BREES, Samuel Charles 1810–1856

Born in the United Kingdom: served an apprenticeship with a Lon- page 51 don architect, then worked for seven years surveying some of the most important railways in England. 1842 was appointed Principal Surveyor and Engineer to the New Zealand Co and in the same year arrived in Wellington on the Brougham with a team of surveying cadets. Surveyed the route to the Wairarapa in 1843 and compiled a detailed map of Wellington. Returned to London 1845 to resume practice as a civil engineer. In 1847 a portfolio of very good engravings by Henry Melville after watercolours by Brees was published: Pictorial Illustrations of New Zealand. In 1851 he published A Key to the Colonies and lithographs of his work are used in E. J. Wakefield's Adventure in New Zealand. Watercolours by Brees are in Turnbull: his most important work of a tangi at Kopehinga, Wairarapa, is in Hocken.