Person:Robert Batley (1)

Batley, Robert Thompson by R. A. L. Batley Biography

Robert Thompson Batley, the son of Jane Thompson and George Batley, a mariner, was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England, on 15 November 1849. He was educated in Portsmouth, and at about the age of 13 joined the crew of the Royal Bride, which sailed from London to Auckland, New Zealand, arriving on 29 April 1863. On 22 June the ship was wrecked in a north-east gale while anchored in the Napier roadstead, Hawke Bay. Maori gathered on the beach and formed a human chain to assist the crew ashore. Deciding to stay in Hawke's Bay, Robert Batley found employment at Donald McLean's Maraekakaho station. About the end of 1867 he went to live at Kuripapango, and travelled further inland seeking work.

In 1868 he was employed by A. S. and W. J. Birch, pioneer sheepfarmers of Erewhon station, at inland Patea (the upper Rangitikei region). In the spring of 1869 he drove livestock from Erewhon to Lieutenant Colonel Thomas McDonnell's camp at Poutu, Lake Rotoaira, during the campaign against Te Kooti. In 1870 Batley went into partnership with Henare Kepa (also known as Henare Akatarewa) at Moawhango, running sheep and exporting wool, but by 1874 he had returned to the employment of the Birch brothers as manager of Erewhon station. He visited England in 1877, and at Portsmouth met Emily Snelling whom he married on 11 September 1877 at Portsea. They were to have seven sons and three daughters. They returned to New Zealand in 1878 and after a period in Hawke's Bay moved inland. By 1880 Batley was managing a sheep run at Te Henga on the Rangipo block in the Tongariro district.

In 1882 Batley returned to Moawhango where he opened a store and later a post office. He expanded his business, establishing teams for the cartage of produce from the inland sheep stations and leasing land for his own increasingly large flocks. He farmed much of the natural clearing in the Moawhango and Taoroa districts. Batley gained a good knowledge of Maori language, and in the Native Land Court assisted Ngati Whiti (who adopted him as Pape Patere) to establish their ownership of land in the district. Until the opening up of the North Island main trunk railway and the establishment of Taihape, Moawhango was the business centre of inland Patea. Batley was instrumental in getting a teacher appointed to Moawhango in 1897, and established a large number of buildings in the township. He became known as the 'King of Moawhango'.

He expanded his farming interests, including property in Taranaki, and in 1905 stated that he and his sons were farming 22,000 acres, 2,000 of them freehold, with stock comprising 25,000 sheep, 2,000 cattle and 300 horses.

Robert Batley died on 14 July 1917 in Wellington. He was survived by three sons and two daughters, and was buried in the family plot at Moawhango. Emily Batley died on 7 April 1927.

In Dec 2012, Owen Arthur Batley, was invited to speak of RTB at the celebration of 100 years of the Taihape town hall.

Mayor Leary, ladies and gentlemen I’m so proud to be celebrating here 100 years of this iconic town hall our forefathers had the foresight to provide us. I also feel very privileged proposing a toast as did my great grandfather a 100 years ago. He was just 11 months older at that time than I am today (62). Unfortunately he died a mere five years later. I fervently hope, God willing, that I am good for a few more. This privilege has been accorded me as the eldest son of the oldest of the oldest with issue. It is also a humbling experience when I look to the achievements of my great grandfather, Robert Thompson Batley, or RTB, as I shall now to refer to him. Jan Byford did ask me to speak on early pioneers but in the time allocated I could not do justice, and in any case the early prominent settlers are well documented in the Cyclopaedia of New Zealand. Instead I shall tell a story of a young man born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk but educated in Portsmouth. He must have been a quick learner because aged 13 he signed on as a cabin boy to Captain Laker, on the ‘Royal Bride’. Fully rigged at 546 tons. Can you picture this kid, and I thought going away to boarding school in Wanganui at the same age was a terrifying ordeal. He would’ve known the destination of Auckland but never imagined that it would be 13 years before he would return to see his family. The ‘Royal Bride’ sailed from the Downs on the 9th of January 1863 with 24 assisted immigrants aboard. She made an excellent passage arriving in Auckland 110 days later. That is 3½ months of bawdy sailors regaling the lad with stories of South sea cannibals. On June 10th she reached Napier, anchoring in the roadstead. On Sunday evening 21st June, a North East gale blew up. The Met station at Napier recorded wind pressure of 25lbs, equivalent to 100 mph. At 1 am Monday the anchors dragged, at 4am one cable parted and half an hour later she founded on Petane beach with the seas breaching her completely. I think in the dark of the night this would have terrified a hardened mariner let alone a lad on his maiden voyage whom could not yet swim. Come daylight and the Maori from the Te Amiki pa, gathered to form a human chain through the surf. Was there going to be a cooking pot at the other end of this line. Fortunately no, and it has been said that this early gesture by the Maori, in rescuing the entire crew, may well have determined RTB’s future regard for them. The ship, interestingly enough was auctioned off at 4 o’clock that afternoon. I doubt Dunbar Sloan could organise that today. 5 pounds for 100 tons of coal, 35 pounds for the hull, spars, sails, rigging etc. So we have a lad, standing in all he owns, offered a passage home by the shipping line, but perhaps with the same sense of adventure as he left for sea, he accepted a job with Land Commissioner Sir Donald McLean at Maraekakaho Stn. Toward the end of 1867 he went to live at Kuripaponga and in 68 was employed at Erewhon Stn by the Birch Bros. The homestead then being the mud home at Oruamatua. In the spring of 69 he drove livestock from Erewhon to feed Lt Col Thomas McDonnell’s troops at Rotoaira in his campaign against Te Kooti. It was by no means certain whether the soldiers or the warriors were going to get to be awaiting this tucker at the end of the drove. In 1870, he went into a farming p/ship with Henare Kepa, at Moawhango aged 21. I was 26 when I began at Mataroa. By 1874 he was back with the Birch bros managing Erewhon Stn. and in 1877, now aged 28, he finally took a passage home to see his ailing mother. As his parents had in the interim moved to Portsea, he knocked on a door which was opened by a lovely maiden of 16 yrs, Emily Snelling, whom informed him they lived next door. Cupid however had tossed his dart, and they were married Sept 11th . Next year they returned to Hawkes Bay and in June 1878 in Havelock Nth, their first child Nellie was born. By 1880, RT was managing a sheep run at Te Henga off the Desert road about Kaimanawa Rd. At this point I feel for his bride, a 19 yr old lass from Portsea, living there not to see another white face for near 3 yrs. Henga their eldest son was born there July 1881. In 1882 RT returned to Moawhango, establishing a general store, cartage business and expanded farming, mostly on the natural clearing between Moawhango and Taoroa. The next year he opened a post office, with mail every other week to Wanganui and weekly to Napier. With his knowledge of Maori he assisted the Ngati Whiti establish their land ownership in the Native Land Court. Business would have been good on the main route to the port of Napier, but in 1897 the railhead reached Manganoho and wool began going south. My grandfather Paerau, named after local chief Horima Paerau, rode his horse there 1899 to catch the train to boarding school in Wanganui. Unfortunately that same year his sister, Nellie, drowned off a ship in Port Chalmers. The chapel at Moawhango being built with locally fired bricks, in her memory. The other side of RTB was with community minded man who was instrumental in establishing the school at Moawhango in a building of his own. Purchasing the land for St Margarets church, £21.00. Donating land for the Otaihape Club of which he was first patron. Also first president for the Taihape A & P society and chairman of the District Reception committee to mention but a few. The sad fact of life, not uncommon in the times, when he died aged 67in 1917, five of his ten children had predeceased him. Nellie drowned at 21, Henga drowned in the Moawhango river, aged 21, Piri killed in France just a year earlier, plus two infant sons. Ladies and gentlemen, I believe we have it pretty cruisy today, and with that I ask you all to raise your glasses in toast to those early settlers whom made all this possible. To our early settlers

1.   Robert Thompson Batley.

   R. A. L. Batley. 'Batley, Robert Thompson', from the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 4-Jun-2013
   URL: http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/biographies/2b10/batley-robert-thompson