Charles George Tripp

Charles George Tripp
Charles George Tripp in 1878
Born	(1826-07-01)1 July 1826
Died	6 July 1897(1897-07-06) (aged 71)
Spouse(s)	Ellen Shephard Tripp (m. 1858)
Relatives	Bishop Harper (father-in-law) John Acland (brother-in-law) Charles Blakiston (brother-in-law)

Charles George Tripp (1 July 1826 – 6 July 1897) was a pioneering sheep farmer in South Canterbury, New Zealand. Together with his friend and business partner John Acland, he was the first to use the Canterbury high country for sheep farming.

Tripp was born in Kentisbeare, Mid Devon, England in 1826. His parents were the rector Rev. Charles Tripp and Frances Tripp (née Owen). He received his education at the Merchant Taylors' School in London before studying law. He was called to the bar on 30 April 1853 and introduced his friend, John Acland, to members of the Canterbury Association, who proposed the organised settlement of Canterbury in New Zealand with Anglican ideals; introductions included those to James FitzGerald and John Robert Godley. Acland also worked in law.

Acland and Tripp gave up their profession and emigrated to New Zealand in 1854 in the Royal Stuart to become sheep farmers. They arrived in Lyttelton on 4 January 1855. Both needed to obtain experience first and thus worked as cadets on established runs; Acland gained experience under Henry Tancred, whilst Tripp worked in Halswell and for one of the Brittan brothers. On 30 July 1855, they applied for land in the foothills in an area that was unexplored and their choice was guesswork; all the suitable land on the Canterbury Plains had been taken up already. Established did not take them seriously, and some laughed at them for wanting to take up high country land, but Acland's attitude was that "in the Colonies you always like to see for yourself, and the worse account you hear of unoccupied country, the greater the reason for going to look at it." In the spring and summer of 1855/56, they started exploring the area. Both had £2,000 of capital, which was insufficient to buy an established station. They took up land including Mount Somers, Mount Possession, Mount Peel, Orari Gorge and parts of Hakatere and Mesopotamia, and were the first who put sheep in the high country. The first station they worked on was Mount Peel from May 1856, and while they prepared the run, they left their sheep with Dr Moorhouse, a brother of William Sefton Moorhouse, on the other side of the Rangitata River. Their partnership was dissolved in October 1862, and Tripp retained Orari Gorge and Mount Somers.