Wiremu Piti Pōmare
Wiremu Piti Pōmare (? – 29 January 1851), often known as Pōmare Ngātata, was a New Zealand Māori who was the chief of the Ngāti Mutunga iwi.
Pōmare's birth date is not known; he was said to be about 30 in 1834.[1][2] He was among the Ngāti Mutunga who migrated from Taranaki to Waikanae in about 1824. They moved on to Wellington Harbour a year later. Pōmare married Tawhiti, a niece of Te Rauparaha of Ngāti Toa, and they had three children.[1] After Pōmare's brother was killed in the battle of Haowhenua in 1834 and buried, Tawhiti's brothers dug up the grave, enraging Pōmare, who sent his wife back to her tribe, along with their two youngest children, keeping just the eldest child himself.[1][2] He then married Hera Waitaoro, daughter of Te Manu-tohe-roa of the Puketapu hapu of Te Āti Awa.[1]
Pōmare migrated with Ngāti Mutunga to the Chatham Islands in 1835. He became the leading Ngāti Mutunga chief about 1836–1837. He returned to Wellington in 1842, where he was baptised by Octavius Hadfield and took the Christian name Wiremu (Wi) Piti (a transliteration of William Pitt). He returned to the Chatham Islands, where he died on 29 January 1851. He was succeeded as leader of Ngāti Mutunga by his nephew Wiremu Naera Pōmare.[1]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e Ballara, Angela. "Wiremu Piti Pōmare". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
- ^ a b Smith, S. Percy (1910). History and Traditions of the Maoris of the West Coast North Island of New Zealand Prior to 1840. New Plymouth: Polynesian Society. p. 522.
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