Elizabeth Colenso (; 29 August 1821 – 2 September 1904) was a missionary, teacher and Bible translator in New Zealand.

Early life

Elizabeth Fairburn was born at the Church Missionary Society (CMS) station at

Kerikeri Kerikeri () is the largest town in Northland, New Zealand. It is a tourist destination north of Auckland and north of the northern region's largest city, Whangarei. It is sometimes called the Cradle of the Nation, as it was the site of th ...

, New Zealand, in 1821. She was the daughter of Sarah Tuckwell and her husband, William Fairburn. In 1834 William Fairburn and his wife opened a mission station at Puriri in the Thames district. Their five children, Richard (aged 15), Elizabeth (13), John (11), Edwin (7), and Esther (5), remained at Paihia where they attended the CMS school conducted by Marianne Williams.

Life with Colenso

Elizabeth became fluent in

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

, and in 1840, aged 19 years, was teaching Māori children and young people at her father's mission station at Maraetai. When

Bishop Selwyn George Augustus Selwyn (5 April 1809 – 11 April 1878) was the first Anglican Bishop of New Zealand. He was Bishop of New Zealand (which included Melanesia) from 1841 to 1869. His diocese was then subdivided and Selwyn was Metropolitan (late ...

visited the mission, he engaged Elizabeth to teach at St. John's College, which was then at the Waimate Mission. Here she met missionary and printer

William Colenso William Colenso (17 November 1811 – 10 February 1899) FRS was a Cornish Christian missionary to New Zealand, and also a printer, botanist, explorer and politician. He attended the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi and later wrote an accou ...

. The pair married on 27 April 1843. Following Colenso's ordination as a deacon in September 1844 the couple, with their infant daughter Frances Mary (Fanny), established the Waitangi Mission at Ahuriri,

Napier Napier may refer to: People * Napier (surname), including a list of people with that name * Napier baronets, five baronetcies and lists of the title holders Given name * Napier Shaw (1854–1945), British meteorologist * Napier Waller (1893–19 ...

. In September 1845 Elizabeth went overland to the Rev. William Williams' mission station at Tūranga, Poverty Bay for the birth of her son Ridley Latimer (Latty). After several unhappy years of marriage, Elizabeth became aware that William was the father of Wiremu, a child born in 1850 to Ripeka Meretene, a member of the household. In November 1851 her husband was suspended as a deacon, and in 1852 was dismissed from the mission as the consequence of his adultery. Only after William's adultery became public knowledge in 1853 did the couple separate, though they never divorced. After her separation the CMS engaged Elizabeth to work as a teacher at the Kaitotehe Mission near Mount Taupiri in the Waikato.

To England

In 1860 the First Taranaki War broke out and the mission stations in the vicinity of the fighting were abandoned. Elizabeth took her two children, Fanny (17), and Latty (15), to England to finish their education, and settled in Tottenham, north London. In 1863, Hariata and

Hare Pomare Hare Pomare (?–1864) was a New Zealand Māori, the son of Pomare II, who identified with the Ngāpuhi and Ngati Manu iwi. His wife, Hariata Pomare, was a Ngāpuhi woman from Te Ahuahu, near Ōhaeawai, who was the daughter of Pikimana Tut ...

, members of a tour party of

organised by Wesleyan lay preacher William Jenkins, stayed with the Colensos. On 26 October 1863 Hariata gave birth to Albert Victor, who was named after the Queen's deceased husband. On 4 December 1863 Elizabeth accompanied Hariata and Hare Pomare as interpreter on a visit to Queen Victoria. Having grown up speaking the Māori language from a young age, Colenso helped oversee the publication in England of a Māori language edition of the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

, a lengthy undertaking which continued until the mid-1860s. She also helped prepare the revised New Testament for press, correcting the printed copy, and sometimes suggesting alternative translations.

Later life in New Zealand and the Pacific

Latty entered

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corpo ...

in 1866, and Elizabeth and Fanny left England in October of that year, returning to Auckland by early 1867. In 1869 Elizabeth started a school for Māori children at the mission house at Paihia and kept it going until the end of 1875. At this time, Elizabeth travelled to

Norfolk Island Norfolk Island (, ; Norfuk: ''Norf'k Ailen'') is an external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, directly east of Australia's Evans Head and about from Lord Howe Island. Together with ...

to help in the work of the Melanesian Mission, at the request of Bishop John Selwyn. Here, she translated Christian materials into the

Mota language Mota is an Oceanic language spoken by about 750 people on Mota island, in the Banks Islands of Vanuatu. The language (named after the island) is one of the most conservative Torres–Banks languages, and the only one to keep its inherited five-v ...

, which was chosen as the '

lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups ...

' of the Mission. In 1879 Colenso visited New Zealand and travelled to Ōtaki to see her daughter Fanny and son-in-law, William H. Simcox. In 1891 Elizabeth again visited New Zealand; this visit also included a visit to her family in Ōtaki. In January 1895 Fanny moved to

. Elizabeth retired from mission life in 1898, at the age of 76, by which time she was suffering increasing pain from rheumatism. She lived to the age of 83, dying on 2 September 1904 at Forest Lakes, Ōtaki.

References

External links

*
Short bio of E.F. Colenso and her husband
* Ross, C. (2006). "The Legacy of Elizabeth Fairburn Colenso", ''International Bulletin of Missionary Research'', 30:3, 148–152. {{DEFAULTSORT:Colenso, Elizabeth Translators of the Bible into Polynesian languages 1821 births 1904 deaths New Zealand Anglican missionaries Anglican missionaries in New Zealand Female Christian missionaries New Zealand translators Translators from English Translators to Māori 19th-century translators People from Kerikeri 19th-century New Zealand women writers 19th-century New Zealand writers Anglican missionaries in Norfolk Island Missionary linguists Female Bible Translators Fairburn–Newman family