Thomas Spencer Forsaith, JP (18 July 1814 – 29 November 1898), was a New Zealand politician and an Auckland draper. According to some historians, he was the country's second premier, although a more conventional view states that neither he nor his predecessor (James FitzGerald) should properly be given that title.

Early life

Forsaith was born in London, England on 18 July 1814 to Samuel Forsaith (1776–1832) and Elizabeth Forsaith née Emberson (1782–1844). His father was a linen draper and haberdasher. His parents belonged to the Congregational church.

His father's first marriage was to Elizabeth Smyth (1771 – 23 September 1809). They had five children:

  • Sarah Smyth Forsaith (4 August 1801 – 26 April 1854)
  • Samuel Smyth Forsaith (21 January 1803 – 1 April 1894)
  • John Smyth Forsaith (8 October 1804 – 31 July 1883)
  • Elizabeth Smyth Forsaith (21 May 1806 – 12 August 1809)
  • Mary Smyth Forsaith (19 February 1808 – 3 June 1845)

Of those, Samuel emigrated to New Zealand, arriving in Auckland prior to May 1851. He died in Thames in 1894.

After his first wife's death in September 1809, Samuel Forsaith married Elizabeth née Emberson on 4 October 1810. They had nine children: All other siblings and his parents remained in England.

Thomas Forsaith became an apprentice as a silk merchant in Croydon, but he rather wanted to go to sea. As a cabin boy, he travelled on a collier to the River Tyne. He then made three journeys to the West Indies as a cadet officer for Charles Horsfall and Co. on the Huddersfield (named after Horsfall's birthplace). He returned home with a good reference, but found that his father had died in the meantime. As a fourth officer, he sailed on the convict ship Hoogley to Botany Bay in 1834. Two years later, he again sailed to Australia, this time on the Lord Goderich. He first came to New Zealand on the return journey, when kauri spars were loaded in Hokianga.

Forsaith was married on 17 May 1838 at the Congregational Church in Old Broad Street, London to Elizabeth Mary, a daughter of Robert Clements of Hoxton. Their wedding was one of the first in a dissenting church that was legalised. They decided to emigrate to New Zealand and Forsaith took woodworking machinery and trading goods with them on the Coromandel later in 1838. He built a timber mill for cutting kauri spars, as the British Government was purchasing these at £17 each. He cleared land for wheat and running cattle, which he had to import. By May 1841, he had fenced 12 acres of cleared land, most of it growing wheat. An upset Forsaith asked the Governor (William Hobson) for compensation, who sent the Protector of Aborigines, George Clarke, to investigate. Forsaith was cleared of any wrongdoing, and the Māori chiefs settled by giving him a block of land of . Forsaith, still unsettled by the incident, swapped his land holding with another nearer Auckland. Clarke, who had held his role since April 1840, had not visited the Kaipa District before and made recommendations for a magistracy there.

On 30 October 1843, Charlotte Clements Forsaith was born in Auckland; she was their only child. She was baptised on 5 December that year. She married Thomas Morell MacDonald at her father's residence in Khyber Pass Road, Auckland, on 7 January 1862. Their grandson Tom Macdonald (1898–1980) was a New Zealand Member of Parliament for over 20 years. Charlotte died on 12 December 1894 in Invercargill. Clarke managed to persuade Hobson to free him of the land purchase role, but it remained within the scope of the Sub-protectors.

In 1843, Forsaith was promoted to Protector in succession of Clarke. Forsaith worked closely with the second Governor, Robert FitzRoy. They travelled in the Cook Strait area in 1844, and to the Māori meeting at Waikanae following the Wairau Affray near Tuamarina, the first serious clash of arms between Māori and colonists. Forsaith was then stationed in Wellington and witnessed the Te Aro land purchase in February 1844. He negotiated with Te Rangihaeata about the evacuation of land in the Hutt Valley, but the actions of the New Zealand Company and the impatience of the settlers to move onto disputed land resulted in the Hutt Valley campaign. He acted as interpreter for Mathew Richmond, the Government Superintendent for the Southern District, and Bishop Selwyn, the first Anglican Bishop of New Zealand. When the influential chief Te Rauparaha visited Wellington in 1845, he was shown around by Forsaith. He had this business from 1847 to 1862. He also edited the Daily Southern Cross newspaper for a while. He became a Justice of the peace in 1857. Elections in the Northern Division District were held on 31 August 1852, and Allan O'Neill (from Bayswater) and Forsaith were returned. The council had not met by the time the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 arrived, which resulted in the abolition of New Ulster and New Munster provinces and their replacement with new provincial governments and established, a bicameral New Zealand Parliament, consisting of the General Assembly, the Governor, and a legislative council.

Parliament

Forsaith once again stood for election and he and Walter Lee were returned on 23 August 1853 to the 1st New Zealand Parliament as representatives of the Northern Division electorate, which covered the area north of Auckland but south of Whangārei.

The 1854 FitzGerald ministry was the first Executive Council under the 1852 Constitution led by James FitzGerald. When it became clear that the first ministers had no power, they resigned as the Executive after seven weeks on 2 August 1854. Robert Wynyard, the administrator filling in after Grey's departure and before the arrival of the next Governor, Colonel Thomas Gore Browne prorogued Parliament as the members refused to accept his claim that responsible government was not possible without royal assent, which had not been given. In the second session of the 1st Parliament, Forsaith, as a member of the minority which supported Wynyard, was appointed by Wynyard to lead an Executive. The other members of this Executive were Jerningham Wakefield, William Travers and James Macandrew. This appointed Cabinet did not have the confidence of Parliament and lasted only from 31 August to 2 September 1854. Forsaith's Ministry is the shortest in New Zealand's parliamentary history.

When Browne arrived, he announced that self-government would begin with the 2nd New Zealand Parliament. No new Cabinet was formed before then, but when it did, responsible government was obtained under the Sewell Ministry led by Henry Sewell.

Forsaith and Reader Wood contested a vacancy in the City of Auckland electorate. The nomination meeting on 26 April 1858 sparked little interest. A show of hands was in favour of Forsaith, and Wood called for a poll. The election was held the next day and Forsaith was elected. Parliament at the time was in session, and he took the oath on 28 April, being welcomed back by the speaker.

Wiremu Kīngi Te Rangitāke, the paramount chief of Te Āti Awa, refused to sell land to the government. When Te Teira, one of the minor chiefs of the tribe, agreed to sell land, many missionaries and a previous Chief Justice, William Martin, warned that the purchase was illegal. The events resulted in the First Taranaki War. Forsaith supported

Kingi in Parliament and made himself deeply unpopular, which effectively ended his political career. He retired at the end of the 2nd Parliament.

Forsaith was a deeply religious person, and he gave religious lectures to the public while he was a member of parliament. During his time in the 1st Parliament, he tried to secure religious toleration. He successfully defeated Hugh Carleton's motion of having Bishop Selwyn's salary paid by the Government, thus preventing the Anglican Church from becoming the one religion endorsed by the state. Instead, Forsaith was offered a missionary post to the gold fields, which he declined. In July of that year, he was instead ordained as a pastor at the new Congregational Church at Port Chalmers.

thumb|upright|right|Gravestone for Thomas Spencer Forsaith and his wife Elizabeth Mary|alt= photo of gravestone

In 1867, Forsaith accepted an invitation for a pastorate at Woollahra. He left New Zealand on board the Parisian on 23 September 1867. In 1868, he moved to Parramatta, where he initially held services in the School of Arts. A church was built for the community, which opened on 19 May 1872. Also in 1872, Forsaith became chairman of the Congregational Union of New South Wales.

In 1878, he became resident chaplain at Camden College, a theological college founded in 1864. From there, he initiated a branch mission at Haslam's Creek, but moved back to Parramatta in 1882.

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