Edward Lionel Terry

Case record: Edward Lionel Terry

Background

Edward Lionel Terry was a white supremacist and murderer.

He was born at Sandwich, Kent, England, on 6 January 1873. He was known throughout life by his second name, Lionel. He was the son of Edward Terry and Frances Lydia Thompson. His father claimed to be descended from Napoleon Bonaparte. His father was described as a prosperous corn merchant in Kent and later as managing Pall Mall Real Estate; he later established a real estate firm in Pall Mall, London. Lionel Terry was considered a successful businessman.

Lionel Terry was educated at Merton College, Wimbledon. After he became unsettled, he enlisted in the Royal Regiment of Artillery in 1892. In 1893, he transferred to the Royal Horse Guards. His father purchased his discharge in 1895, and Terry left almost immediately for South Africa.

In South Africa, he joined the mounted police at Bulawayo and participated in the Jameson raid of 29 December 1895 to 2 January 1896. After returning to London, he entered into partnership in the family firm but stayed only a short time before leaving to travel extensively overseas. He visited the United States and British Columbia. During his travels, he worked alongside Chinese immigrants; he also worked alongside Chinese immigrants earlier in South Africa. The experience engendered a deep hatred of “black and coloured races”, especially the Chinese, and it became an obsession.

Terry arrived in New Zealand in 1901. He spent some time as a temporary fieldworker with the Department of Lands and Survey in Auckland and then tried fruit-growing north of Auckland. He moved to Wellington in May 1903 and was re-employed by the department as a temporary draughtsman. After a few months he went to Taihape where he worked at bush felling. In 1904 he returned to the Lands and Survey Department and was sent to Mangonui in Northland as a surveyor. While there, he wrote The shadow, a book of verse with a long introduction on the need for racial purity. He carried out a marathon walk of nearly 900 miles from Mangonui to Wellington in July 1905, distributing copies of The shadow and giving lectures on the yellow peril.

Along the walk, a policeman described Terry’s appearance: “He looked a perfect picture. As fine a man as ever I saw – bolt upright, and with as free an action as you'd see on an athlete.”

People who came in contact with Terry commented on his magnificent physique, striking personality, conversational powers, and overall breadth of knowledge.

The offence

In July 1905, Terry attracted considerable interest by carrying out a marathon walk of nearly 900 miles from Mangonui to Wellington, distributing copies of The shadow and giving lectures on the yellow peril.

On 24 September 1905, Terry shot Joe Kum Yung, a Chinese immigrant, in Haining Street, Wellington. Joe Kum Yung died later of injuries. Joe Kum Yung was described as an elderly Canton Chinese gold prospector aged 70, with a pronounced limp as a result of a past mining accident. Terry selected Yung as his victim due to this infirmity. It was stated that Joe Kum Yung was rushed to hospital but died soon after.

Terry surrendered to the police the following morning, handing over his revolver and a copy of The shadow, which he said would explain his action.

Terry also tried to convince members of the House of Representatives and immigration officials that all non-European immigration should be stopped, after arriving in Wellington on 14 September. He had little success. In an account of his appearance in the dock in 1905, he used the occasion for a violent attack on British policy towards unnaturalised aliens, and described his crime as “a merciful delivery on a world-weary man, and a service to the community”. There was never any doubt of Terry’s guilt. He shot his victim down in the street and then went to the police station and described his crime, produced a revolver as evidence, and handed a copy of his pamphlet The shadow, a harangue on aliens, to the watchhouse-keeper with the bland remark: “If you read that you'll understand the position”.

Terry conducted his own defence at trial, and his speech from the dock was described as mostly an appeal for the elimination of alien influences in the Empire.

Investigation and arrest

After shooting Joe Kum Yung, Terry surrendered to the police the following morning, handing over his revolver and a copy of The shadow.

Trial

On 21 November 1905, Terry was tried in the Supreme Court at Wellington. He conducted his own defence but failed to justify the killing. He was sentenced to death.

The Chief Justice, Sir Robert Stout, told the jury that the material question was the mental state of the prisoner: “a question of the mental state of the prisoner”