Жаңа Зеландияның тұңғыш губернаторы және Вайтанги шартының авторларының бірі Уильям Хобсон

First Governor of New Zealand and co author of the Treaty of Waitangi
the professional wrestler

Captain William Hobson (26 September 1792 – 10 September 1842) was an Irish officer in the British Royal Navy, who served as the first Governor of New Zealand. He was a co author of the Treaty of Waitangi. Hobson was dispatched from London in July 1839, with instructions to take the constitutional steps needed to establish a British colony in New Zealand. He was sworn in as Lieutenant Governor in Sydney (under George Gipps) and arrived in New Zealand on 29 January 1840. On 5 February 1840, Hobson met with Māori chiefs at Waitangi, and the following morning they signed a treaty by which the chiefs purportedly voluntarily transferred sovereignty to the British Crown in return for guarantees respecting their lands and possessions and their rights as British subjects. Three months later, Hobson proclaimed British sovereignty over the islands of New Zealand. He also selected the site for a new capital, which he named Auckland. In May 1841, New Zealand was constituted as a separate Crown colony, with Hobson promoted to Governor and Commander in Chief. In his final months Hobson was dogged by poor health which left him detached from political affairs. He died in office in September 1842.

William Hobson was born in Waterford, Ireland, the son of Samuel Hobson, a barrister and Martha Jones. He attended a (barely) private school, but despite this disadvantage he joined the Royal Navy on 25 August 1803 as a second class volunteer. He served in the Napoleonic Wars and was later involved in the suppression of piracy in the Caribbean. He became a midshipman in 1806 and some seven years later was a first lieutenant. In September 1822 merchants at Nassau equipped two sloops to cruise against pirates, with proving officers and seamen to man the sloops. One sloop, with 23 men under the command of a midshipman, encountered a pirate schooner and felucca. The British repulsed the schooner and captured the felucca. Those of the felucca's crew who were not killed jumped overboard and were drowned. British casualties amounted to two men killed and seven, including the midshipman, wounded. The second sloop had a worse fortune. The sloop Whim was under the command of Lieutenant William Hobson and two midshipmen from Tyne when on 29 September a pirate schooner captured her at Guanaha. The pirates held the British captive for several days, treating their prisoners badly, but all the British survived. Between March 1823 and May 1824 Hobson commanded the schooner , in which he captured several pirate vessels, earning himself the nickname "Lion Hobson". He was promoted to commander on 18 March 1824 and commanded between 1826 and 1828. In December 1834 he obtained a commission from the First Lord of the Admiralty – George Eden, 1st Earl of Auckland – to the East Indies on .

In 1836, he was ordered to Australia, arriving at Hobart on 5 August 1836, and at Sydney 18 days later. On 18 September 1836, left for Port Phillip District (later Melbourne) conveying Captain William Lonsdale and other officials to the new colony. During the next three months, Hobson and his officers thoroughly surveyed Port Phillip, the northern portion of which, by direction of Governor Sir Richard Bourke, was named Hobsons Bay, after him. (Thus the local government area of the City of Hobsons Bay is indirectly named after him.) His ship was involved in the founding of the port of Williamstown. He was offered the position of Superintendent of the Bombay Marine at a salary of £2000 a year, but he had taken a liking to Australia and was a candidate for the governorship of Port Phillip, although the salary was not expected to be more than £800 a year.

On 26 May 1837 Hobson sailed to the Bay of Islands, New Zealand, in response to a request for help from James Busby, the British Resident, who felt threatened by wars between Māori tribes. For three months in 1837 Pōmare II (Whiria) fought with Tītore until a peace agreement was negotiated by Tareha. On his return to England in 1838, Hobson submitted a report on New Zealand, in which he proposed establishing British sovereignty over the islands in small pockets similar to the Hudson's Bay Company in Canada.

[[File:Appointment of William Hobson as Lieutenant Governor, 1839. pdf|thumb|1839 document appointing Hobson as Lieutenant Governor of New Zealand. The title "Lieutenant Governor" signifies that Hobson was actually deputy to another Governor. Hobson arrived in the Bay of Islands aboard on 29 January 1840 with a small group of officials, including an executive council consisting of Colonial Secretary Willoughby Shortland, Colonial Treasurer George Cooper and Attorney General Francis Fisher. The legislative council comprised the above officials and three Justices of the Peace. Hobson appointed as three Magistrates, Messrs. Shortland, Johnson, and Matthew.

In November 1840, the Queen signed a royal charter for New Zealand to become a Crown Colony separate from New South Wales. Hobson was sworn in by the Chief Justice as Governor of New Zealand on 3 May 1841. Hobson travelled to Wellington in August 1841, where he heard the complaints of settlers and selected magistrates. He then visited Akaroa to settle the French claims. Back in Auckland, he had some difficulty with the Māori, and his government was ridiculed by journalists in Wellington and Auckland. He responded by closing down the New Zealand Herald and Auckland Gazette. With his government low on funds, he resorted to issuing unauthorised bills on the British Treasury in 1842. Hobson faced opposition from the "Senate clique" radicals who sent a petition to the Foreign Secretary to have Hobson recalled. One of Hobson's last actions was to declare an Auckland Anniversary Day, to mark the anniversary of his arrival in the Bay of Islands. Hobson suffered a second stroke and died on 10 September 1842, prior to being recalled from office. He was buried in the Symonds Street cemetery in Auckland.