Europeans didn't arrive until 1835, when Wesleyan missionaries, the Rev James and Mary Wallis arrived and were welcomed by the locals. By 1850 large-scale conversion of land to pasture began after generous tracts were sold by Chief Wiremu Neera Te Awaitaia. He, along with Wallis, are credited as the founding fathers of the township which, in 1858, was named in honour of Fitzroy Somerset, the first Lord Raglan, the same man who ordered the charge of the Light Brigade during the Battle of Balaclava four years earlier.
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