William Hobson (1793-1842) was a British naval commander and governor of New Zealand. He negotiated the Treaty of Waitangi with the Maori chiefs, which granted England sovereignty over New Zealand.

William Hobson was born at Waterford, Ireland, on Sept. 26, 1793. He entered the Royal Navy at the age of 9, became a midshipman in 1806, and rose to captain in 1834. served at the North Sea, West Indies, North America, English Channel, and Mediterranean stations and in 1836 was posted to Australia, where he surveyed Port Phillip Bay, the northern part of which was named after him.

In 1837 Hobson was sent to investigate the situation in New Zealand, where tribal warfare was reported to be threatening the lives of British subjects. As a solution, he proposed the establishment within certain areas of a series of British enclaves, or "factories," on the model of those of the East India Company in India, but it...