William Brewer
Died in a Duel
William Vitruvius Brewer was born in London in 1812. He arrived in Wellington in the early 1840s and established himself in practice as a lawyer in Manners Street. In 1841 he married Isabella Harrison, who had emigrated to New Zealand with her married brother and his family.
The duel took place in 1844, when Brewer quarrelled with fellow lawyer Hugh Cokely Ross over a legal difference in a court case heard in the Wellington County Court.
On 28th February 1844, the two men met in the valley next to Sydney Street. Dr Dorset was the surgeon in attendance and Major Durie was Ross’s second. Reports do not mention who acted for Brewer. Brewer fired into the air and Ross shot him in the groin. When Brewer fell, the parties absconded but they returned when they realised Brewer was not dead.
The injured man was taken to a friend’s house and a doctor was called. While lying wounded he wrote his will, leaving everything to his wife. One of the witnesses to his will was his medical attendant, Dr Isaac Featherson.
It was initially hoped that Brewer might recover but he died a few days later on 4th March. The coroner’s inquest concluded that there was no proof as to who had inflicted the wound, despite there being several witnesses. The survivor of a duel could be charged with murder, which may have explained the witnesses’ silence.
Brewer was buried in Bolton Street cemetery. There is no record of a headstone. His brother Charles, a barrister in Nelson, was one of the executors of his will. Two weeks after Brewer’s death, Messrs Bethune and Hunter put up for public auction ‘a quantity of furniture, plate, boots and various other property, being the effects of the estates of J. Campell, W.V. Brewer and William Newman, deceased’.
In July 1845, it was reported in the Wellington Independent newspaper that Brewer’s widow Isabella died on board the Bella Marina ship. The ship had sailed from Wellington on 15th October 1844 for London and she died on 25th November, likely buried at sea.
Primary Sources:
Fatal Duel. (1844, March 6). New Zealand Gazette and Wellington Spectator, p2
[Probate]. (1844, March 23). New Zealand Gazette and Wellington Spectator, p1.
[Announcement]. (1845, July 12). Wellington Independent, p2.
Probate Files retrieved from www.familysearch.org
Secondary Sources:
https://nzhistory.govt.nz/pistols-dawn-deadly-duel-wellington
Manners Street 1842-1845, Mr Brewer’s house is on the right of the street.
[Brees, Samuel Charles] 1810-1865 :Wesleyan Chapel & Mission House, Wellington. [1845] Engraved by Henry Melville. Drawn by S C Brees. [London, 1847]. [Brees, Samuel Charles] 1810-1865 :Pictorial Illustrations of New Zealand. Plate 13. Pipitea Point, Wellington, 38; View looking down Hawkestone Street, Wellington with Mr Brees Cottage, 39; Wesleyan Chapel & Mission House, Wellington, 40. Engraved by Henry Melville. Drawn by S C Brees. [London, 1847]. Ref: A-109-022. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22309574