Joseph Colborne-Veel

Colborne-Veel was born in 1831 in Gloucester, England and received his early education at Kidderminster.[1] Sources differ whether he graduated in 1856 with honours from Magdalen College, Oxford,[1][2] or from the adjacent but unrelated Magdalen Hall, Oxford.[3] He once won an essay competition, beating Stopford Brooke to second place. Brooke later made a career as a writer, but in the essay competition, his style was marked "too flowery", whilst Veel was judged having used "good, straight-forward, sensible English."[3] In his younger days, he was a successful athlete and once won the lightweight sculls in Oxford.[4] Once in Christchurch, he frequently appeared in the media as a cricketer.[5] In his later life, he was a keen chess player.[4] He married Anne Maria Anstey (1840–1910)[2] in 1857, who was also from Gloucestershire.[6]

Immediately after the wedding, they emigrated to New Zealand on the Glentanner, arriving in Lyttelton on 3 October 1857.[6][7] With strong ties to the Anglican church, he had a letter of introduction with him to James FitzGerald, who had just gone to England as Canterbury's immigration agent (1857–1860), though.[3][8] Colborne-Veel initially went farming in Linwood and marked exam papers for Christ's College.[3]

He was editor of the Christchurch newspaper The Press from December 1861 to 1878 with a break of several months during 1868.[9] In March 1868, he left during a time a deep economic depression to be sub-editor of the Westland Observer, a newspaper run by George Sale.[10] At The Press, he was replaced by Charles Purnell. Towards the end of that year, the ownership of The Press changed, its publication reverted from three times a week to daily, and Purnell moved on. Colborne-Veel was attracted back as the newspaper's editor by December 1868.[11]

Following his career as a journalist, education in Canterbury was the area that he was most eager to enhance.[12] He resigned from The Press in 1878 to become secretary for the education board[13] was principal of the Christchurch Normal School (1893–1895),[14] and was a member of the Board of Governors of Canterbury College (1875–1895).[1][4] He died suddenly during a meeting of the Board of Governors on 29 July 1895.[15] He was buried at Barbadoes Street Cemetery.[16] He was survived by his wife, one son, and three daughters; his last residence had been in Montreal Street.[4][17] His wife died in November 1910.[6]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Joseph Colborne-Veel.

• Christchurch Press Company (1963). The Press, 1861–1961; the Story of a Newspaper. Christchurch: Christchurch Press Company.
• Scholefield, Guy, ed. (1940). A Dictionary of New Zealand Biography : M–Addenda (PDF). Vol. II. Wellington: Department of Internal Affairs. Retrieved 21 January 2014.