John McLachlan (1840 – 11 September 1915) was a New Zealand Member of Parliament for
Ashburton in the
South Island
The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...
.
Early life
McLachlan was born in
Ardrossan
Ardrossan (; ) is a town on the North Ayrshire coast in southwestern Scotland. The town has a population of 10,670 and forms part of a conurbation with Saltcoats and Stevenston known as the 'Three Towns'. Ardrossan is located on the east shore ...
, Ayrshire, Scotland, in 1840. He learned his father's trade as a plasterer. He came to New Zealand in 1863 by the ship ''Sebastopol'' and arrived at
Lyttelton. After some time spent in looking around the country, he chose land near
Lake Ellesmere / Te Waihora
Lake Ellesmere / Te Waihora is a broad, shallow coastal lake or waituna, in the Canterbury region of the South Island of New Zealand. It is directly to the west of Banks Peninsula, separated from the Pacific Ocean by the long, narrow, sandy ...
and became a farmer.
His brothers, sister and his mother followed him to New Zealand.
Member of Parliament
McLachlan stood for election in the Selwyn electorate for the
Canterbury Provincial Council
The Canterbury Province was a province of New Zealand from 1853 until the abolition of provincial government in 1876. Its capital was Christchurch.
History
Canterbury was founded in December 1850 by the Canterbury Association of influential Eng ...
, but lost to
Edward Jollie
Edward Jollie (1 September 1825 – 7 August 1894) was a pioneer land surveyor in New Zealand, initially as a cadet surveyor with the New Zealand Company. The Christchurch Central City is laid out to his survey.
Biography
Jollie was born in ...
.
McLachlan unsuccessfully contested the for , coming third. He then unsuccessfully contested the electorate in the , coming second and being beaten by
John Hall John Hall may refer to:
Academics
* John Hall (NYU President) (fl. c. 1890), American academic
* John A. Hall (born 1949), sociology professor at McGill University, Montreal
* John F. Hall (born 1951), professor of classics at Brigham Young Unive ...
.
He represented the
Ashburton electorate in the
House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
for twelve years (–1896; –1908). He came second to
Edward George Wright
Edward George Wright (14 June 1831 – 12 August 1902) was an independent conservative Member of Parliament in New Zealand.
Biography
Wright was born in Woolwich, Kent, England, in 1831. After an education in private schools, he worked fo ...
in the , but Wright retired in 1899.
He was a colourful character in
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
.
"The representative of Ashburton", wrote a newspaper reporter, "is about the wildest looking specimen in the Parliamentary collection. But if he is in the rough to gaze on, he can give 'points' to some more ornamental members in the matter of ability and originality of thought and expression. He is a sturdily built, carelessly dressed man, with a large head, made to look larger by the wild disorder of a huge shock of curly hair. He is a farmer and might have stepped out of his market trap into his place in the House. He is, as a rule, a breezy, happy-go-lucky sort of member with a good sense of humour and a fine stock of anecdotes and a great admiration for and acquaintance with the writings of
Robert Burns
Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who hav ...
."
He was a leading Canterbury Presbyterian, and was known for his love of whisky. On occasions he spoke on the platform or in the house while intoxicated and made a fool of himself, and in 1894 he fell into Wellington Harbour when he mistook the lights of a ship for the lights outside a chemist's shop where he had lodgings. In 1907 he was 'almost certainly' the subject of a complaint by
J. T. Marryat Hornsby
John Thomas Marryat Hornsby (13 March 1857 – 23 February 1921), generally known as J. T. Marryat Hornsby, was a New Zealand politician of the Liberal Party from the Wairarapa. He was a newspaper editor and proprietor.
Biography
Early life
Ho ...
to the Speaker about his language and his intoxicated condition in the house, which the Premier promised to have put right.
Family and death
John McLachlan died on 11 September 1915. His son Alexander McLachlan (1870–1945) was a farmer and mill owner and
Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
candidate for
Mataura
Mataura is a town in the Southland region of the South Island of New Zealand. Mataura has a meat processing plant, and until 2000 it was the site of a large pulp and paper mill.
Geography
Mataura is situated on and the Main South Line railwa ...
at the
1919 election. Archibald Albany McLachlan (1898–1961), a solicitor from
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 / ...
, was a grandson of John McLachlan. Archibald McLachlan stood in the in the electorate for the
United Party, coming second to
Bert Kyle
Herbert Seton Stewart Kyle (29 August 1873 – 5 January 1955) was a member of the Reform Party (New Zealand), Reform Party and since 1936 New Zealand National Party, National Party Member of Parliament in New Zealand.
Early life and professio ...
.
Kyle was the official candidate of the
United–Reform Coalition
The United–Reform Coalition, also known as the National Political Federation from 1935, was a coalition between two of the three major parties of New Zealand, the United and Reform parties, from 1931 to 1936. The Coalition formed the Governmen ...
for the , and McLachlan opposed him in Riccarton as an Independent, again coming second.
McLachlan stood in the as an Independent in the electorate and came third.
Notes
References
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:
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{{DEFAULTSORT:McLachlan, John
1840 births
1915 deaths
New Zealand Liberal Party MPs
Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives
New Zealand farmers
Scottish emigrants to New Zealand
New Zealand MPs for South Island electorates
People from Ashburton, New Zealand
Unsuccessful candidates in the 1890 New Zealand general election
Unsuccessful candidates in the 1896 New Zealand general election
Unsuccessful candidates in the 1887 New Zealand general election
19th-century New Zealand politicians