of skilled workers in New Zealand, Hunter was forced to accept Parnell's terms on the spot. Parnell greeted ships coming in to Port Nicholson, and told all new migrants not to work more than eight hours a day. In a workers' meeting at October 1840, it was agreed that people should only work eight hours a day, which must be between 8am and 5pm. Anyone accepting less favourable working conditions was to be thrown into the harbour. The eight-hour day was cemented when, in 1841, road-builders in Hutt Valley went on strike after being told to work longer hours. 1842–1890 In 1842, his first wife Mary Ann died, and in 1843 Parnell sold his Hutt Valley country land, and started an animal farm in Karori. On 12 December 1851 he married another widow, Sarah Sophia Brunger, with two children. While a farmer, Parnell still did some carpentry work, and built a home for the local judge. In October 1873 Parnell returned to Wellington, and lived in Cambridge Terrace. Parnell never had any children of his own, and his second wife died in 1888. The by-then much honoured and respected Parnell died on 17 December 1890. Thousands of people attended his public funeral three days later. He is buried at Bolton Street Memorial Park, and his grave is part of the memorial trail. Honorific eponym Samuel Parnell Road in the Wellington suburb of Karori was named in Parnell's honour in 1999. The Auckland suburb of Parnell, established in 1841, is often incorrectly said to have been named after Parnell. References External links Samuel Parnell in the 1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand 1810 births 1890 deaths New Zealand activists New Zealand farmers Workers' rights activists English emigrants to New Zealand Burials at Bolton Street Cemetery