John Read (1874 – 14 September 1942) was a New Zealand politician and trade unionist.

Biography

Early life

Born in

Clifton Clifton may refer to: People *Clifton (surname) *Clifton (given name) Places Australia * Clifton, Queensland, a town **Shire of Clifton *Clifton, New South Wales, a suburb of Wollongong *Clifton, Western Australia Canada *Clifton, Nova Scotia ...

, a coal mining town on the hinterlands of

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

in 1874, Read started work in a mine himself at the age of 12. Read was a labour advocate and joined the

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse working-class candidates ...

in 1894. Read and his wife sailed to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in 1901 settling in

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 ...

, where he found work as a

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

ist. He became secretary of the Wellington Engine Drivers' Union, later secretary of the Engine Drivers' Federation, and finally from 1917 until his retirement he was the secretary of the Wellington Timber Workers' Union. In 1923 he was made a

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

at the request of the Trades Council.

Political career

Read was a member of the Advisory Committee of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

from 1915 to 1916. He joined the Labour Party upon the SDP's merger into it. He was also the President of the Wellington Co-operative Society for three years. In 1918 he sought the Labour nomination for the Wellington Central by-election, but lost to

Peter Fraser Peter Fraser (; 28 August 1884 – 12 December 1950) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 24th prime minister of New Zealand from 27 March 1940 until 13 December 1949. Considered a major figure in the history of the New Zealand Lab ...

. Later that year, he was nominated by the Engine Drivers' Union for the Labour nomination in the Wellington South by-election, but was defeated by

Bob Semple Robert Semple (21 October 1873 – 31 January 1955) was a union leader and later Minister of Public Works for the first Labour Government of New Zealand. He is also known for creating the Bob Semple tank. Early life He was born in Sofala, New ...

. He stood as the Labour Party's candidate for

Mayor of Wellington The Mayor of Wellington is the head of the municipal government of the City of Wellington. The mayor presides over the Wellington City Council. The mayor is directly elected using the Single Transferable Vote method of proportional representati ...

in the 1919 election, but was beaten by incumbent

John Luke John Luke may refer to: * John A. Luke Jr., chief executive officer of MeadWestvaco * John Luke (artist) (1906–1975), Irish artist * John Luke (New Zealand politician) (1858–1931), New Zealand politician * John Luke (MP) (1563–1638), English p ...

. Later that year Read also stood for the

Wellington North Wellington North was a federal electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1867 to 1953. It was located in the province of Ontario. It was created by the British North America Act, 1867 which divided the County of Well ...

electorate in the

New Zealand House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the sole chamber of the New Zealand Parliament. The House passes Law of New Zealand, laws, provides Ministers of the New Zealand Government, ministers to form Cabinet of New Zealand, Cabinet, and supervises the ...

in for the Labour Party where he placed last out of three candidates in a tight race also won by Luke. Following the death of

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 ...

lor William Bennett of the Citizens' Association (who had been the Deputy Mayor), Read won the resulting

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

, beating former city councillor and MP

Thomas Forsyth Thomas Forsyth may refer to: * Thomas Forsyth (footballer) (1892–?), Scottish amateur footballer * Thomas Forsyth (Indian agent) (1771–1833), American frontiersman, trader, and Indian agent * Thomas Forsyth (New Zealand politician) (1868–1941 ...

. Read remained a member of the city council until 1938. He had stood for election many times previously but had been unsuccessful.

Death

Read died in Wellington on 14 September 1942. He was survived by his wife, one daughter, and two grandchildren.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Read, John 1874 births 1942 deaths Wellington City Councillors New Zealand trade unionists New Zealand people of English descent Unsuccessful candidates in the 1919 New Zealand general election New Zealand Labour Party politicians Social Democratic Party (New Zealand) politicians New Zealand justices of the peace