Wi Pere

Wiremu "Wi" Pere (7 March 1837 – 9 December 1915) was a Māori politician, rangatira and land rights advocate. He represented the Eastern Māori electorate in the House of Representatives from 1884 to 1887 and again from 1893 to 1905, before serving in the New Zealand Legislative Council from 1907 to 1912. He was widely regarded as an influential Māori leader,

Condolences lamenting the death of Queen Victoria sent to the Duke and Duchess of York (1901).

Biography Wi Pere was born at Tūranga (now Gisborne) on 7 March 1837, the son of English trader Thomas Halbert and Rīria Mauaranui of Te Whānau-a-Kai, a hapū of Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki and Rongowhakaata. Baptised William Halbert, he became widely known by the Māori form of his name, Wiremu Pere.

Death and legacy

Pere died on 9 December 1915 and was buried in a vault at Waerenga-a-Hika on 3 January 1916.

Pere's descendants continued his public legacy. His son, Albert Pere, was a lawyer and served as a Petone Borough councillor from 1922 until his death in 1926. His grandson, the Māori historian Rongowhakaata Pere Halbert, became one of the foremost authorities on the history and whakapapa of Tūranga.