Jeremiah Matthew Twomey (15 August 1847 – 1 November 1921) was a Member of the

New Zealand Legislative Council The New Zealand Legislative Council was the upper house of the General Assembly of New Zealand between 1853 and 1951. An earlier arrangement of legislative councils for the colony and provinces existed from 1841 when New Zealand became a co ...

. He was widely known in New Zealand as a journalist.

Early life

Twomey was born in 1847 at Inchee Farm,

County Kerry County Kerry ( gle, Contae Chiarraí) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and forms part of the province of Munster. It is named after the Ciarraige who lived in part of the present county. The population of the co ...

, Ireland. He worked at General Post Office in

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

from age 18 until he resigned for emigration to New Zealand in 1874. Before leaving Ireland, Twomey was an occasional contributor to the press and magazines.

Life in New Zealand

Soon after his arrival in the colony, Twomey joined the staff of the Wellington ''Tribune'', owned and edited by W. Hutchison. Subsequently, he was employed on the Wellington ''Chronicle'', '' The Evening Post'', ''

The Wanganui Herald ''The Wanganui Herald'', originally published as ''The Evening Herald'', was a daily newspaper in Wanganui published from 1867 to 1986 when it was replaced by a community newspaper of the same name. John Ballance arrived in Wanganui in August 18 ...

'', ''

The Timaru Herald ''The Timaru Herald'' is a daily provincial newspaper serving the Timaru, South Canterbury and North Otago districts of New Zealand. The current audited daily circulation is about 14,500 copies, with a readership of about 31,000 people. The pap ...

'', and ''

The Press ''The Press'' is a daily newspaper published in Christchurch, New Zealand owned by media business Stuff Ltd. First published in 1861, the newspaper is the largest circulating daily in the South Island and publishes Monday to Saturday. One comm ...

'' in Christchurch. He purchased the ''Temuka Leader'' in 1881 and founded the ''Geraldine Guardian'' in 1883. He retired as a newspaper proprietor in 1914, but continued with occasional contributions to ''The Press''. He married Mary Teresa, eldest daughter of Christopher Hughos, of Melbourne, in 1882, and they had four sons and four daughters.

Political career

In the 1884 general election, he contested the Gladstone electorate, but was defeated by the incumbent,

James Sutter James Hutchinson Sutter (1818 – 13 April 1903) was a 19th-century member of parliament in Canterbury, New Zealand. He represented the Gladstone electorate from to 1887, when he retired. He was Mayor of Timaru The mayor of Timaru is the ...

. He advocated a state bank, cheap money for farmers, protection of local industries, the acquisition of large estates for close settlement, working men's homes, etc. In the 1887 general election, he again contested the same constituency with

Arthur Rhodes Arthur Lee Rhodes, Jr. (born October 24, 1969) is an American former Major League Baseball left-handed relief pitcher who is the current pitching coach for the Cleburne Railroaders of the American Association of Professional Baseball. Career R ...

, but was defeated by 63 votes. His address on the development of the industries of the colony attracted a great deal of attention, more especially in Otago, where it was reprinted and distributed in tens of thousands for electioneering purposes. It was also published in several weekly papers and largely quoted by some of the daily papers. In the 1890 general election, he contested the Timaru electorate; five candidates stood, the incumbent

William Hall-Jones Sir William Hall-Jones (16 January 1851 – 19 June 1936) was the 16th prime minister of New Zealand from June 1906 until August 1906. Hall-Jones entered parliament in 1890, later becoming a member of the Liberal Party. He was interim prime mi ...

got re-elected, and Twomey came third. Twomey was a firm believer in party government, and had a great objection to more than one candidate of a party standing for a seat. For this reason he has stood aside for others on various occasions. In 1896 a section of the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

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 / ...

invited him to stand for the city, but owing to the way in which the party was split up, he declined the invitation. Twomey was appointed to the Legislative Council on 18 June 1898, in recognition of his services to the Liberal Party. He served for one term of seven years until 18 June 1905. Twomey died on 1 November 1921 at his home in Temuka. He had been in poor health for the last three years.

References

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: {{DEFAULTSORT:Twomey, Jeremiah Matthew 1847 births 1921 deaths New Zealand Liberal Party MLCs Unsuccessful candidates in the 1884 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 1887 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 1890 New Zealand general election People from County Kerry Irish emigrants to New Zealand (before 1923) 19th-century New Zealand politicians