Robert Maunsell was a pioneering Church Missionary Society missionary to New Zealand and accomplished linguist and translator.
He arrived at the Bay of Islands in 1835 where he worked at the Te Waimate and Manukau missions.
Maunsell worked with William Williams on a revised translation of the Māori language Bible, primarily on the Old Testament portions. He was also a translator of the Book of Common Prayer. Rev. Maunsell was the first minister to conduct a Christian service in Auckland, in 1840. He served as Rev. Robert Maunsell Archdeacon of Waitemata from 1868 to 1870, and as the Archdeacon of Auckland until 1883.
Rev. Maunsell secured 32 Māori signatures to the Treaty of Waitangi under the conviction that it would help protect Māori from harm. He later publicly stated that he believed its guarantees were not adequately supported.
He published the Grammar of the New Zealand Language in 1842.
Rev. Maunsell’s Biography at TEARA
Robert Maunsell’s Wikipedia Page
Rev. Robert Maunsell
Died 1894
IMAGE: Sarjeant Gallery Te Whare O Rehua Whanganui, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
