

John Lees Faulkner was an early Tauranga trader, arriving in the area in 1840. The following information is from the Tauranga City Council and Historic Places Trust sign about John Lees Faulkner's house at Otumoetai which was built in 1844. Additional research and information by Debbie McCauley.
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John Faulkner was born at Nottingham in Nottinghamshire, England in 1807. While John was serving as an apprentice shoemaker he was arrested in the company of a pickpocket and sentenced to seven years. He was aged just 12 years old. John was transported to Australia on board the convict transport ship 'Princess Royal' in 1823. He learnt the art of boatbuilding at the Government Dockyard in Sydney. Shown on his 'Certificate of Freedom' dated 22 October 1828 are the occupations shoemaker and boatbuilder as well as his birth year of 1807.
In around 1832 to 1833 Faulkner moved to the Bay of Islands in New Zealand, where the South Pacific whaling fleet visited to replenish their stocks of food, water and firewood, and for repairs to their ships. With his carpentry skills Faulkner prospered. The demand for potatoes, pigs and salted port by the whalers led him to venture as far south as Tauranga for supplies.
In 1835, the year in which his eldest son was baptised in Kororareka (now Russell), Faulkner purchased half an acre of land from the chief Kiwikiwi at Otuihu (Pomare’s Pa) near the deepwater anchorage of the Kawakawa river mouth. It is not known whether he met his first wife, Ruawahine Irihapeti (Elizabeth), with whom he had 13 children, in the Bay of Islands or on one of his voyages to Tauranga. Ruawahine belonged to the Ngāi Tukairangi hapū of Tauranga's Ngāi Te Rangi iwi, the last people to occupy Otumoetai Pa.
In 1840 the family moved to Tauranga, staying first at Maungatapu Pa for a short time before taking up residence on Ruawahine’s land at Otumoetai, half a kilometre east of the pa. He continued trading with the Bay of Islands and the growing town of Auckland. As well as potatoes, pigs and salted pork, Faulkner traded in wheat, maize and kauri gum produced by Tauranga Maori, bartering European goods such as blankets, clothing, iron tools and implements and some staple foods. On these trading voyages he sailed with Maori crews, but sometimes employed other captains.
Reverend Alfred Brown married John and Ruawahine in Tauranga in late June of 1842.
Faulkner is known to have built four vessels of around 30 feet length overall between 1846 and 1854. He probably built smaller unrecorded boats for both himself and local Maori at his conveniently located harbourside home in Otumoetai which he built in 1844. Some of the vessels were named after his daughters, and one was called “The Children.” Later he is recorded as the owner or part owner of various other craft, notably the topsail schooner “Tauranga”.
Faulkner House [built by John Lees Faulkner] when owned by the Procter family (1936).
The couple's children were well educated, being sent away to boarding schools in Auckland and Sydney. The girls became the wives of European settlers, often moving away from Tauranga, while the boys remained in the district. Ruawahine died, aged 44, on 24 September 1855.
On 26 January 1857 Faulkner married Elizabeth Humphries, an Englishwoman recently arrived in Auckland whom he had known whilst growing up. It is at this time that John Faulkner added his mother's maiden name as his middle name, becoming 'John Lees Faulkner'. The couple had one son, John Daniel Faulkner (1857-1917), who continued his father’s connection with the sea by establishing Faulkner’s Ferries which operated between Tauranga and Mount Maunganui.
The fifteen children of John Lees Faulkner:
In 1860 Faulkner was appointed the first postmaster in Tauranga, having acted unofficially in that capacity for some time. On the outbreak of the Waikato land war in 1863 the family moved to Auckland for safety, returning to open a store on the waterfront in Tauranga which was patronised by the British troops who were ordered to Tauranga in January 1864. Shortly after the Battle of Gate Pa on 29 April 1864, their unoccupied home at Otumoetai was ransacked by soldiers.
Faulkner was able to claim Ruawahine’s land, confiscated in 1865 along with other Tauranga Maori land, on behalf of their children, who received a Crown Grant of 88 acres (35.6 hectares). He himself received a grant of about half an acre on the waterfront containing his home, Okorore. After the New Zealand Wars Faulkner returned to live at Otumoetai.
Faulkner died in Tauranga, aged 75, on 8 September 1882 (reg. 1882/5627) at his son John Daniel’s home on Cameron Road [The Yorkshire Grey Hotel on the corner of Cameron Road and Sixth Avenue in the then suburb of Quarter Acres]. His obituary appeared in the Bay of Plenty Times on 9 September 1882. John was buried with Ruawahine and his son John, who had died in 1857, in Tauranga's Mission Cemetery (Otamataha Pā).
Headstone of Ruawahine, John and John Lees Faulkner. Photo: Debbie McCauley.
Faulkner left his second wife, Elizabeth, a life interest in the Otumoetai homestead. It was leased for a time in the 1890s by a horticulturalist, W. C. Berridge. The Otumoetai School was held in one of the outbuildings from its establishment in 1895 until 1897, when it moved to its present site on Otumoetai Road. The property was sold in 1912, after Elizabeth’s death the previous year, aged 91, on 17 December 1911. Elizabeth was buried in Tauranga Anglican Cemetery.
In 1986 Faulkner House, located at present day 25 Beach Road, Otumoetai, was removed to Tauranga Historic Village Museum.
Faulkner Family Reunion Plaque (2004-2005). Photo: Debbie McCauley.
For more information see Tauranga historian Jinty Rorke's article on John Lees Faulkner by clicking here or puruse the Faulkner file held at the Tauranga City Library (Vertical File: Biographies).
References:
Ancestry.com - Certificate of Freedom (1828)
Avery, Max (2013). Maritime Tauranga 1826-1970.
Births, Deaths and Marriages Online (New Zealand).
Bush, E. E. (1963, June). John Lees Faulkner (1811-1882), trader and pioneer (Journal of the Tauranga Historical Society, No 16, pp. 9-12.)
Convict Records: John Faulkner.
McLean, Heather (1999). Burial Records: Tauranga, New Zealand (1881-1992).
McLean, Heather (1997). Tauranga Anglican Cemetery Headstones.
How to cite this page: McCauley, Debbie (2013). John Lees Faulkner (c1811-1882). Retrieved from http://tauranga.kete.net.nz/tauranga_local_history/topics/show/1300 (Tauranga Memories, last updated: *insert date*). In-text citation:(McCauley, 2013)
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This page was archived at perma cc February 2017 https://perma.cc/5x22-9nbq
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Thank you for sharing your information 'estaw'. I have made the amendments to Maria's entry based on your comments.
Year: | 1840 |
First Names: | John Lees |
Last Name: | Faulkner |
Date of Birth: | 1807 |
Place of Birth: | Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England |
Country of birth: | England |
Date of death: | 8 September 1882 |
Place of death: | Tauranga |
Place of burial: | Mission Cemetery, Tauranga |
Occupation: | trader and boatbuilder |
First settled: | Bay of Islands |
Date of Arrival: | 1832-1833 |
Place of settlement in Bay of Plenty: | Otumoetai |
Date of arrival in Bay of Plenty: | 1840 |
Spouses name: | Ruawahine Irihāpeti (Elizabeth) Puihi (c1811-1855) and Elizabeth Humphries (c1822-1911) |
Spouses date of birth: | c1811 |
Spouses place of birth: | New Zealand |
Spouses date of death: | 24 September 1855 |
Spouses place of death: | Tauranga |
Spouses place of burial: | Mission Cemetery, Tauranga |
Spouses nationality: | Ngāi Te Rangi iwi |
Date of marriage: | June 1842 and 26 January 1857 |
Place of marriage: | Tauranga and St Matthews Church, Auckland |
Fathers name: | Jarvis Faulkner |
Fathers date of birth: | 7 June 1782 |
Fathers place of birth: | Alrewas, Staffordshire, England |
Fathers date of death: | 1865 |
Fathers place of death: | Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England |
Mothers name: | Elizabeth Lees |
Mothers date of birth: | 8 April 1786 |
Mothers place of birth: | Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England |
Mothers date of death: | 19 December 1824 |
Mothers place of death: | Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England |
eastaw
said John Lees Faulkner
Hi there, I have noted that you have John Lees Faulkners 4th daughter Marias husband as James Maxwell of Omapere. Yes this is correct, but he was Marias second husband. Maria was born in Tauranga to John Lees Faulkner and Ruawahine Faulkner (Tawaho) in 1840 and deceased 31 January 1897. Maria married Hamuera Paki a farmer from Matapihi, their first child was Mere Riripeti Paki born around 1862 and a son Hori Paki born 1863.
Maria left her children with their father and headed up north to look after her ailing sister Elizabeth who married a Beazley. Maria never returned and subsequently met James Maxwell.
James brother William married Elizabeths daughter Elizabeth Regina.
Maria and James first child was Eliza Isabella Maxwell born 1864, Maria Jane 1868, James John 1872 and Christopher 1876.
Maria died on 31 January 1897 aged 57.
James Maxwell later married Jane Te Wake the older sister of Whena Cooper.