Charles Obins Torlesse (2 May 1825 – 14 November 1866) was a prominent surveyor for the

Canterbury Association The Canterbury Association was formed in 1848 in England by Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), members of parliament, Peerage of the United Kingdom, peers, and Anglicanism, Anglican church leaders, to establish a colony in New Zealand. The se ...

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

, New Zealand.

Biography

Torlesse was born in

Stoke-by-Nayland Stoke-by-Nayland is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Babergh District, Babergh district, in the county of Suffolk, England, close to the border with Essex. The parish includes the village of Withermarsh Green and th ...

, Suffolk, England, in 1825. He was the eldest son of the Rev Charles Martin Torlesse, who was on the management committee of the Canterbury Association. His mother Catherine Torlesse was the sister of

Edward Gibbon Wakefield Edward Gibbon Wakefield (20 March 179616 May 1862) was an English politician in colonial Canada and New Zealand. He is considered a key figure in the establishment of the colonies of South Australia and New Zealand (where he later served as a ...

. Aged 16, Torlesse started a survey cadetship under his uncle

Arthur Wakefield Captain Arthur Wakefield (19 November 1799 – 17 June 1843) served with the Royal Navy before joining his brother, Edward Gibbon Wakefield, in founding the New Zealand Company settlement of Nelson, New Zealand, Nelson in New Zealand. Early lif ...

for the

New Zealand Company The New Zealand Company, chartered in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom, was a company that existed in the first half of the 19th century on a business model that was focused on the systematic colonisation of New Ze ...

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

. He stayed in Nelson from 1841 and returned to England in 1843, after his uncle was killed in the

Wairau Affray The Wairau Affray of 17 June 1843, also called the Wairau Massacre and the Wairau Incident, was the first serious clash of arms between British settlers and Māori people, Māori in New Zealand after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi and t ...

. Torlesse together with fellow surveyor Thomas Cass returned to New Zealand by the ''Bernica'', and arrived in December 1848, to work under chief surveyor, Captain Joseph Thomas. In 1849 he was joined by survey assistant, John Cowell Boys, who had also been a part of the Nelson party in 1841. The pair worked closely together and formed a friendship, and when Torlesse took up land in

Rangiora Rangiora is the largest town and seat of the Waimakariri District, in Canterbury Region, Canterbury, New Zealand. It is north of Christchurch, and is part of the Christchurch metropolitan area. With an estimated population of Rangiora is the ...

where he built the area's first house, Boys also set to reside in the area. On 27 December 1851, Torlesse married Alicia Townsend in Christchurch. She was the third daughter of James Townsend, who brought his family out to the colony on the '' Cressy''. Alicia's sister, Priscilla, married Boys shortly after in 1852. His brother Henry Torlesse came to New Zealand in early 1853 on the ''Minerva'' and married Elizabeth Revell, a fellow passenger on that journey. The Torlesse brothers farmed together in Rangiora. Torlesse held town section (TS) 732 in trust for Felix Wakefield, a brother of Edward Gibbon Wakefield. The section fronted onto both Cathedral Square and Hereford Street. From 1863, Torlesse was in partnership with Henry Matson, and operated as land agents under the banner of Torlesse & Matson. On the evening of 4 June 1864, a fire started in their building and a large number of wooden buildings were destroyed. Torlesse then bought the section of Wakefield for £1145, and commissioned builders Balke and Brouard to build a new two-storey stone building fronting onto Cathedral Square for £1124. This building was the first building made of permanent material in the Square and became known as the Torlesse Building. It was demolished in 1916, and the Strand picture theatre was built in its place. Today, part of the land is occupied by the ANZ Bank (itself due to be demolished due to

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

damage), Strand Lane and a building housing a public toilet. Torlesse made a first ascent of a mountain in the

Southern Alps The Southern Alps (; officially Southern Alps / Kā Tiritiri o te Moana) are a mountain range extending along much of the length of New Zealand, New Zealand's South Island, reaching its greatest elevations near the range's western side. The n ...

, and this peak, the Mount Torlesse, was named for him. Torlesse returned to England due to ill health and died in 1866. He is buried in Stoke-by-Nayland.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Torlesse, Charles Obins 1825 births 1866 deaths New Zealand surveyors English emigrants to New Zealand People from Stoke-by-Nayland Wakefield family