John Bollard (1839 or 1840 – 23 March 1915) was an independent conservative, then Reform Party (1908), Member of Parliament in New Zealand. He was elected to the Eden electorate in the 1896 general election, and retired in

1914 This year saw the beginning of what became known as World War I, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. It als ...

Biography

Bollard was born in County Wicklow, Ireland, on either 17 December 1839 or 1 January 1840. He spent a short time in the Australian goldfields around 1860–61. He then went from

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 ...

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, New Zealand, taking 200 horses on behalf of the military authorities, for the use of militia, war having broken out between Māori and the government a short time before. Soon after arriving in Auckland he met Jane Ganly, who had also immigrated from Ireland. They were married at St John's College on 9 May 1861. They lived at Rosebank Road in Avondale their entire married life. Bollard is the one who popularised the name Avondale for the area, referencing the

Avondale Forest Avondale Forest is a wooded estate in County Wicklow, Ireland, on the west bank of the River Avonmore. It contains the home of Charles Stewart Parnell which was built in 1777 by Samuel Hayes and is now the Parnell Museum. The park is rich in wil ...

County Wicklow County Wicklow ( ; ga, Contae Chill Mhantáin ) is a county in Ireland. The last of the traditional 32 counties, having been formed as late as 1606, it is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is bordered by t ...

. Bollard farmed for several years, then became a land agent and valuer. He served as a sergeant in the militia during the

New Zealand Wars The New Zealand Wars took place from 1845 to 1872 between the New Zealand colonial government and allied Māori on one side and Māori and Māori-allied settlers on the other. They were previously commonly referred to as the Land Wars or the M ...

of the 1860s, first at Otahuhu and then at the Avondale blockhouse. He was a member of the Avondale School Committee from 1861 to 1915, and was chairman for all but three of those years. He was chairman of the Avondale Road Board for 28 years, and at one time its engineer. He was the coroner at Avondale for about 30 years, a justice of the peace for nearly 40 years, and a member of the Eden Licensing Committee and the Auckland Hospital and Charitable Aid Board. He was one of the founders and original trustees of St Jude's Church in Avondale, and a churchwarden for many years. In 1911 he was part of a group of people who formed the Eden Ramblers rugby league football club at a meeting in Avondale. He was elected president for their inaugural season. The club, which was largely based in the Avondale and

Point Chevalier Point Chevalier (; commonly known as Point Chev and an original colonial name of Point Bunbury after Thomas Bunbury) is a residential suburb and peninsula in the city of Auckland in the north of New Zealand. It is located five kilometres to th ...

areas, only lasted until midway through the 1913 season. His wife Jane, with whom he had 14 children, died in 1928. Their eldest son,

Richard Bollard Richard Francis Bollard (23 May 1863 – 25 August 1927) was a farmer and New Zealand politician of the Reform Party. He represented the Raglan electorate from 1911 to 1927, when he died. As Minister of Internal Affairs, he was a cabi ...

, was also a Member of Parliament. During the term of the 18th New Zealand Parliament, they were MPs at the same time.

External links

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bollard, John 1839 births 1915 deaths Reform Party (New Zealand) MPs Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives New Zealand MPs for Auckland electorates 19th-century New Zealand politicians Military leaders of the New Zealand Wars 20th-century New Zealand politicians