Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 46.djvu/24


 * the Spaniards,’ 1743.


 * 1) ‘Oxoniensis Academia, or the Antiquities and Curiosities of the University of Oxford,’ 1749; the manuscript is in Rawlinson MS. B. No. 405, at the Bodleian Library. It contains much curious detail on the history of the several colleges. Two gifts by him to the Bodleian Library are set out on page 143 (cf., Annals of Bodl. Libr. 2nd edit. pp. 222–3) [see ].



POINTER, WILLIAM (fl. 1624), poet. [See .]

POITIERS, PHILIP (d. 1208?), bishop of Durham. [See .]

POKERIDGE, RICHARD (1690?–1759), inventor of the musical glasses. [See .]

POL (d. 573), Saint. [See .]

POLACK, JOEL SAMUEL (1807–1882), trader, and author of works on New Zealand, was born in London of Jewish parents on 28 March 1807. In early life he appears to have travelled both in Europe and America, to have done some work as an artist, and to have served under the war office in Africa in the commissariat and ordnance departments. In 1831 he emigrated to New Zealand, and, after living for a year at Hokianga, moved to the Bay of Islands, a settlement still in its infancy. There he opened a ship-chandler's store in connection with a broker's business at Sydney. He paid long visits to Sydney, for four or five months at a time, and travelled much about New Zealand. He learned the Maori language, gained the confidence of the natives, and purchased about eleven hundred acres of land. In May 1837 he returned to London. Next year he was a prominent witness before the select committee of the House of Lords on New Zealand. But his veracity being impugned by a writer in the ‘Times,’ Polack brought an action against the ‘Times,’ and on 2 July 1839 secured a verdict, with 100l. damages.

In 1838 Polack published ‘New Zealand: a Narrative of Travels and Adventures.’ It gained the notice of [q. v.], editor of the ‘Colonial Magazine,’ who in 1838 proposed him as a member of the newly formed Colonial Society of London. A second and more ambitious work by Polack, ‘Manners and Customs of the New Zealanders,’ was published in London in 1840 (2 vols.). This book furnishes one of the earliest accounts of the natives of New Zealand, and displays considerable erudition and capacity for observation; the illustrations were drawn by the author.

Polack lived for a time with a sister in Piccadilly, but eventually went to the United States, and settled in San Francisco, where he married the widow of William Hart, who had also been a settler in New Zealand. He died in San Francisco on 17 April 1882.



POLDING, JOHN BEDE (1794–1877), first Roman catholic archbishop of Sydney, was born in Liverpool on 18 Nov. 1794. Left an orphan early, he was adopted by his relative, Dr. Brewer, president of the English Benedictines. He was sent at eleven years old to be educated at Acton Burnell, the headquarters of the Benedictines. On 16 July 1810 he joined the Benedictine order, became a priest in March 1819, and was at once appointed tutor at St. Gregory's College, Downside, in Ireland. Many of his pupils were distinguished in later life. In his devotion to the work Polding declined the see of Madras in 1833.

On the decision to erect the vicariate-apostolic of Australia into a bishopric, Polding was selected for the office, and consecrated bishop of Hiero-Cæsarea on 29 June 1834. In September 1835 he arrived in Sydney and devoted himself to the organisation of the new diocese. In 1841 he revisited England, and thence went to Rome, where he was employed on a special mission to Malta, made a count of the holy Roman empire, and a bishop-assistant to the papal throne. He was appointed archbishop of Sydney on 10 April 1842.

Polding's return as an archbishop roused a storm among members of the church of England in Australia, but his calm and con-