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Charles John Allen Haselden (1838 - 1913)

Justice of the Peace

New Zealand Electronic Text Collection
Justice Department article for
Charles John Allen Haselden

Migration to New Zealand 1860

Justice of the Peace 1865

Migration

to New Zealand 1860

Mr. Charles John Allen Haselden, J.P., Under Secretary for Justice, and Registrar of Patents, Designs, and Trade Marks, was born in London in 1838, and was educated at Dr. White's Private School, Notting Hill, London.

In 1860 Mr. Haselden came to the Colony per ship "Mermaid", landing in Auckland.

He had previously been for nearly seven years in the employ of the famous London bookselling firm, known throughout the world as W. H. Smith and Son.

After a trial of farming in the North of Auckland, Mr. Haselden, in January, 1862, took charge of a school under the Provincial Government at Hakaru, on the East Coast of the Auckland province. About the middle of the same year he changed in favour of a similar school at Turanga, about twenty miles south of the then capital.

But here the conditions of Maori matters became alarming, and in July, 1863, Mr. Haselden deemed it advisable to fly with his wife and child. The house they so suddenly vacated was sacked very shortly afterwards, and two boys belonging to neighbouring homesteads were shot dead by the Maoris.

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Justice

of the Peace 1865

Mr. Haselden then entered the Government Service as clerk in the office of the Deputy Adjutant General of Militia and Volunteers (Colonel Balneavis), and in February, 1865, when all the Government offices were removed to the new capital, Mr. Haselden was transferred to the office of the Attorney-General in Wellington - the title being afterwards changed to Department of Justice.

In this department Mr. Haselden gradually rose, and on the retirement of Mr. R. G. Fountain, in February, 1882, he was appointed Under-Secretary. The position of Registrar of Patents, etc., was conferred upon him when that department was created in 1867.

For twenty-seven years the subject of this notice was Superintendent of the Sunday school, now held in the Gospel Hall, Herbert Street - a position which he resigned only last year, 1894.

In July, 1860, almost immediately before leaving England, Mr. Haselden was married at Folkestone, Kent, to Miss Tiffen, and their family now numbers five, three sons and two daughters.

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