Edward Tregear was born in Southampton in 1846. He was a scholarly lad who steeped himself in medieval and Celtic legend, and could read and write Greek and Latin by the age of seven. His life was shattered when his father, a captain with P&O, died in Bombay in 1859 leaving the family in dire financial straits. In 1863, seventeen-year-old Tregear brought his mother and two sisters to New Zealand .
To make ends meet Tregear was forced into the uncharacteristic role of soldier, and then surveyor in the central North Island. The 1870s were years of great personal turmoil and physical hardship, and the family were extremely poor. He brooded over his fate amidst strange land forms, seeing himself as a young poet untimely ripped from his motherland and cast adrift in desert lands. He travelled
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Citation: Howe, Kerry. "Edward Tregear". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 25 May 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5917, accessed 22 November 2024.]
