{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=August 2014}} {{Infobox officeholder | birth_date = 1822 | birth_place = [[Buckinghamshire]], England | death_date = {{Death date|1864|02|17|df=y}} | death_place = [[London]], England | name = William Oldfield Cautley | constituency_MP = [[Waimea (New Zealand electorate)|Waimea]] | parliament = New Zealand | majority = | successor = [[William Travers (New Zealand politician)|William Travers]] | term_start = 24 May 1854 | term_end = 26 May 1854 }}

'''William Oldfield Cautley''' {{post-nominals|country=NZL|JP|size=85%}} (1822 – 17 February 1864) was a [[New Zealand]] settler and politician.

==Early life and family== Cautley was born in the English county of [[Buckinghamshire]] in 1822, the son of the Reverend Richard Cautley.<ref name="Alumni Cantabrigienses">{{cite book |last=Venn |first=J.A. |author-link=John Archibald Venn |title=Alumni Cantabrigienses, Part II, Volume I |url=https://archive.org/details/p2alumnicantabri01univuoft |access-date=3 February 2015 |year=1940 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=542}}</ref> He was educated at [[Uppingham School]] from 1837 to 1840, where he was an [[Exhibition (scholarship)|exhibitioner]] on leaving,<ref>{{cite book |title=Uppingham School Roll, 1824 to 1905 |url=https://archive.org/details/uppinghamschool00schogoog |access-date=3 February 2015 |year=1906 |publisher=Edward Stanford |location=London |page=13}}</ref> and then matriculated at [[Emmanuel College, Cambridge]] in the [[Michaelmas term]], 1840.<ref name="Alumni Cantabrigienses"/>

However, in September 1841 he sailed from [[West India Docks]] on the ''Mary Ann'', bound for the [[New Zealand Company]]'s new settlement of [[Nelson, New Zealand|Nelson]], landing there on 8 February 1842.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nelsonmuseum.co.nz/early%2Dsettlers/passengerDetails.aspx?passengerId=424 |title=Early settlers database – passenger details |year=2013 |publisher=Nelson Provincial Museum |access-date=3 February 2015}}</ref> He began farming a property known as "Wensley Hill" at Waimea East (now called [[Richmond, New Zealand|Richmond]]).<ref>{{cite book |title=The Cyclopedia of New Zealand: Nelson, Marlborough & Westland provincial districts |url=http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Cyc05Cycl-t1-body1-d1-d1-d3.html |access-date=3 February 2015 |year=1906 |publisher=Cyclopedia Company |location=Christchurch |page=33}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=NENZC18460207.2.2.1 | title=Advertisements | date=7 February 1846 | work=Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle | access-date=3 February 2015 | page=193}}</ref>

In September 1842 Cautley was appointed as the Nelson postmaster and clerk to magistrates,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nzpictures.co.nz/1842BlueBook.pdf |title=Blue Books 1840–1855 |publisher=Archives New Zealand |access-date=5 February 2015}}</ref> and in 1848 he was appointed a Justice of the Peace for the province of [[New Munster Province|New Munster]].<ref>{{cite web | title=Magistrates |url=http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ourstuff/Magistrates.htm |publisher=Rootsweb|access-date=4 July 2010 }}</ref>

==Political career== {{NZ parlbox header|nolist=true}} {{NZ parlbox |start = {{NZ election link year|1853}} |end = 1854 |term = 1st |electorate = {{NZ electorate link|Waimea}} |party = Independent politician }} {{End}} In 1850, Cautley was appointed as a member of the short-lived Legislative Council of the province of New Munster.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=WI18500810.2.11 | title=Colonial Secretary's Office | date=10 August 1850 | work=Wellington Independent | access-date=5 February 2015 | page=3}}</ref>

In the [[1853 New Zealand general election|1853 general election]], Cautley was elected as representative for the [[Waimea (New Zealand electorate)|Waimea]] electorate alongside [[David Monro (New Zealand politician)|David Monro]]. The first session of the [[1st New Zealand Parliament]] started on 24 May 1854, and Cautley resigned his seat on 26 May 1854. He did not serve in any further Parliaments.<ref name="Wilson">{{cite book |last= Wilson |first= Jim | author-link=Jim Wilson (librarian) |title= New Zealand parliamentary record, 1840-1984 |edition= 4 |orig-year= First ed. published 1913 |year= 1985 |publisher= V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer |location= Wellington |oclc= 154283103 }}</ref>

In November 1854, Cautley was elected as a member for Waimea East on the [[Nelson Province|Nelson Provincial Council]] following the death of sitting member Francis Otterson. Cautley defeated [[Mary Ann Müller|Stephen Lunn Müller]] by 54 votes to 40.<ref>{{cite news | url= http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=NENZC18541111.2.7 | title=Waimea East election | date=11 November 1854 | work=Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle | access-date=5 February 2015 | page=2}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=NENZC18541115.2.5 | title=Waimea East election | date=15 November 1854| work=Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle | access-date=5 February 2015 | page=2}}</ref>

==Later life== Cautley died in [[London]] on 17 February 1864, after a long illness.<ref>{{cite news|title=Died |url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=NENZC18640505.2.6 |access-date=4 July 2010 |work=Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle |volume=XXIII |issue=54 |date=5 May 1864 |page=2 }}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{s-start}} {{s-par | nz}} {{s-new | constituency}} {{s-ttl | title= [[Waimea (New Zealand electorate)|Member of Parliament for Waimea]]| years=1853&ndash;1854 | alongside = [[David Monro (New Zealand politician)|David Monro]] }} {{s-aft | after = [[William Travers (New Zealand politician)|William Travers]] }} {{end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cautley, William Oldfield}} [[Category:1822 births]] [[Category:1864 deaths]] [[Category:Politicians from Buckinghamshire]] [[Category:People educated at Uppingham School]] [[Category:Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge]] [[Category:British emigrants to New Zealand]] [[Category:Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives]] [[Category:Members of the Nelson Provincial Council]] [[Category:New Zealand MPs for South Island electorates]] [[Category:Members of the New Zealand Legislative Council (1841–1853)]] [[Category:19th-century New Zealand farmers]]