07/09/2025
📚 Captain Francis Robinson: The First Settler Who Built the Foundations of Foxton
Foxton’s story begins with people, and one of the most influential was Captain Francis Robinson. Born in Yorkshire in 1805, he became the first permanent European settler in the area and spent his life shaping the early township, both through his family’s presence and the roads, schools, and community places he helped build.
From the Seas to the Manawatū
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Francis Robinson was described as tall, fair, and blue-eyed. He joined the Indian Navy as a young man and worked as Paymaster in Bombay. Life in India was harsh, with family members lost to sickness, and eventually his health forced him to leave.
In 1841, Francis arrived in Wellington on the Mandarin. After a short time in Australia, he returned to New Zealand and settled on land across the Manawatū River Loop. He named his property “Herrington” after his family home in England. At a time when most settlers chose Paiaka, further upriver, Robinson placed himself where Foxton would eventually grow.
Building a Home and Standing Firm
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In 1846, he married Ellen Cummerfield. Together, they raised a family through years of challenge. During the Māori conflicts, while many fled to Wellington, Francis stayed put. Ellen once faced the formidable chief Rangihaeata alone when he demanded rum. She refused him, and only Te Rauparaha’s intervention prevented violence. Their courage earned the family respect from both settlers and local iwi.
The Robinson homestead soon became a beacon for weary travellers, a place of hospitality, news, and connection when the district was still isolated and wild.
Building the Physical Foxton
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Francis was not a politician, but he was a builder of foundations. He worked with Thomas Cook and George Nye to purchase land from Ihakara Tukumara for Foxton’s first school in 1857, paying five pounds. He chaired the first Roads Board, which oversaw the slow, backbreaking work of forming roads south to Levin and digging roadside drains by hand.
At Herrington, he built a large two-storey barn. Coastal scows would pull in at the riverbank beside his property to unload supplies, which were hauled up by pulley to the upper floor. Though the homestead was pulled down in 1910 due to river erosion, the Norfolk pines that marked the site still stand today.
His love of horses saw him petition Parliament for a racecourse, which led to the Foxton Racecourse Act of 1869. He became one of its first trustees, while his sons played polo and his youngest, Octavius, later won the Savile Cup in Australia.
Robinson also purchased the land for Foxton’s Anglican Church, paying 100 gold sovereigns himself. He promised the burial site on the section would never be disturbed. After his death, stained glass windows were installed in the church to honour both Francis and Ellen.
Building a Community Spirit
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Though he avoided politics, Francis worked tirelessly behind the scenes. He was known as fair and generous, helping the needy quietly through Constable John Purcell. He welcomed overseas visitors, offered rest to travellers, and provided leadership as a Justice of the Peace.
He influenced both infrastructure and community life, creating the early systems of schooling, roads, and worship that allowed the town to grow. He showed that leadership was not only about office but about building in practical ways and caring for people.
A Farewell That Marked an Era
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When Francis died in 1888, just months after Foxton became a borough, the whole district grieved. It was the largest funeral the town had ever seen. Māori placed greenstone in his coffin, and women wearing green garlands wept as the cortege moved down Main Street. It was a tribute to the bridge he had built between cultures.
Captain Francis Robinson left behind more than land. He left schools, roads, barns, a racecourse, a church, and a spirit of service. He built the first layers of Foxton’s community with his hands, his resources, and his courage. His story is one of endurance, vision, and building the very beginnings of the place we call home.
And his story is still with us today. Many of the Robinson descendants continue to live in Foxton and across the Horowhenua.
Below: an image of Captain Francis Robinson in the mid-1800s, the man who laid the foundations of Foxton.
📖 Reference: Pioneers of Foxton: Book One (Foxton Historical Society, 1988)
