This is the study of British gentlemen exiled by family to the colonies in the nineteenth century, known as Remittance Men. Despite being a small but consistent migrant type to British settler societies and the subject of popular mythology, Remittance Men are but footnotes in New Zealand historiography. No scholarly research has been conducted on Remittance Men in a New Zealand context – until now. The presence of Remittance Men in New Zealand raises several important questions and this dissertation adds to current understandings of New Zealand’s ‘founding stock’. First, it identifies the historic period of Remittance Men in the Australian, British, Canadian, and New Zealand press. Comparison of this period with Britain’s economic and social landscape reveals three key phases of their rise and fall. Profiles of Remittance Men in New Zealand have been created through statistical analysis of socio-demographic features retrieved from the New Zealand press and police records. These profiles emphasise their similarities and differences with contemporary colonial societal norms. Finally, research findings and additional sources within public records and archives have been synthesised into three in-depth biographies. These biographies demonstrate the extent to which the lives of Remittance Men can be retrieved.