended the Church Missionary Society College, Islington, London in 1832. On the 21st May 1833, Morgan arrived in the Bay of Islands, New Zealand, in the Prince of Denmark, to join the CMS mission. In December of that year he worked with William Thomas Fairburn, John Alexander Wilson and James Preece to establish the Puriri mission station in the Thames area on the Waihou River. He moved to the Mangapouri mission station in May 1835, which was located near Te Awamutu on the northern bank of the Puniu River, close to where it joins the Waipā River. On 26 August 1835 he married Maria Mathew Coldham, the sister of Marianne Williams. In about 1842 he established the Otawhao mission station.

In 1846 Morgan helped to construct 3 water mills that were built by the local Māori to mill wheat for sale.

In 1849 he attended the St John's College, Auckland and was appointed a deacon on 24 June 1849. On 18 December 1853 he was ordained as a priest. He returned to the Waikato and continued teaching in the schools for Māori people. In the early 1860s he acted as a government agent and reported on the Māori King Movement in the Waikato. His activities resulted in his expulsion from Otawhao in April 1863 following the Invasion of the Waikato by colonial government forces. He acted as a chaplain to the military forces from 1863 to 1864. He resigned from the CMS in October 1864 and died on 8 June 1865.

References

1. ^ Blain, Michael (2022), Blain Biographical Directory of Anglican Clergy in the South Pacific Ordained Before 1950 (PDF), retrieved 6 August 2022 – via anglicanhistory.org
2. Carleton, Hugh (1874). The Life of Henry Williams: Archdeacon of Waimate. Vol. 1. Auckland: Upton & Co. p. 135 – via ENZB.
3. Wilson, John Alexander (1889). Wilson, C.J. (ed.). Missionary Life and Work in New Zealand, 1833 to 1862: Being the Private Journal of the Late Rev. John Alexander Wilson. Auckland: C.J. Wilson. Retrieved 3 February 2019 – via ENZB.
4. Wilton, David (2008). "Hauraki Mission Station (Puriri and Parawai sites)". The Treasury Journal. 1. Thames: The Treasury Research Centre and Archive. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
5. "Bible Class at Matamata, New Zealand". The Church Missionary Gleaner. Vol. 1 New Series, no. 8. London: Seeleys. November 1850. pp. 87–90 – via HathiTrust.
6. Howe, K. R. "John Morgan". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
7. Rogers, Lawrence M. (1973). Te Wiremu: A Biography of Henry Williams. Pegasus Press.
8. "Otawhao, New Zealand". The Church Missionary Gleaner. Vol. 2 New Series, no. 1. London: Seeleys. January 1852. pp. 4–6. Retrieved 18 October 2015 – via HathiTrust.
9. "Great Love of the New Zealanders for the Word of God". The Church Missionary Gleaner. Vol. 2, no. 5. London: Church Missionary Society. May 1842. Retrieved 11 October 2015 – via Adam Matthew Digital.
10. Morgan, John (December 1841). "Horrors Attending New Zealand Warfare". The Church Missionary Gleaner. Vol. 1, no. 9. London: Church Missionary Society. Retrieved 9 October 2015 – via Adam Matthew Digital.
11. "The Station of Otawao, New Zealand". The Church Missionary Gleaner. Vol. 6, no. 12. London: Church Missionary Society. December 1846. Retrieved 16 October 2015 – via Adam Matthew Digital.
12. "Advancement of New Zealanders in Civilization". The Church Missionary Gleaner. Vol. 7, no. 8. London: Church Missionary Society. August 1847. Retrieved 16 October 2015 – via Adam Matthew Digital.
13. "United Meeting of the Schools in the Waikato District, New Zealand". The Church Missionary Gleaner. Vol. 9 New Series. London: Seeleys. October 1859. pp. 114–117. Retrieved 24 October 2015 – via HathiTrust.

Sources

The Letters and Journals of Reverend John Morgan, Missionary at Otawhao, 1833-1865, Published in 2 Volumes. Edited, with an Introduction, by Jan Pilditch, Associate Professor of English and director of the Text and Translation Research Unit at the University Waikato. The Grimsay Press, 2010.

• 1806 births
• 1865 deaths
• Anglican missionaries in New Zealand
• Irish Anglican missionaries
• Clergy from Liverpool
• British Anglican missionaries
• Settlers of New Zealand
• People of the New Zealand Wars
• Church Mission Society missionaries