Ebenezer Sandford (1848 – 17 December 1897) was a New Zealand

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

, representing the City of Christchurch electorate in 1891–1893.

Biography

Sandford was born in 1848. He arrived in Port Chalmers on the ''

Peter Denny Peter Denny FRSE LLD (25 October 1821 – 22 August 1895) was a shipbuilder and shipowner based in Dumbarton, Scotland. Parents and education Denny was the son of William Denny (1779–1833) and his wife Christeanne Macintyre. He was first appre ...

'' on 26 July 1874 from London with his wife and two young children. They lived in Mornington near

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

, then Arrowtown followed by

Invercargill Invercargill ( , mi, Waihōpai is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland region. The city lies in the heart of the wide expanse of t ...

. He came to

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

in the mid-1880s. In Arrowtown, he worked for the ''Arrowtown Observer''. In Christchurch, he was a compositor for the ''

Lyttelton Times The ''Lyttelton Times'' was the first newspaper in Canterbury, New Zealand, publishing the first edition in January 1851. It was established by the Canterbury Association as part of its planned settlement of Canterbury and developed into a libera ...

''. Sandford contested the for the City of Christchurch electorate against John Tippett Smith and Eden George. Sandford came first with 1851 votes, representing a majority of 742 votes. Smith and George received 1109 and 637 votes, respectively. George petitioned against the election, arguing that the nominations for Sandford and Smith were received too late by the returning officer, and he was thus the only person who could have been declared elected. The elections petitions court found that whilst the returning officer had made an error, the subsequent election was valid and the petition had to be dismissed. Sandford died on 17 December 1897 and was buried at Linwood Cemetery. His last residence was in Queen Street (since renamed to Queensbury Street) in Burwood. He was survived by his wife (Maria Eliza Sandford, née Sharp, d. 11 March 1936) and seven children.

References

1848 births 1897 deaths New Zealand Liberal Party MPs Burials at Linwood Cemetery, Christchurch Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives New Zealand MPs for Christchurch electorates 19th-century New Zealand politicians {{NewZealand-Liberal-politician-stub