magistrate in the Ahuriri district of Hawke's Bay. During his time in Hawke's Bay, Domett played a principal part in naming Napier after General Sir Charles James Napier, GCB (1782–1853), who led the military conquest of Sindh in India in 1843, and the streets of Napier after other men whom he admired in British Indian history and after various poets and literary figures. In 1855, Nelson residents elected Domett to the House of Representatives and in September 1856, he was appointed commissioner of Crown lands in Nelson. Thereafter he was the fourth Premier of New Zealand from 1862 to 1863. He represented the electorate of Nelson, first as the Town of Nelson 1855–1860 and then City of Nelson 1860–1866 (retired). As electorates at this time returned multiple members, Domett shared representation of Nelson with Edward Stafford, who had also served as Premier. Domett was a member of the New Zealand Legislative Council from 19 June 1866 until 3 July 1874, when his membership ceased as he had returned to the country of his birth for his final years. During his tenure in office, Domett brought about the moving of New Zealand's capital from Auckland to Wellington in 1865. In November 1863 he moved a resolution before Parliament that "it has become necessary that the seat of government... should be transferred to some suitable locality in Cook Strait." His movement was carried, but many reference books and parliamentary papers of the inchoate General Assembly Library (known officially after 1985 as New Zealand Parliamentary Library), were lost in a shipwreck during removal from Auckland to Wellington. Domett became a CMG in 1880. Notes References External links A critical analysis of Domett's work, 'That Savage Story': Alfred Domett's "Ranolf and Amohia" in Its Ethnographic Verse Context, by John O'Leary. Journal of New Zealand Literature (JNZL), No. 25 (2007), pp. 94–113 (20 pages). Online version.That Savage Story Engraving from a watercolour by G. Lance of Domett when a law student (1836) Photograph of Domett in his later years by Herman John Schmidt Cartoon of un-named drunk MP by Alfred Domett, 1856 Online reproduction of above-referenced correspondence between Domett and Browning, published in 1906, edited by Frederick G. Kenyon |- Prime Ministers of New Zealand English politicians 19th-century New Zealand poets English barristers Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge People from Camberwell New Zealand people of English descent Companions of the Order of St Michael