The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Buckley, Hon. Sir Patrick Alphonsus
Buckley, Hon. Sir Patrick Alphonsus, K.C.M.G., M.L.C., Attorney-General, New Zealand, is the second son of the late C. Buckley, and was born near Castle Townsend, in county Cork, in 1841. He received his primary education in the well-known Mansion House in the city of Cork, and was afterward at college in Paris till he entered the University of Louvain in Belgium. While in Louvain Count Carlo Macdonell, Private Chamberlain to the Pope, in passing through, selected young Buckley to conduct the recruits for the Irish Papal Brigade from Ostend to Vienna. There he gave them over to the papal authorities, who were waiting to receive them. After the Piedmontese had taken possession of the Papal States, Mr. Buckley returned to his college, and after completing his studies, went home to Ireland. From thence he emigrated to Queensland, where shortly after his arrival he completed his legal studies under the supervision of the present Chief Justice, Sir Charles Lilley. Mr. Buckley was also admitted to the Victorian Bar. After a short residence in Queensland he settled in New Zealand, and commenced practice in Wellington in partnership with Mr. W. S. Reid, the present Solicitor-General; but he is now the head of the well-known legal firm of Buckley, Stafford and Treadwell. Shortly after his arrival in Wellington he entered the Provincial Council. He was Provincial Solicitor for the last administration under that régime until the abolition of the provinces. He was called to the Legislative Council of New Zealand in 1878, and in Sept. 1884 became Colonial Secretary in the Stout-Vogel administration, and leader of the Upper House. He retired with his colleagues in Oct. 1887. In Jan. 1891, on the return of the liberal party to power, Mr. Buckley joined the administration under Mr. Ballance as Attorney-General, and resumed the leadership in the Legislative Council, where he had to confront a decidedly hostile majority. Mr. Buckley has taken a warm interest in the volunteer movement, and was for six years captain of the present D Battery of Wellington (then known as No. 1), which was raised by himself. Mr. Buckley married Alice, the only daughter of the late Hon. Sir William Fitzherbert, K.C.M.G. (q.v.). On May 25th, 1892, he was gazetted K.C.M.G.