James Gladstone Edwards (24 February 1927 – 5 April 2010) was a

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 Napier, 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 ...

of New Zealand.

Biography

Early life and career

Edwards was born in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

in 1927. His family moved to New Zealand when he was a child and settled in Napier. He attended

Napier Boys' High School Napier Boys' High School is a secondary boys' school in, Napier, New Zealand. It currently has a school roll of approximately pupils. The school provides education from Year 9 to Year 13. Notable alumni Business * Rod Drury – chief execu ...

before going to Victoria University where he graduated with a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

. He then attended Wellington Teachers' College from 1945 to 1946 before becoming a teacher from 1947 to 1952. He then left teaching to take up a position as a lands and deeds clerk at the

Department of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

from 1953 to 1954.

Political career

Edwards joined the Labour Party in 1949 and became secretary of the Woodville branch of the party and from 1951 to 1952 he was a member of the Labour Representation Committee. He then moved to Napier and was elected vice-president of the Napier branch in 1953 and also a member of the Labour Representation Committee. Edwards was the MP for for 12 years from to 1966. From 1956 to 1957 he was a member of the Labour Party's national executive. Edwards earned a reputation as a hardworking politician who had particularly strong inclinations to improving educational facilities. He was a staunch supporter of

Arnold Nordmeyer Sir Arnold Henry Nordmeyer (born Heinrich Arnold Nordmeyer, 7 February 1901 – 2 February 1989) was a New Zealand politician. He served as Minister of Finance (1957–1960) and later as Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition ...

(his father-in-law) as leader and attempted to manage the backbench MPs on Nordmeyer's behalf. His attempts backfired when his interactions became too heavy handed which grew the anti-Nordmeyer sentiment in the caucus. Alongside Bill Rowling, he was the only younger member of the caucus who supported Nordmeyer when he was challenged, successfully, for the leadership by

Norman Kirk Norman Eric Kirk (6 January 1923 – 31 August 1974) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 29th prime minister of New Zealand from 1972 until his sudden death in 1974. Born into poverty in Southern Canterbury, Kirk left school at ...

in 1965. Due to his overzealous support for the now ex-leader Edwards soon found his relationships in caucus strained. In June 1966 he announced he would not stand for re-election for both personal reasons and as a matter of principle. Edwards was concerned with the increasing union domination of the party. He was expelled from the Labour Party the following year for having publicly claimed that militant unionists were putting pressure on representation committees. According to Edwards he was expelled without trial and had not been invited to meet with executive before he received a letter informing him that his membership had been terminated.

Later life and death

After exiting parliament he became public relations manager for

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy drink, t ...

New Zealand. He then became a management consultant based in Miramar, Wellington. He rejoined the Labour Party and in 1977 he unsuccessfully stood for the

Wellington City Council Wellington City Council is a territorial authority in New Zealand, governing the country's capital city Wellington, and ''de facto'' second-largest city (if the commonly considered parts of Wellington, the Upper Hutt, Porirua, Lower Hutt and ...

on a Labour Party ticket. Ahead of the he was an aspirant for the Labour nomination in the electorate (which Nordmeyer had previously been the MP for) after the then MP,

Gerald O'Brien John Gerald O’Brien (2 December 1924 – 13 December 2017), known as Gerald O'Brien, was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party. Early life O'Brien was born in Wellington on 2 December 1924, the son of John Thomas O'Brien, and was ed ...

, faced questions around his re-selection viability. He was not selected with the nomination going instead to

Frank O'Flynn Francis Duncan O'Flynn (24 October 1918 – 17 October 2003) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party. Biography O'Flynn was born in Runanga in 1918. He was the son of Francis Edward O'Flynn and Margaret Helen Valentine Duncan. He re ...

, the former MP for . He was awarded the

New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal The New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal was a commemorative medal awarded in New Zealand in 1990 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, and was awarded to approximately 3,000 people. Background The New Zea ...

, and the

Queen's Service Medal The Queen's Service Medal is a medal awarded by the government of New Zealand to recognise and reward volunteer service to the community and also public service in elected or appointed public office. It was established in 1975 and is related to ...

for public services in the 1994 Queen's Birthday Honours. A former resident of Island Bay,

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

and

Raumati Raumati is a New Zealand place name and may refer to: *Raumati Beach, Kapiti Coast, New Zealand *Raumati South, Kapiti Coast, New Zealand * Raumati Hearts, a former name of Kapiti Coast United, a New Zealand association football club * Raumati rail ...

, he then moved to

Mandurah Mandurah () is a coastal city in the Australian state of Western Australia, situated approximately south of the state capital, Perth. It is the state's second most populous city, with a population of 107,641 as of the 2021 census. Mandurah's ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. He died at his Mandurah home in 2010 after a period of illness.Death notice in '' Dominion Post'' 8 April 2010 page C11 (no date of death given)

Personal life

In 1956 Edwards married Alison Nordmeyer, the daughter of senior Labour MP

, with whom he had one son and one daughter.

Notes

References

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