The 1854 City of Auckland by-election was a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

held in the multi-member City of Auckland electorate on 4 August 1854 during the

1st New Zealand Parliament The 1st New Zealand Parliament was a term of the Parliament of New Zealand. It opened on 24 May 1854, following New Zealand's first general election (held the previous year). It was dissolved on 15 September 1855 in preparation for that year's ...

. It was one of the earliest by-elections in New Zealand political history and was triggered by the resignation of Thomas Bartley. Bartley resigned on 11 July 1854 to take up a place in the Legislative Council. The election was won by William Brown over John Williamson.

Nomination meeting

The nomination meeting was held on 1 August, at a time soon after midday.

Thomas Beckham Thomas Beckham (1810 – 31 July 1875) was a 19th-century New Zealand politician. He represented the City of Auckland (New Zealand electorate), City of Auckland electorate in the 2nd New Zealand Parliament from 1855 to 1859, but resigned befo ...

, the

returning officer In various parliamentary systems, a returning officer is responsible for overseeing elections in one or more constituencies. Australia In Australia a returning officer is an employee of the Australian Electoral Commission or a state electoral c ...

and a future MP of the electorate, kicked off the meeting by reading out the

writ In common law, a writ (Anglo-Saxon ''gewrit'', Latin ''breve'') is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court. Warrants, prerogative writs, subpoenas, a ...

. Alexander Black was the first elector to nominate someone, that person being John Williamson. Coolahan seconded that nomination, his reasons being that Williamson had acted well in the Provincial Council. Joseph Newman then counterproposed William Brown, an action seconded by James George. With no other electors advancing a nomination, Beckham declared a

show of hands Show of Hands is an English acoustic roots/folk duo formed in 1986 by singer-songwriter Steve Knightley (guitars, mandolin, mandocello, cuatro) and composer and multi-instrumentalist Phil Beer (vocals, guitars, violin, viola, mandolin, mandoc ...

to be called. After the show of hands Beckham stated that it was in favour of Brown. Williamson then demanded a poll, which was won by Brown.

Results

Notes

References

* Auckland 1854 1854 elections in New Zealand Politics of the Auckland Region 1850s in Auckland {{NewZealand-election-stub