Augustus Hamilton

Augustus Hamilton^[1] (1 March 1853 – 12 October 1913) was a New Zealand ethnologist, biologist and museum director. He was born in Poole, Dorset, England on 1 March 1853.^[2] He wrote on the fishing and seafoods of the ancient Māori people.^[3] He also wrote on the art and workmanship of the Māori in New Zealand with a series of illustrations (from photographs).^[4]

Portrait of Augustus Hamilton (1913)

Hamilton became the second director of the Colonial Museum in Wellington, following James Hector, in 1903.^[5][6][7] He was one of the principal ethnologists in New Zealand at the time; he helped develop the Māori Antiquities Act in 1901 and was the main proponent for building a National Māori Museum.^[6] Hamilton was President of the Royal Society of New Zealand between 1909 and 1911; preceded by G. M. Thomson and followed by Thomas Frederic Cheeseman.^[8]

Hamilton's scientific specimens and other collection items are at Te Papa and other New Zealand institutions.^[9][10][11]

Family life

Hamilton married Hope Ellen McKain in Napier on 22 September 1882.^[1] He had a daughter, Pearl, and a son, Harold.^[1]

Hamilton died suddenly and prematurely in Russell, Bay of Islands, New Zealand in 1913.^[2][5]