Adam Hamilton (politician)

Adam Hamilton (1926)

Adam Hamilton (born August 20, 1880 in Forest Hill , Southland , New Zealand , † April 29, 1952 in Invercargill , Southland ) was a politician of the New Zealand National Party and its first party leader.

Life

Adam Hamilton was born on August 20, 1880, the son of the Scottish immigrants John Hamilton and his wife Mary McIlwrick in Forest Hill in the south of the South Island of New Zealand. He attended schools in Forest Hill and Lochiel , worked on his parents' farm as a child, and enrolled in the Dunedin Technical School at age 25 , and possibly also took some courses at the University of Otago . From 1909 to 1912 he studied in Dunedin at Knox College of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand , but decided not to enter the church service at the end of his studies.

In 1914 he founded a grain trading company in Winton with his brother John Ronald Hamilton . During the First World War , he did not have to do military service because of a goiter disease, but instead worked for the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) and did his service for the recovery of soldiers.

politics

Hamilton joined the Reform Party with his brother John and successfully ran for a seat in New Zealand's parliament in 1919. They sold their company to the Southland Farmers' Co-operative Association , in which Hamilton became chairman of the directors in 1936. In the General Election of 1922, both lost their parliamentary seats. While his brother was denied re-election in 1925, Hamilton was able to win back his Wallace constituency that year.

Until his entry into the government of George Forbes in 1931, Hamilton held various posts in business. From 1922 to 1925 he was a member of the Southland Electric Power Board , from 1922 to 1931 the representative of the New Zealand Meat Producers Board , from 1928 to 1931 the chairman of the Farmers' Co-operative Wholesale Federation and for 29 years trustee of the Invercargill Savings Bank . Except for the post at the bank, he gave up all his functions when he joined the governing coalition of the United Party and the Reform Party .

In the government he held the posts of Minister of Internal Affairs (Minister of the Interior), Postmaster General (Minister of Post) and Minister of Telegraphs (for Telecommunications). He also held the difficult and unpopular job of the Minister of Labor from 1931 to 1935. When the government was replaced by the New Zealand Labor Party in December 1935 , the New Zealand National Party was founded in May of the following year , which Hamilton joined. On October 31, 1936, he was finally elected opposition leader and party leader of the newly formed party.

During the Second World War , Prime Minister Peter Fraser Labor Party formed a so-called War Cabinet , which consisted of four members of the Labor Party and two members of the National Party and Hamilton became part of the cabinet on July 16, 1940 as Minister for War Expenses.

Intra-party tensions and the position of his rival Sidney Holland , who took the position that someone who performs duties with the competition in the government, cannot be party chairman at the same time, prevailed and led to Hamilton's election on November 25, 1940 as party chairman. Hamilton remained in the War Cabinet . When Japan entered the war in 1942 and the War Cabinet was expanded, its internal party competitor Sidney Holland also got a seat in the group. The miners' strike near Huntly eventually divided the two party leaders and members of the National Party withdrew from the War Cabinet in protest . Hamilton and Gordon Coates publicly criticized their party's stance, left their faction and rejoined the War Cabinet , Hamilton until 1945.

Hamilton did not run for the general election of 1946 and died on April 19, 1952 in Invercargill . He was buried in East Winton Cemetery and left a fortune of over £ 9,000  that he bequeathed to Knox College in Dunedin .

family

On March 26, 1913, Hamilton married Mary Ann McDonald in Hokonui .

Web links

Commons : Adam Hamilton  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Barry Gustafson : Hamilton, Adam . In: Dictionary of New Zealand Biography . Volume VI . Bridget Williams Books , Wellington 1998 ( online [accessed June 17, 2020]).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Gustafson : Hamilton, Adam . In: Dictionary of New Zealand Biography . 1998.
2. ↑ Adam Hamilton . In: Find a Grave . Accessed June 17, 2020 (English).