William Hutchison (New Zealand politician)
William Hutchison (1820 – 3 December 1905) was a New Zealand politician and journalist. Hutchison and his son George were both Members of Parliament. Early lifeHutchison was born in Banffshire, Scotland, and trained as a journalist.[1] On 12 August 1846, he married Helen Hutchison (née Aicheson) of Inverness.[2] They emigrated to New Zealand in 1866 for him to take up employment with The Southern Cross.[1][3] Life in New Zealand
A journalist,[4] Hutchison worked for The Southern Cross in Auckland for some months, then bought the Wanganui Chronicle and started the Tribune in Wellington.[1] He was Mayor of Wanganui, New Zealand from 1873 to 1874.[1] Then he was Mayor of Wellington from 1876 to 1877, and from 1879 to 1881.[5] As Mayor of Wellington, a central issue was whether the Wellington Waterfront should be controlled by the city council or a separate entity.[5] He was a member of the Wellington Provincial Council from 1867 to 1876 for the Wanganui electorate.[6] He stood in the 1875 election in the Hutt electorate and was decisively beaten by the incumbent, William Fitzherbert.[7] He represented the City of Wellington in Parliament from 1879 to 1881, then Wellington South from 1881 to 1884, when he was defeated.[8] He moved to Dunedin in 1884.[2] He unsuccessfully contested the Bruce electorate in the 1885 by-election, and the Dunedin Central electorate in the 1886 by-election where he was a controversial candidate. He then stood for the Roslyn electorate in the 1887 general election.[1] He then represented the City of Dunedin from 1890[9] to 1896, when he was defeated.[8] He came fifth in the 1896 election in the three-member Dunedin electorate.[10] Following the death of Henry Fish, he contested the resulting 1897 by-election. Alexander Sligo, Hugh Gourley and Hutchison received 5045, 4065 and 2030 votes, respectively.[11] He was a supporter of the Liberal Party.[12] His son George Hutchison represented Taranaki electorates in Parliament. For six years (from 1890 to 1896) they were in Parliament at the same time,[8] and were often seen glaring at each other from opposite sides of the house.[13] Another son, Sir James Hutchison, was editor of the Otago Daily Times.[3] DeathHutchison's wife died five years before him.[2] He had been ill for some time before he died on 3 December 1905 at his home in Queen Street, Dunedin.[14] He was survived by four sons and four daughters.[2] Hutchison Road in Wellington was named in his honour.[15] Notes
References
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