George Robert Sykes (18 November 1867 – 23 March 1957) 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 ...

for the Masterton electorate in the

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

Member of Parliament

George Sykes represented the

Masterton Masterton ( mi, Whakaoriori), a large town in the Greater Wellington Region of New Zealand, operates as the seat of the Masterton District (a territorial authority or local-government district). It is the largest town in the Wairarapa, a r ...

electorate in the

New Zealand House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the sole chamber of the New Zealand Parliament. The House passes Law of New Zealand, laws, provides Ministers of the New Zealand Government, ministers to form Cabinet of New Zealand, Cabinet, and supervises the ...

for 24 years from

1911 A notable ongoing event was the Comparison of the Amundsen and Scott Expeditions, race for the South Pole. Events January * January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory ...

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. * ...

. Sykes was a member of the Reform Party, but in 1919 successfully stood as an

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

for Masterton, whilst some commentators questioned whether the independent Reform candidates in 1919 were not just trying to attract votes from the 'unwary'. In 1935, he was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal. He was awarded a Coronation Medal in 1937.

Outside politics

When he left school he was a telegraph messenger and operator, then he became a farmer and breeder of Romney sheep. After his defeat in the 1935 election, he was an organiser for the National Party until he retired in 1942. Sykes died on 23 March 1957 aged 89y, and was buried in the historic Christ Church in Taitā, Hutt Valley. A memorial to him was erected in the Archer Street Cemetery,

on 31 July 1957.

Notes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sykes, George 1867 births 1957 deaths Reform Party (New Zealand) MPs Independent MPs of New Zealand Unsuccessful candidates in the 1935 New Zealand general election Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives New Zealand MPs for North Island electorates