Josiah Alfred Hanan (12 May 1868 – 22 March 1954), known to his colleagues as Joe Hanan, was a New Zealand politician, cabinet minister, and legislative councillor. He also served as

Mayor of Invercargill The Mayor of Invercargill is the head of the municipal government of Invercargill, New Zealand, and leads the Invercargill City Council. The mayor is directly elected using a First Past the Post electoral system every three years. The current m ...

, and as Chancellor of the University of New Zealand.

Early life

Hanan was born in Invercargill, New Zealand, and educated at Invercargill Central School (dux) and Southland Boys' High School. He was a civil and criminal lawyer 1889–1899 with a good reputation, defending Minnie Dean and John Keown on murder charges.

Political career

He entered politics in 1894, when he became a borough councillor. In 1896, he was elected

(the youngest, and the first NZ-born). In

1899 Events January 1899 * January 1 ** Spanish rule ends in Cuba, concluding 400 years of the Spanish Empire in the Americas. ** Queens and Staten Island become administratively part of New York City. * January 2 – **Bolivia sets up a c ...

he was elected as the member of 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 the Invercargill electorate. He held the electorate for the next 26 years, and retired at the 1925 election. In 1912 he was appointed Minister of Education,

Minister 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 ...

, and Minister of Stamp Duties in the short lived cabinet of

Thomas Mackenzie Sir Thomas Mackenzie (10 March 1853 – 14 February 1930) was a Scottish-born New Zealand politician and explorer who briefly served as the 18th prime minister of New Zealand in 1912, and later served as New Zealand High Commissioner in ...

. He also served in the wartime National Ministry, holding the portfolios of education (1915–1919), justice (1917), and immigration (1915). On his retirement from the House in 1925 he was appointed as a Member of the Legislative Council, a position he held until its abolition in 1950. From 1932 to 1939, he was Chairman of Committees. Hanan was better known to his colleagues as Joe.

Family and death

Hanan married Abigail Susan Graham in 1896, but she died in 1898. Then he married Susanna Murray and they had two sons. The family would commute to Wellington for the parliamentary sessions and their boys attended boarding school there. When Hanan retired from Parliament in 1925, they moved to

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

, where by then their boys were attending

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

. His brother James Albert Hanan had a son,

Ralph Hanan Josiah Ralph Hanan (13 June 1909 – 24 July 1969), known as Ralph Hanan, was a New Zealand politician of the National Party. He was Mayor of Invercargill and then represented the electorate in Parliament, following in his uncle Josiah Hanan's ...

, who would later become Mayor of Invercargill and represented the Invercargill electorate in Parliament, where he held several cabinet posts. Josiah Hanan died in

on 22 March 1954, where he was

cremated Cremation is a method of final disposition of a dead body through burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India and Nepal, cremation on an open-air pyre i ...

. He was survived by his sons and his wife. Susanna Hanan died on 12 February 1970 in Dunedin and her ashes were scattered.

Notes

References

* * * , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Hanan, Josiah Alfred 1868 births 1954 deaths People educated at Southland Boys' High School Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives Members of the Cabinet of New Zealand Members of the New Zealand Legislative Council 19th-century New Zealand lawyers New Zealand Liberal Party MPs Invercargill City Councillors Mayors of Invercargill New Zealand education ministers New Zealand MPs for South Island electorates 19th-century New Zealand politicians Justice ministers of New Zealand