Edward Baigent
| Edward Baigent | |
|---|---|
| Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Waimea |
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In office 1867 – 1870 |
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In office 1876 – 1879 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
22 June 1813 Windlesham, Surrey, England |
| Died | 9 November 1892 (aged 79) Wakefield, New Zealand |
| Political party | Independent |
| Spouse(s) | Mary Ann Hern |
| Children | Henry Baigent |
Edward Baigent (22 June 1813 – 9 November 1892) was a 19th-century Member of Parliament from Nelson, New Zealand. He was one of the most successful saw-millers of the region, and his company existed for well over 100 years.
Edward Baigent was born in 1813 in Windlesham, Surrey, England, and christened on 31 July 1814. His parents were Thomas Baigent (1782–1860) and Dorothy Ann Coule (1782–1869). He married Mary Ann Hern at Windlesham, circa 1830.
The Baigents and their five children emigrated to Nelson on the Clifford in May 1842; he was thus one of the earliest settlers in the Nelson region.
His son Joseph was born three days after their arrival in the colony and he was only the seventh child to be born in Nelson. His next son, Henry Baigent, later became Mayor of Nelson. After Henry, the Baigents had four more children; eleven in total.
They lived in Nelson at first, but settled in Wakefield in 1844. When Baigent first went to the Wakefield area, he reputedly spent the first night sleeping under a large Tōtara tree, the 'Baigent sleeping tree', in what is now Wakefield Recreation Reserve adjacent to State Highway 6. The site is marked with a plaque and his descendants planted a Totara tree there in 1992, 100 years after Baigent's death. Nearby where Eighty Eight Valley Stream flows into the Wai-iti River, the 1.2 hectare Edward Wakefield Reserve was created in 2000. The land was donated to the District Council with a stipulation that overnight camping be allowed.
Mary Ann Baigent began providing school education at their home in Wakefield in mid-1843, but the school moved to a cob house in November of that year. On 1 January 1844, the new school was officially opened, making Wakefield School the oldest continuous school in New Zealand.
In 1844, Baigent built a water race on the Wai-iti River and a water wheel drove a flour-mill. In 1845, he added a saw-milling plant, and the timber was rafted down the Wai-iti River to the nearest road. Baigent had to work for the New Zealand Company to finance his business expansion, so he worked on his sawmill at night after his paid labour job. By 1850, there were eight men in his employment.
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