Edwin Thoms (or Thomas) Cox (9 January 1881 – 18 December 1967) was a New Zealand politician and

Mayor of Dunedin The Mayor of Dunedin is the head of the local government, the city council of Dunedin, New Zealand. The Mayor's role is "to provide leadership to the other elected members of the territorial authority, be a leader in the community and perform c ...

. He was

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 ...

's first

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

mayor. He had been a Methodist minister.

Biography

He was born in Marton, and was educated at

Prince Albert College Wesley College is a secondary school in Paerata, at the northern edge of Pukekohe, Auckland Region, New Zealand. The school provides education from year 9 to 13. The school was founded by members of the Methodist Church in 1844, making it one ...

, Auckland, the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

and the

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well know ...

from which he graduated in 1915 with first class honours in history. A Methodist minister since 1916, he was Superintendent of the Auckland Central Mission for six years, then minister of the Central Church,

Wanganui Whanganui (; ), also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whangan ...

for eight years before moving to the Mornington Methodist Church,

in 1932. In

1933 Events January * January 11 – Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independence, against the wis ...

he successfully stood for the mayoralty of Dunedin as an independent with Labour backing. In

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude Franco-Italian Agreement of 1935, an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * ...

he stood on the Labour ticket both for the mayoralty, and unsuccessfully for in the . His programme for Dunedin included work for the unemployed and for adequate housing for all citizens, although not all his proposals were accepted by the Council. In

1938 Events January * January 1 ** The Constitution of Estonia#Third Constitution (de facto 1938–1940, de jure 1938–1992), new constitution of Estonia enters into force, which many consider to be the ending of the Era of Silence and the a ...

he again stood for mayor and was defeated, partly as no previous Dunedin mayor had stood three times. The opposition Citizens Association and the ''

Otago Daily Times The ''Otago Daily Times'' (ODT) is a newspaper published by Allied Press Ltd in Dunedin, New Zealand. The ''ODT'' is one of the country's four main daily newspapers, serving the southern South Island with a circulation of around 26,000 and a c ...

'' attacked him in a vitriolic campaign, with references to "municipal sovietism". After losing the Mayoralty Cox unsuccessfully stood for the Labour nomination in the electorate of , but lost to

Phil Connolly Philip George Connolly (14 November 1899 – 13 February 1970) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party. Early life Connoly was born in Dunedin on 14 November 1899 to Hugh Babbington Connolly and Evelyn Emily Connolly (née Smith). He ...

. He proceeded to instead contest the Taranaki seat of in the . While Mayor and after his defeat he worked as a land agent. In 1967 Cox and his wife Winifred (who he had married in 1912) moved to

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

, where he died in December.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cox, Edwin Thoms 1881 births 1967 deaths People from Marton, New Zealand Mayors of Dunedin New Zealand Methodist ministers University of Auckland alumni Victoria University of Wellington alumni Unsuccessful candidates in the 1935 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 1943 New Zealand general election People educated at Prince Albert College New Zealand Labour Party politicians 20th-century New Zealand politicians 20th-century New Zealand Methodist ministers