Joseph Thomas (surveyor)

Captain Joseph Thomas
1840 portrait of Captain Joseph Thomas
Born	1803 Worcester, England
Died	year unknown death place unknown
Occupation	Soldier, surveyor
Known for	Surveyor for the New Zealand Company and Canterbury Association

Captain Joseph Thomas (1803–?) was the chief surveyor for Lyttelton, Sumner, and Christchurch in New Zealand. He took up surveying after service in the British army, gaining the rank of lieutenant. In the 1840s, he explored many parts of New Zealand and worked for the New Zealand Company. This gained him employment with the Canterbury Association, which sent him to New Zealand in 1848. Thomas' role was to find a suitable site for their proposed settlement, and what became the Canterbury region with Christchurch as its capital was the result of his efforts. He was dismissed in early 1851 over quarrels with John Robert Godley, the agent of the Canterbury Association, just after the first settlers had arrived in the colony. Thomas' life after 1853 is unknown. Having allowed for Hagley Park as a generous central city green space is regarded as his major achievement, and it is his lasting legacy.

Thomas was born in Worcester, England, in 1803. At age 13, he was an ensign in the 101st Regiment. In 1819, he was admitted to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst and in November 1822, he joined the 87th Regiment of Foot. He served in India and in November 1827 transferred to the 19th (1st Yorkshire, North Riding) Regiment of Foot for service in the West Indies. Thomas left the army in 1833 with the rank of lieutenant, and worked in North and South America as a surveyor and mining engineer. He returned to England in 1839.

Thomas purchased land in Wellington from the New Zealand Company and arrived there on the Adelaide on 7 March 1840. As the land proved to be unavailable, he ventured into fishing and whaling, but in 1841 accepted a survey position under William Mein Smith. Thomas undertook work in Wanganui and Porirua, but together with most of his colleagues, he was sacked by chief surveyor Samuel Brees in March 1843. In the following year, he was engaged to undertake survey work in the Otago region under Frederick Tuckett, but the work was postponed and he explored parts of the North Island instead.