Cathcart Wason
Cathcart Wason (born November 1848 in Colmonell , Ayrshire , Scotland , † April 19, 1921 in London ) was a Scottish and New Zealand politician .
Life
Wason was born in November 1848 to Peter Rigby Wason and his wife Euphemia McTier on their farm in Colmonell (now South Ayrshire ). His father was a successful farmer and barrister who had already represented the constituency of Ipswich in the British House of Commons for two terms in the 1830s . After completing his schooling, Wason emigrated to the Canterbury region of New Zealand in 1868 . In February of the following year he bought 8,100 hectares of land on the Rakaia River there for £ 10,000 . He named it after his parents' estate Corwar and began developing it. The first successes soon followed, making Wason one of the agricultural pioneers in the region. Wason developed the town of Barrhill nearby .
His interests focused geographically on the Ashburton District . Wason's 1874 chairmanship of the South Rakaia Road Construction Committee ended in 1877 as a result of his self-centered conduct. He was also chairman of the Ashburton Racing Club and the Ashburton Caledonian Club and vice chairman of the Ashburton Acclimatization Society . On June 18, 1873, he married Alice Seymour Bell in Sydney, Australia . In 1886 Wason was accepted as a Fellow in the Royal Geographical Society and the following year in the Middle Temple . In 1900 he sold his New Zealand property and bought a house in London and a farm near his birthplace. He died in London in 1921.
Political career
Wason was a member of the Ashburton Council between 1876 and 1879. In 1876 he won the electoral mandate of Coleridge as an independent candidate and moved into the New Zealand House of Representatives for the first time . In the eighth electoral term, he won the elections in the constituency of Wakanui and won a seat in parliament for the second time. Wason sat a third time during the 13th parliamentary term (1896-1899) for the Selwyn constituency in the House of Representatives.
Back in Scotland, Wason ran in the general election in 1900 for the constituency of Orkney and Shetland . For the Liberal Unionists , he competed against the liberal Leonard Lyell , who had represented the constituency since 1885. Wason prevailed against Lyell with a majority of 40 votes and entered the British House of Commons for the first time . After he left the party in 1902, he gave up his lower house mandate, which is why by-elections were necessary. As an independent liberal, Wason secured a majority of 46.8% and thus defended his mandate. The following general election in 1906 and in January 1910 he won for the Liberal Party well ahead of the opposing candidates of the Liberal Unionists. In the general election in December 1910 and 1918 Wason held his mandate unopposed. With his death in 1921, by-elections were held in the constituency of Orkney and Shetland, which Wason's party colleague Malcolm Smith was able to win unopposed.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Cathcart Wason in Hansard (English)
- ↑ a b c d Eric Pawson: Wason, John Cathcart. In: Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. updated October 30, 2012
- ^ The Orkney and Shetland Election. In: The Press. March 28, 1906.
- ^ Results of the general election in January 1910
- ↑ Parliament unchanged. In: New York Daily Tribune. December 15, 1910.
- ^ Results of the general election in January 1918 and the by-elections in 1921
Web links
- Cathcart Wason at Hansard (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Wason, Cathcart |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Wason, John Cathcart (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Scottish and New Zealand politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 1848 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Colmonell , Ayrshire , Scotland |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 19, 1921 |
| Place of death | London |