William Hutchison (New Zealand politician)

William Hutchison in 1882

William Hutchison (1820 – 3 December 1905) was a New Zealand politician and journalist. Hutchison and his son George were both Members of Parliament.

Early life

Hutchison 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

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.^[4] As Mayor of Wellington, a central issue was whether the Wellington Waterfront should be controlled by the city council or a separate entity.^[4]

He was a member of the Wellington Provincial Council from 1867 to 1876 for the Wanganui electorate.^[5]

He stood in the 1875 election in the Hutt electorate and was decisively beaten by the incumbent, William Fitzherbert.^[6] He represented the City of Wellington in Parliament from 1879 to 1881, then Wellington South from 1881 to 1884, when he was defeated.^[7] He moved to Dunedin in 1884.^[2] He unsuccessfully contested the Roslyn electorate in the 1887 general election.^[1] He then represented the City of Dunedin from 1890^[8] to 1896, when he was defeated.^[7] He was a supporter of the Liberal Party.^[9] 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]

His son George Hutchison represented Taranaki electorates in Parliament (for six years, from 1890 to 1896, they were both in Parliament at the same time),^[7] and another son Sir James Hutchison was editor of the Otago Daily Times.^[3]

Death

Hutchison's wife died five years before him.^[2] He had been ill for some time before he died on 3 December 1904 at his home in Queen Street, Dunedin.^[12] He was survived by four sons and four daughters.^[2]

References

• No Mean City by Stuart Perry (1969, Wellington City Council) includes a paragraph and a portrait or photo for each mayor.

Mayors of Wellington City
Mayors	elected by councillors George Hunter William Guyton Joseph Dransfield Charles Borlase William Sefton Moorhouse elected at large William Hutchison Joseph Dransfield George Allen William Hutchison George Fisher Arthur Winton Brown Samuel Brown John Duthie Charles Johnston Arthur Winton Brown Francis Bell Alfred Brandon Charles Luke George Fisher Francis Bell John Blair John Aitken Thomas William Hislop Alfred Newman Thomas Wilford David McLaren John Luke Robert Wright Charles Norwood George Troup Thomas Hislop Will Appleton Rob Macalister Frank Kitts Michael Fowler Ian Lawrence James Belich Fran Wilde Mark Blumsky Kerry Prendergast Celia Wade-Brown Justin Lester
Mayoral elections	Annual term 1875 1876† 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 Biennial term 1899 1901 1903† 1905 1907 1909 1910‡ 1911† 1912‡ 1913 1915 1917† 1919 1921 1923 1925 1927 1929 1931 1933† Triennial term 1935 1938 1941 1944 1947 1950 1953 1956 1959 1962 1965 1968 1971 1974 1977 1980 1983 1986 1989 1992 1995 1998 2001 2004 2007 2010 2013 2016
† Elected unopposed · ‡ By-election