of the General Legislative Council courtesy of his post. On the death of Captain Hobson on 10 September 1842, the lieutenant administered the government of New Zealand until the arrival of Captain Robert FitzRoy on 31 December 1843. During Shortland's temporary government the Wairau Affray took place on 17 June 1843, and in his dispatches to the British government he expressed his disapproval of the conduct of the settlers, to which he attributed the massacre. This action made him unpopular, and, when a report of his nomination as Governor of New Zealand was circulated, a petition was sent from Auckland praying that he might not be appointed. On 31 December 1843 he was dismissed from the colonial secretaryship by FitzRoy. Nevis and Tobago In 1845 became President of the island of Nevis in the Leeward Islands. After that, he was Governor of Tobago from 10 January 1854 until 1856, and then, returning to England, resided on his property, Courtlands, Charleton, Kingsbridge, Devon, until his death. Family and death He married, in 1841 in Auckland, Isabella Kate Johnston, daughter of Robert A. Fitzgerald of Geraldine, County Limerick. He died at Courtlands on 7 October 1869. See also Notes References 1804 births 1869 deaths Royal Navy officers British colonial governors and administrators in Oceania Members of the Cabinet of New Zealand Colonial Secretaries of New Zealand British Leeward Islands people Governors of British Tobago Governors of Nevis 19th-century New Zealand politicians Members of the New Zealand Legislative Council (1841–1853)