“There was one feature in his character which is not a popular one, and which he never cared to conceal or control, and that was his unmitigated hatred and contempt for humbug of every kind: whether it appeared in the form of dishonesty in money matters, or hypocrisy in religion, or of corruption in public life, or, what is still common enough with us, of vulgar pretension, it met with little mercy at Mr. Godley’s hands. Honorable himself up to the loftiest standards of chivalry, he shrunk instinctively from anything like trickery, public or private, in other men. Such a man is sure to be hated and feared by some, so long as deceit and fraud shall find a resting place upon earth. The example and influence of such a man in so small a community must have been great beyond measure”.
Written by James Edward Fitzgerald (Canterbury’s 1st Superintendent) about John Robert Godley (the Founder of Canterbury) – Year Unknown.
*text from ‘John Robert Godley of Canterbury’ by C.E. Carrington
