Edward Jerningham had intended to stay in New Zealand for only a few months but he found the growth of the new colony so fascinating that it was four years before he returned to England in 1844. He quickly assembled his journals and they were published as "Adventures in New Zealand" in April 1845. The favourable picture he presented of the Colony founded by the New Zealand Company helped the Company to avoid censure in the House of Commons.
For the next five years Edward Jerningham lived a dissipated life in London. Then, in 1850, faced with bankruptcy, he sailed for New Zealand once again, this time with the advanced party for the Canterbury Settlement.
He entered politics being one of the members of New Zealand's first Parliament. He also represented the City of Wellington in the Provincial Council from 1855 until 1861. However because of his increasing alcoholism his behaviour was very erratic and he was an embarrassment to his supporters. Gradually over the next few years he dispated his wealth and substance and destroyed his health.
He died, penniless, in Ashburton, New Zealand in 1879; a sad end for anyone. Perhaps it is best to remember Edward Jerningham by his book Adventure in New Zealand, first published in 1845. It is a lively account of the exciting adventures of a fairly innocent young man.
Edward Gibbon and William were both arrested as was their stepmother, who had participated in the early planning of the escapade.
Edward Gibbon and his son, EdwardJerningham sailed secretly for Canada in 1838 but before they arrived word had leaked out and the appointment was forbidden by London.
Edward Gibbon stood in the Hutt Valley and to the surprise of some and the disappointment of others he was successfully elected to both the Provincial Council and the General Assembly.
His father, EdwardWakefield, author of Ireland, Statistical and Political (1812), was a surveyor and land agent in extensive practice; his grandmother, Priscilla Wakefield (1751-1832), was a popular author for the young, and one of the introducers of savings banks.
Wakefield was for a short time at Westminster School, and was brought up to his father's profession, which he relinquished on occasion of his elopement at the age of twenty with Miss Pattle, the orphan daughter of an Indian civil servant.
Wakefield was a man of large views and lofty aims, and in private life displayed the warmth of heart which commonly accompanies these qualities.
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