Quick Facts
Biography
Charles Johnson Pharazyn (11 October 1802 – 16 August 1903) was a runholder, merchant, and member of the New Zealand Legislative Council who lived beyond 100 years of age. His obituary in the Wellington newspaper described him as a man of much wealth.
Biography
Pharazyn was born in London in 1802. He arrived in Wellington on the Jane on 24 May 1841 and established himself as a merchant. Tiring of this he became a runholder leasing a run in Palliser Bay with William Fitzherbert.
by his son Robert
After a visit to England, he became a merchant again in partnership with, first John Johnston, and later Nathaniel Levin. He retired from business in 1871. He was eccentric; when he lost his spectacles in 1872, he walked through Wellington with a sign around his neck: "Lost, a pair of spectacles". He claimed that the Wellington newspapers were so dull that nobody read them, so advertising in them was pointless. He took a cold bath every morning, by which he explained his good health until old age.
Pharazyn was appointed by the governor to the Legislative Council on 17 June 1869 called by premier Edward Stafford. These appointments were made for life. He resigned from that role on 11 March 1885, by then well into his 80s, so the eldest of his four sons, Robert, could succeed him. This is said to be the closest the Legislative Council ever came to the hereditary principle.
Pharazyn married three times. He married Harriet Maria in London in 1825. There were no surviving children. He married Mary Catherine Buckland in London in 1832, they had four sons but she died in 1864. He married Jessica Rankin on 24 December 1867 at St. Paul's Church in Wellington, she died in 1891. Nearing his 101st birthday Pharazyn died in 1903 at the residence of his daughter-in-law, Mrs William Pharazyn, "Seacroft", Hobson Street, Thorndon, Wellington. His four sons died before him but he did leave five grandsons, four granddaughters and three great grandchildren.
Pharazyn's third son, Charles (1839-1903), was a runholder in the Wairarapa at Longwood, Featherston. The fourth son of this man but only son of his second wife was notable soldier, businessman, journalist, lecturer and trade unionist William Noel Pharazyn (1894–1980).