Te Puea Herangi

Princess Te Puea Herangi, CBE (9 November 1883 – 12 October 1952) was a Māori leader from New Zealand's Waikato region known by the name Princess Te Puea. Her mother, Tiahuia, was the elder sister of King Mahuta.

She was born at Whatiwhatihoe, near Pirongia in the Waikato, daughter of Te Tahuna Herangi and Tiahuia. Te Tahuna Herangi was the son of William Nicholas Searancke an English surveyor. Tiahuia was daughter, by his principal wife, of the second Māori King, Tawhiao Te Wherowhero.

As the eventual successor to her grandfather, she was educated in the traditional Māori ways. At age 12 she began attending Mercer Primary School and then went on to attend Mangere Bridge School and Melmerly College in Parnell. She was fluent in speaking and writing Māori and she could speak English but her written English was very poor. During her teenage years she was often very sick. She lived a wild and promiscuous life. She was given ariki status and developed an arrogant and demanding personality and was often in conflict with her family and whanau over her many partners such as Tom Paikea, Paraire Herewini, Roy Secombe,Te Tahi Iwikau, Rawiri Katipa and her drunken bickering – a lifestyle she later came to bitterly regret. She married Rawiri Tumokai Katipa in 1922. She was unable to have children.

In her twenties, Te Puea settled at Mangatawhiri and began dairy farming. She began collecting and recording waiata (songs), whakapapa (genealogies) and korero tawhito (history) from her extended family.

When her mother died in 1898, Te Puea returned home reluctantly at the age of 15, supposedly to take her mother's place. However, being young and believing also that she was dying of tuberculosis, she rejected the traditional role expected of her and cut herself off from her people.

This phase passed and in 1911 she returned to her people and resumed her hereditary role. Her first task, the one that re-established her mana among her people, was to successfully campaign on behalf of Maui Pomare in his election bid to become the Kingite Member of Parliament. Te Puea later fell out with Pomare because he supported Maori soldiers fighting for New Zealand overseas. Te Puea worked against this behind Pomare's back. He became aware of her attitude and in the winter of 1918 attended an anti conscription hui called by Te Puea where he was roundly abused by all the elders of the kingitanga. Te Puea's support base was mainly with the lower Waikato tribes initially-she was a minor figure for up river iwi such as Maniapoto.

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