The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Gresson, Henry Barnes
Gresson, Henry Barnes, late Judge of the Supreme Court, New Zealand, son of George Leslie Gresson and Clarissa (Reynell) his wife, was born in 1809 in co. Meath, Ireland, and educated at Westmeath and Trinity College, Dublin, where he graduated. In 1833 he was called to the Irish bar, and practised in Dublin. In 1854 he emigrated to Auckland, New Zealand, but soon took up his residence in Christchurch, where he was shortly afterwards appointed Provincial Solicitor for the Canterbury province. In Dec. 1854 he was appointed Acting Judge of the Southern Districts, including Wellington, Nelson, Westland, Canterbury, and Otago. He retired from the Supreme Court bench in 1875. Mr. Gresson was also President of the Philosophical Institute, Christchurch, Chairman of the Board of Governors of Canterbury College, and Chancellor of the Diocese of Christchurch. He was in addition a Fellow of Christ's College, Canterbury, and married in county Donegal, Ireland, in August 1845, Miss Anne Beatty.