Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Charles Heaphy/archive1

The following is an archived discussion of a featured article nomination. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the article's talk page or in Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates. No further edits should be made to this page.

The article was promoted by Gog the Mild via FACBot (talk) 9 July 2021 [1].


Nominator(s): Zawed (talk) 10:25, 9 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

This article is a biography of Charles Heaphy, a British explorer and soldier of the 19th Century, active in New Zealand from the 1840s through to 1880. He was awarded the Victoria Cross for an action during the New Zealand Wars. He was also an artist, and produced many early artistic representations of life in New Zealand, many of which were used to attract colonists to the country. The article was promoted to GA in 2014 and successfully went through the MilHist A-Class process in 2016. I now bring it forward for consideration for promotion to FA. Zawed (talk) 10:25, 9 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Image review

edit
  • Suggest adding alt text
  • File:Te_Rauparaha,_N.Z._chief,_photographic_print_of_wash_drawing_by_Charles_Heaphy,_1839.jpg needs a US tag. Ditto File:Matukituki_Valley,_1847.jpg
  • File:Charles_Heaphy_-_Wellington_Harbour,_N.Z._-_Google_Art_Project.jpg: when and where was this first published? Nikkimaria (talk) 12:56, 9 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • Nikkimaria, I have added alt text to all images, and also added US tags. I swapped out the Wellington Harbour image for what I believe is a more striking image, but one which also has a US tag. Thanks for looking at this. Zawed (talk) 10:15, 13 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • I've tried another tag but I really don't know what I'm doing here. Heaphy died in 1881 so his work should all be PD. Similarly for the Fox painting, he died in 1893. It is going to difficult to find evidence of when the paintings were first displayed, which I think is what you mean by publication. Zawed (talk) 09:28, 14 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]
OK, I have replaced the images with ones that have publication dates I can verify. Zawed (talk) 10:16, 15 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

CommentsSupport by PM

edit

Great article, interesting guy. A few points:

Lead
  • suggest linking New Zealand in the first sentence, many people around the world sadly have no idea where it is
  • decap Invasion if "Invasion of the Waikato"
  • "As well as being the first soldier of the New Zealand armed forces"
  • is there a link to an article about the NZ militia that could be used?
  • There is no article that I believe is suitable. Articles on NZ's early military history, including the various militia units, are pretty patchy and it would be pretty tricky to write up a cohesive one. Zawed (talk) 09:41, 12 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • suggest "he was the first recipient from any militia force."
Body
  • comma after "who was a professional painter"
  • link London and Birmingham Railway
  • suggest "It is unlikely it was a serious wound, for a few weeks later he went on a trek back in New Zealand to the Taranaki Region, where he produced some of his more notable landscapes."
  • state that Arthur Wakefield was yet another brother of Edward
  • suggest "It had clashed with Māori in the Wairau Affray in the Wairau Valley to the south-east of Nelson, and several company employees were killed, including Arthur Wakefield."
  • suggest "Food sources included roots and berries; birds were snared and eels caught from streams. Along the coast, shellfish and gull eggs were added to the diet."
  • suggest "As they believed they were only 32 kilometres (20 mi) from the coast, their dwindling provisions prevented them proceeding to the mouth of the Buller River."
  • link South Island and Whanganui
  • suggest "They continued along the coast, climbing steep cliffs and fording rivers as they went. Their movements were held up at times due to rain and high tides."

More to come. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 10:40, 11 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

  • could we be a bit more specific regarding his "artworks"? What medium(s) did he use?
  • link captain (armed forces)
  • decap Invasion if "Invasion of the Waikato"
  • riverways
  • link Maritime pilot
  • suggest "As the British advanced deeper into the Waikato, he was attached to the staff of Lieutenant Colonel Henry Havelock."
  • "being killed by the Māori"
  • suggest "They were eventually relieved by reinforcements, but the two wounded men that Heaphy and the soldier were trying to protect died of their injuries."
  • in the VC section, you need to add the info from the lead about the status of the VC and source it
  • suggest "Grey, who was serving a second term as governor, despite knowing that neither Heaphy or another man recommended for the VC for an action earlier in the campaign, were in the British Army or Royal Navy."
  • suggest "Heaphy refused to accept this and began to agitate with the British government, with support from Grey, Havelock, and General Duncan Cameron, commander of the British forces in New Zealand."
  • the table regarding his term in Parliament is superfluous, just include that he was an independent in the text
  • "A parliamentary colleague was William Fox"
  • except when used in the sense of the full formal title, Commissioner should be commissioner, per MOS:JOBTITLES
  • suggest "The enquiry cleared Heaphy of corruption, although he was criticised for taking payments from young trainee surveyors in return for work."
  • link justice of the peace
  • Just wondering if Infobox officeholder is the right choice for this chap. He is notable for a range of things, but I'm not sure that politics is really the leading one. Perhaps Infobox person with embedded modules if needed?

That's it. Great job. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 00:49, 12 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Support by Nick-D

edit

Interesting article. I'd like to offer the following comments:

  • "create art for advertising the country" - bit clunky
  • "around the centre of the country" - was NZ was a 'country' at this time? It's not clear to me what's meant by its 'centre'? I'd suggest tweaking this to something like 'around the inland of the North and South Islands' or similar
  • "he travelled extensively around the country " - as above
  • How did the NZ Company disseminate Heaphy's art in the UK?
  • "He took nearly six months to reach London," - this makes it sound like he dallied, when this was actually how long it took to make the trip
  • "On 11 February, soldiers of the 40th Regiment of Foot were bathing in the Mangapiko Stream near Paterangi and were ambushed by a raiding party. Heaphy, commanding some men of the 50th Regiment of Foot, came to the aid of the defenders and moved to cut off the Māori line of retreat. He then overcame the Māori reserve, before leading his men to the ambush site, to assist the British soldiers. Despite being outnumbered, the British repulsed the Māori and began to pursue them into the bush." - I find this a bit hard to follow. Are you sure that the British troops were 'ambushed' rather than 'attacked', and if the Māori line of retreat was cut how did they manage to escape?
  • I went back to my source and revised. What I don't think was clear previously is that Heaphy was in charge of some of the reinforcements, not the entire party. Zawed (talk) 08:12, 13 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • "Although he was a hard working representative for the people of the Parnell electorate, Heaphy's time in parliament was undistinguished" - can any examples of what he did for his electorate be provided?
  • What were 'native reserves'? (and is this still an appropriate term given 'native' is a term best avoided unless it was the actual name of something)
  • Have there been any recent interpretations of Heaphy's role in the British conquest and administration of NZ? I can see a few reasons this might not be fondly remembered by Māori. Nick-D (talk) 04:08, 12 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • Not in that context; modern scholarship is more focussed on his art. I have expanded the legacy section to be reflect this. Nick-D, thanks for reviewing this. I have responded above and with edits to the article. Cheers, Zawed (talk) 10:03, 13 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Support Those changes look good, but I've made some slight tweaks. Nice work here. Nick-D (talk) 10:22, 14 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the support. Zawed (talk) 10:35, 14 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Support by Card Carrying Parrot

edit
Well written. Also, you need to link Australia. This isn't really a deficiency, but I feel like maybe there needs to be one more photo or painting of the man himself (not necessarily needed, but if there is one it would probably be an excellent idea to include it). Excellent job overall. Card Carrying Parrot (talk) 20:27, 13 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for the support. I have linked Australia. RE another illustration of him, there is no painting of him, and supposedly only three photographs of him exist (one is obviously in the article, and there is another one of him taken at the same time where he is standing. The third is one from his politician days but I haven't been able to find it. Zawed (talk) 09:38, 14 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Okay. Great job overall. Card Carrying Parrot (talk) 22:03, 14 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Source review

edit
  • What's going on with the strange pagination in #5?
  • Capitalize first word in the title of #46
Sturm, Thanks for the source review. Cheers, Zawed (talk) 00:26, 3 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Support--Sturmvogel 66 (talk) 01:15, 4 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]
The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this page.