Barnet Burns
Barnet Burns | |
---|---|
East Stonehouse, England (now Plymouth, England) | |
Education | Lancasterian School |
Occupation(s) | Sailor, trader, showman |
Spouses |
|
Children | 5 |
Barnet Burns (November 1805 – 26 December 1860) was an English sailor, trader, and showman who became one of the first Europeans to live as a Pākehā Māori and to receive the full Māori facial tattoo. He travelled to Australia and found employment as a trader of flax in New Zealand in the 1830s. Burns returned to Europe in 1835 and spent most of his remaining years as a showman giving lectures, where he described the customs of the Māori, performed the haka, exhibited his Māori tattoos and recounted his adventures in New Zealand.[1]
Early life
It is likely that George Burns, later known as Barnet, was baptised in the parish of Kirkby Ireleth on 25 November 1805. His parents were likely George Burns (born 1770) and Anne (née Stewart).[2]
At the age of 13 or 14 he became a cabin boy and ended up working for Louis Celeste Lecesne in Jamaica. When Lecesne travelled to England to petition parliament over his false arrest and exile,[3] Burns travelled with him.[1] Under the patronage of Lecesne, Burns went to the Lancasterian school at Borough Road in London.
Burns again set sail in 1827 on the brig Wilna and arrived at Rio de Janeiro. Following a dispute between the Captain and crew, all the crew were paid off from the ship and Burns then obtained a berth as steward on the barque Nimrod Captain Eilbeck, which set out for Australia and arrived at Sydney on 22 August 1828.
Colonial Australia and trading voyages
Barnet Burns worked as a house servant for William Henry Mackenzie of the Bank of Australia. He commenced employment at about the time of the
Burns joined the brig Elizabeth, captain Brown, on a trading voyage to New Zealand departing Sydney on 23 July 1830. During his time in New Zealand Burns learned the Māori language. The Elizabeth returned to Sydney on 5 January 1831 and soon afterwards Burns appeared before the Police Magistrates where he was convicted of gross assault. A fellow seaman on the Elizabeth, James Nance, had accused Burns of being a convict and Burns had reacted by "leading [Nance] about the decks by his nose, like a pig by the snout". Burns was ordered to "enter into his own recognizances to the amount of £10, to preserve the peace for twelve months".[4]
In January 1831 the Sydney merchant Joseph Barrow Montefiore had just returned from a voyage to New Zealand and required flax traders to be located at various parts of New Zealand. Barnet Burns agreed to return to New Zealand to trade with the Māori for New Zealand flax (Phormium tenax), used mainly for rope materials.[5] On 13 February 1831 Burns departed Sydney on the
Pākehā-Māori
In the 1830s the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand was a place constantly under the threat of attack from neighbouring Māori tribes.[9] In the preceding decades the
At the Māhia Peninsula Barnet Burns was protected by a chief whom he called "Awhawee" but whom Māori oral records know as "Te Aria" or "Aria".[12] Burns married the chief's daughter, Amotawa and lived as a
It is likely that Burns and the tribe were located at Nukutaurua on the north-eastern coast of the Māhia Peninsula. After 11 months a vessel arrived with orders to close the trading station but Burns refused to leave with the ship as Amotawa was about to give birth. Shortly afterwards most of the tribe went some distance from their
During an inland flax-buying trip with some of the members of his tribe, a party of Ngāi Te Rangi attacked, killed and ate the group with the exception of Barnet Burns. He managed to negotiate for his life by agreeing to live, fight and trade with them. Also, as part of the negotiations, Burns had to agree upon the party tattooing him. He was forced to have his full face, chest, thighs, and arms tattooed as a sign of loyalty to the tribe. Even though Burns did not want to, he agreed to save his life. When about a quarter of the tattoo on his face was completed, Burns escaped and found his way back to his own tribe, who sought vengeance without success as the Ngāi Te Rangi were not to be found.
In 1832 subtribes of
The
While at Uawa in about April 1833, Barnet Burns learned that three Englishmen were being held captive on the Waiapu River, near East Cape, the easternmost point of the North Island of New Zealand. A whaling vessel, Elizabeth, commanded by captain Black, had stopped at East Cape for provisions and during her stay three of the crew had run away. In return captain Black had seized 15 of the local Ngāti Porou and taken them away on the Elizabeth. Burns took a waka with about 60 men and after three days they had travelled from Uawa to Waiapu and found the Englishmen confined at a pā which was probably at Whakawhitira. The chief Kakatarau
Departure from Uawa
In October 1834 the ship
Soon after the Bardaster arrived at Sydney on 2 November 1834, Barnet Burns arranged to transfer his grant of land at Tambourine Bay to Captain John Thomas Chalmers. At that time thousands of convicts resided in New South Wales and as Burns roamed the streets of Sydney his facial tattoo aroused suspicion that he had submitted to the operation of tattooing in order to prevent being recognised.[22]
On 24 February 1835 the Bardaster departed Sydney for England with Barnet Burns aboard earning his passage in his former role as a sailor.
Initial appearances of Pahe-a-Range in England
By mid-1835 Barnet Burns had left the ship Bardaster and returned to London. On 1 June 1835 Barnet Burns married Bridget Cain at the Christ Church Greyfriars opposite St Paul's Cathedral but little else is known about this union.
Barnet Burns soon published a booklet about his experiences in Australia and New Zealand. Copyright for the booklet was obtained at the Worshipful Company of Stationers' Hall at Ludgate Hill, London on 1 September 1835.[24] Burns's publication had the lengthy title: A Brief Narrative of the Remarkable History of Barnet Burns, an English sailor; who has lately been exhibiting at the Surrey Zoological Gardens and other Places of Amusement. With a faithful account of the way in which he became a chief of one of the tribes of the New Zealanders: together with a few remarks on the manners and customs of the people, and other interesting matter.[23]
Barnet Burns commenced a career of showman and lecturer. His initial appearances in London included the Surrey Zoological Gardens (later the
An edition of Burns's booklet was published at
Barnet Burns had styled himself as Pahe-a-Range (or Pahe-a-Rangi) [26]and in May 1836 he appeared at the Chichester Mechanics' Institution, where his lectures were described as "one incongruous jumble of impudence, of ignorance, of low wit, and bare-faced presumption".[27] This description was criticised by a reporter who attended lectures by Burns at the Town Hall of Brighton and recommended that Burns obtain the assistance of someone to help arrange the lectures. Despite Burns's shortcomings, the reporter stated that "those who go to a lecture to obtain information, without caring by what means it is conveyed, could, notwithstanding the rambling and unconnected nature of his address, gather sufficient to remunerate them for the money and time expended in attending it."[28]
Chef de tribu de la Nouvelle Zélande
Barnet Burns moved to France in late 1836. An unsuccessful appearance before the
In 1837 Burns appeared at Nantes where he exhibited himself at a shop in rue de Gorges with an assurance that he would remain civilized for visitors. Burns was described as a cannibal, but in his booklet he is careful to avoid any suggestion that he himself consumed human flesh.
On 22 September 1838 Barnet Burns married a French workwoman named Anne Mélanie Boval at the town hall of the 7th arrondissement of Paris. Anne Boval was born in Paris on 1 April 1820 to Jean Baptiste Boval and Jeanne Louise Couchard.
Burns and his wife lived at 16 Rue Pastourelle in the 3rd arrondissement of Paris and had two children who, it appears, died young. [29]
Barnet Burns presented himself as a tattooed New Zealand Chief at the nearby Boulevard du Temple.[30]
Barnet Burns's booklet was published at Rouen in about 1839 and in 1840 he was at Le Havre. Burns was apparently summoned by Queen Victoria to take part in an English expedition to New Zealand in the capacity of interpreter. Following his departure, Burns's wife, Anne never heard from him again.[29]
Possible return visit to New Zealand
There is circumstantial evidence for Barnet Burns making a return trip to New Zealand between February 1839 and October 1840.
Barnet Burns had expressed a desire to return to New Zealand and had applied to join the expedition of the
Finally, Arthur Thomson mentions that: "One unemployed tattooed Pakeha Maori visited England, and acted the part of a New Zealand savage in several provincial theatres. Here he married an Englishwoman who accompanied him to New Zealand, but she eloped with a Yankee sailor, because the tattooed actor's old Maori wife met him and obtained an influence over him the white woman could not combat."[34] There are several similarities between this Pākehā Māori and Barnet Burns to suggest that they might be the same person.
Marriage to Mrs Rosina Crowther
The
On 18 June 1841, Barnet Burns appeared at the Hull Zoological Gardens to participate in a Grand Gala in commemoration of the
In January 1842 Barnet Burns had moved to Birmingham where he lectured before the Mechanics' Institution at Newhall Street and where he had a booklet published. By that time he and Rosina had married as the handbill states that "Mrs. Burns will also perform several admired Airs and Waltzes upon the Musical Glasses".
Showman and lecturer
From 1842 Barnet Burns and his wife Rosina continued their extensive lecture series. In 1842 alone, appearances by Barnet and Rosina Burns are recorded at the Mechanics' Institution in
In late 1844 Barnet Burns appeared in London[44] where he was engaged at the Royal Adelaide Gallery.[45][46] One of New Zealand's early colonists, Jerningham Wakefield was unimpressed by one of Burns's lectures describing how the lecturer dressed "with sandals and strings of beads on his legs and wrists, a leopard-skin petticoat, a necklace of pig's tusks, and a crown of blue feathers a foot long, – sings NZ ditties to a tune!, and talks gibberish, which he translates into romantic poetry." In December 1845 Barnet Burns lodged a complaint to the Police Magistrate at Worship-Street, London against Henry Sproules Edwards, who had disrupted one of Burns's lectures by publicly denouncing him as a fraud.
By 1847 Barnet Burns had a manager, Lionel Violet Gyngell who announced appearances by Barnet and Rosina Burns during a tour that included Hawkstone Hall,[47][48] Shrewsbury,[49][50][51] Welshpool, Oswestry and Ellesmere.[52]
Editions of Burns's booklet continued to be published where he lectured on his travels through Britain. The 1848 Kendal edition includes a stylised picture of Barnet Burns carrying the head of a tattooed Māori chief. On their tour Pahe-a-Range and Madame Pahe-a-Range appeared at the
In about 1850, Burns gave his lectures in
A tour through Cornwall in early 1853 included lectures at the Assembly Room in Truro, the Town Hall in Redruth[58] and Union Hall in Penzance.[59] By this time Barnet Burns's occupation was given as Lecturer and that of Rosina Burns was given as Professor of Music, her musical glasses producing a harmony that was "indisputably the most exquisite".
In November 1856 Barnet Burns and his wife went to Leicester to deliver a course of lectures on New Zealand. Three lectures were advertised, but at the close of the second Burns became ill and was confined to his bed for nearly eight weeks.[33] Rosina Burns sold every available article she possessed but soon they were destitute and an appeal was made for help.[33] By January 1857 Barnet Burns had recovered sufficiently to be able to lecture accompanied, as usual, by Rosina on the musical glasses.[60] Further funds were raised from an edition of Burns's booklet published at Leicester.
Death
Barnet Burns died on 26 December 1860 at Eldad, East Stonehouse, Plymouth. The death certificate stated that George Barnet Burns, lecturer, died at age 53 and the cause of death was "morbus cordis cirrhosis of liver ascites". There were various times during his life when Burns had been found drunk and it seems that he finally succumbed to his alcoholism. His obituary stated that Barnet Burns was better known as Pahe-a-Range, the New Zealand Chief, that he had suffered a long and painful illness and that he left behind a widow and two children to lament their loss.[61] The identities of the children mentioned in the obituary are not known.
Barnet Burns was buried in a common grave on 30 December 1860 at what is now the Ford Park Cemetery,[62] Plymouth.
References
- ^ a b "Burns, Barnet", Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, Volume 1, 1990. Te Ara. Retrieved 25 January 2009.
- ^ Registers of the Parish Church of Kirkby Ireleth 1681–1812, page 57, published Lancashire Parish Register Society, 1911.
- ^ The Anti-slavery Reporter, Zachary Macaulay, Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery, Vol. 1, pp. 27–31, retrieved 12 October 2008.
- ^ Police Report, The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 29 January 1831. Retrieved 11 January 2009.
- ^ Wigglesworth, Roger Philip, "The New Zealand timber and flax trade 1769–1840", PhD thesis, Massey University, 1981.
- ISBN 0-909434-28-X
- ^ "Stewart, Captain William W." An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, 1966, Te Ara.
- ^ a b c d "The East Coast Tattooed Trader", JA Mackay 1949, New Zealand Electronic Text centre. Retrieved 8 December 2008.
- ^ Ballara, Angela, "The Origins of Ngati Kahungunu", PhD thesis, Victoria University of Wellington, 1991.
- ^ ISBN 0-7900-0797-5
- ^ A Brief Narrative of a New Zealand Chief: Being the Remarkable History of Barnet Burns, an English sailor, with a faithful account of the way in which he became a chief of one of the tribes of New Zealand, together with a few remarks on the manners and customs of the people, and other interesting matter. Written by Himself, Belfast edition, 1844. Transcript from Hocken Library copy taken in 1970.
- ^ Iles, Mark, "A Maori History of Tokomaru Bay, East Coast, North Island", M.A. Thesis, University of Auckland, 1981
- ^ Te Whanau-a-Ruataupare
- ^ Donald, Stephen, Transcript of Census of the Archdeaconry of Waiapu taken by Ven. William Williams, 1846, sourced from Auckland Institute and Museum, MS 63.
- ^ Taylor, Richard, A Leaf from the Natural History of New Zealand, Auckland, 1848, New Zealand Electronic Text Centre, p. 56. Retrieved 12 January 2009.
- ^ Polack, J. S. Vol. II, Polack, Joel Samuel, New Zealand: Being a narrative of travels and adventures during a residence in that country between the years 1831 and 1837, Vol II, London, 1838, p. 121.
- ^ "Te Wera, Hauraki Kaiteke", An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, 1966. Te Ara.
- ^ a b "A Tame, But Interesting Siege", JA Mackay 1949, New Zealand Electronic Text centre. Retrieved 15 January 2009.
- ^ Turanga Treaty Kakatarau, known as Cotahrow to Barnet Burns, signed the East Coast copy of the treaty in May 1840
- ^ Tolaga Bay – Uawa Gisborne and the Eastern region, Gisbornenz.com. Retrieved 8 December 2008.
- ^ Walker, Victor, Te Kani-a-Takirau: Ariki, M.A. Thesis, Massey University, Palmerston North, 1997.
- ^ Sydney Gazette, Tuesday, 6 January 1835.
- ^ a b A New Zealand Chief: A Brief Narrative of the Remarkable History of B. Burns, an English Sailor, London, 1835, 26 pp. Original from Oxford University, Digitized 2 October 2007.
- ^ Records of the Worshipful Company of Stationers' Hall, Reel #16, Entries of copies 27 January 1835 to 31 August 1836.
- ^ The Atlas, Sunday, 26 July 1835.
- ^ Chitham, Karl; Māhina-Tuai, Kolokesa U.; Skinner, Damian Hugh, eds. (1 January 2019). Crafting Aotearoa: A Cultural History of Making in New Zealand and the wider Moana Oceania. p. 71.
- ^ Chichester Garland, Volume 1, No. 1, June 1836, p. 53.
- ^ Brighton Patriot and South of England Free Press, Tuesday, 5 July 1836.
- ^ a b A Letter in French[permanent dead link] Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Archives New Zealand, Reference: CAAR 19936 CH287/CP 139 ICPS 1902/1873 Shearman, Police to Provincial Secretary – inquiry being made for whereabouts of Barnet Burns, interpreter. Filed with 1847 (Colonial Secretary), 1847.1 to 1847.3–17 November 1873.
- ^ Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor: A Cyclopædia of the condition and earnings of those that will work, those that cannot work, and those that will not work. The London Street-folk, comprising street sellers, street buyers, street finders, street performers, street artizans, street labourers. With numerous illustrations from photographs. Volume III, London: Griffin, Bohn, and Company, Stationers' Hall Court, 1861, p. 90.
- ^ a b c The Yorkshire Gazette, 30 December 1848, p. 5.
- ^ The Times, Monday 15 December 1845, p. 6.
- ^ a b c Leicester Journal, Friday, 9 January 1857.
- ^ Thomson, A. S., The Story of New Zealand, 1859, Vol. I, p. 300.
- ^ Broadside for two lectures at the Hull Mechanics' Institute in June 1841, F/Broadside F3166, Petherick Reading Room, National Library of Australia
- ^ Hull Packet, 18 June 1841.
- ^ Geelong Advertiser, 27 June 1842.
- ^ North Staffordshire Mercury, Saturday, 7 May 1842.
- ^ Broadside for lectures at the Kidderminster Athenæum, Assembly Room, Lion Hotel, 4 and 8 March 1842, Alexander Turnbull Library, New Zealand
- ^ Broadside for three lectures at the Lecture Hall, Derby, 18, 19 and 20 April 1842, Variae 24/28, The Hocken Library, The Library of the University of Otago, Te Whare Wananga o Otago.
- ISBN 0-902751-50-6
- ^ Barnet Burns, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 25 January 2008. Retrieved 7 December 2008.
- ^ Freeman’s Journal, 17 October 1842.
- ^ Broadside for two lectures at the Assembly Rooms, The Angel, Islington, 10 and 11 December 1844, P Box 305.8994 SYL 1842, Alexander Turnbull Library, New Zealand, Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa.
- ^ Royal Adelaide Gallery of Practical Science, Adelaide Street, Strand, London.
- ^ The Times, Monday, 1 September 1845.
- ^ Hawkstone Hall Archived 30 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Eddowes's Salopian Journal, 21 April 1847.
- ^ Shrewsbury Chronicle, 26 April 1847.
- ^ Broadside for two lectures at the Lion Assembly Room, Shrewsbury, 26 and 27 April 1847.
- ^ Shrewsbury Chronicle, 30 April 1847.
- ^ Eddowes's Salopian Journal, 5 May 1847.
- The Manchester Times and Gazette, Saturday 6 May 1848
- ^ The Hull Advertiser, 25 August 1848.
- ^ a b c d e Broadside for two lectures at the Mechanics' Institution, Lincoln in 1849
- ^ thePeerage.com Sir Charles Henry John Anderson, 9th Bt.
- ^ Lincolnshire Chronicle, 1 June 1849.
- ^ West Briton, 14 January 1853.
- ^ West Briton, 28 January 1853.
- ^ Leicester Journal, Friday, 30 January 1857.
- ^ The Plymouth and Devonport Journal, Thursday, 3 January 1861.
- ^ Ford Park Cemetery Archived 7 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine formerly the Plymouth Devonport and Stonehouse Cemetery.