Reflections on the letters of Geraldine Ensor Jewsbury (1812-1880) to Walter Baldock Durrant Mantell (1820-1895) with a focus on 1869

Abstract

This paper reflects on the observations and anecdotes from the letters of Geraldine Ensor Jewsbury (1812 -1880) to Walter Baldock Durrant Mantell (1820 -1895) with a focus on 1869. Walter Baldock Durrant Mantell can be described as a ‘philo-Māori (lover of Māori) and a ‘disruptive’ NZ colonial politician. Geraldine Jewsbury was an English novelist, book reviewer and literary figure. She reviewed for the literary periodical the Athenaeum. The paper will provide further insights into the Victorian lens on colonial Aotearoa/New Zealand from the perspective of a female Pākehā ally. Geraldine Jewsbury’s interest and sympathy for Māori was kindled on meeting Sir George Grey and later, Walter Mantell, at the home of Thomas and Jane Carlyle in London in the 1850s. After Mantell returned to New Zealand (in 1859) he and Geraldine corresponded for over twenty years. Their phenomenal literary exchange in the form of over 500+ letters written between 1859 and 1880, express a deeply-shared concern about the predicament of Māori. The letters, systematically read, recapture the complex nuances, meanings and events in our colonial past, demonstrating an extraordinary cultural intelligence about tangata whenua and can be viewed as historical, trans-cultural, gendered taonga of social significance and importance. Key Words Geraldine Ensor Jewsbury (1812-1880); Walter Baldock Durrant Mantell (1820-1895); Colonial Aotearoa/New Zealand; Māori in the 19th century