William Sefton Moorhouse

William Sefton Moorhouse ( 1825 – 15 September 1881) was a British-born New Zealand politician. He was the second Superintendent of Canterbury Province. Early life Moorhouse was born in Yorkshire, England, and baptised on 18 December 1825; the oldest son of William Moorhouse, a magistrate, and his wife, Ann Carter. He trained as a lawyer, entering as a student at the Middle Temple in November 1847, and was called to the Bar in November 1860. After working for a time in London, he moved to Lyttelton, New Zealand, with his two brothers (Benjamin and Thomas) in 1851. Soon afterwards, he moved to Wellington, where he resumed his law practice. He married Jane Ann(e) Collins on 15 December 1853 in Old St. Paul's, Wellington. He then briefly travelled to Australia, leaving with his wife on the barque Tory on 16 December for Melbourne. He subsequently returned to Lyttelton, and then moved to Christchurch, where he acted as a lawyer, magistrate, newspaper editor, and ship owner. One of his sisters, Sarah Ann Moorhouse, married William Barnard Rhodes. Another, Lucy Ellen Sykes Moorhouse, married John Studholme. Another, Mary Moorhouse, married Thomas Henry Wigley.