George Vesey Stewart (1832–1920) was a notable New Zealand farmer, coloniser and local politician. He was born in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

, England in about 1832. The in the newly formed electorate was hotly contested. Four candidates were nominated: George Morris, who had previously represented the electorate; Stewart, then the owner of the ''

Bay of Plenty Times The ''Bay of Plenty Times'' is the regional daily paper for the Bay of Plenty area, including Tauranga, in the North Island of New Zealand. History The ''Bay of Plenty Times'' was first produced on 4 September 1872 as a bi-weekly publication. It ...

''; William Kelly, who had also previously represented the East Coast electorate; and Henry Thomas Rowe, a surveyor and commission agent. Rowe announced his retirement from the contest on 6 December three days out from election day, urging his supporters to vote for Stewart instead. The unofficial results were released the day after the election (on Saturday, 10 December) and Morris had a majority of 13 votes over Stewart, with the official declaration to be made on 12 December. This was deferred until 14 December, with Morris ahead by 10 votes. Stewart stood for the Tauranga mayoralty a few months later and was elected the town's first mayor. Stewart stood in the in the electorate as an independent and came a distant fourth. His brother's wife was Adela Blanche Stewart, who wrote the book ''My Simple Life in New Zealand''.

References

1832 births 1920 deaths New Zealand farmers English emigrants to New Zealand Mayors of Tauranga Unsuccessful candidates in the 1881 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 1893 New Zealand general election People from Brighton {{NewZealand-politician-stub