Carl Sylvius Völkner

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Carl Sylvius Völkner (c. 1819–1865) was a German-born Protestant missionary in New Zealand.

He was born in Kassel, Hesse, Germany, probably in 1819. Völkner was one of several missionaries sent to New Zealand by the North German Missionary Society. He arrived in New Zealand in August 1849. In 1852 he offered his services to the Church Missionary Society (CMS). He married Emma Lanfear, sister of a CMS missionary. Völkner took charge of the CMS mission station at Opotiki in August 1861. There he worked among Te Whakatohea, who built a church and a school for him. He went to Auckland during 1864 and again in January 1865. He was then warned by members of Te Whakatohea not to return to Opotiki.

Ignoring the warning, Völkner returned to Opotiki on 1 March 1865. He was apprehended, tried for being a spy, and killed the following day at the hands of Hauhau militants in the Völkner Incident. The local Anglican church in Opotiki has been named as St Stephen the Martyr in memory of his brutal death by hanging with decapitation and the swallowing of Völkner's eyeballs by the Hauhau leader, Kereopa Te Rau.

[edit] References

• Lyall, A. C., (1979) Whakatohea of Opotiki. A.H. & A.W. Reed.
• Chapter 5: The Völkner and Fulloon Slayings, in The Ngati Awa Raupatu Report. Waitangi Tribunal, 1999.
• Stokes, Evelyn. Völkner, Carl Sylvius: 1819–1865, in Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage, Wellington, New Zealand. Updated 22 June 2007.