Mark Woolf Silverstone (born Marks; December 1880 – 7 September 1951) was a notable

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

-born New Zealand cabinet-maker, socialist, local politician and financier, who co-founded the New Zealand Alliance of Labour. He was born in

Pułtusk Pułtusk (pronounced ) is a town in northeast Poland, by the river Narew. Located north of Warsaw in the Masovian Voivodeship, it had a population of about 19,000 . Known for its historic architecture and Europe's longest paved marketplace ( in ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

to Jewish parents, Barnett Silverstone, a tailor, and his wife, Esther Gotshank. His parents fled Poland to London in 1889 due to religious persecution. A socialist, his religious faith declined and he joined the National Secular Society. On 25 June 1904, he wed Esther Ethel Feld, a fellow socialist and émigré. He became a naturalised citizen of New Zealand in 1907.Woolf Marks Silverstone; ''New Zealand, Naturalisations, 1843-1981'' Silverstone acted as secretary of the Dunedin branch of the National Peace and Anti-militarist League from 1913, which opposed New Zealand's participation in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. However, as a councillor on the Otago Labour Council he sponsored a resolution seeking to safeguard the welfare and interests of demobbed soldiers returning home. In 1936, Silverstone was appointed to the board of directors of the

Reserve Bank of New Zealand The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ, mi, Te Pūtea Matua) is the central bank of New Zealand. It was established in 1934 and is constituted under the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 1989. The governor of the Reserve Bank is responsible for N ...

Walter Nash Sir Walter Nash (12 February 1882 – 4 June 1968) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 27th prime minister of New Zealand in the Second Labour Government from 1957 to 1960. He is noted for his long period of political service, havin ...

, then-Minister of Finance.

Death

Mark Woolf Silverstone died at

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 ...

, New Zealand on 7 September 1951. He was survived by his wife, two sons and two daughters.

Notes

References

1880 births 1951 deaths New Zealand socialists People from Pułtusk New Zealand people of Polish-Jewish descent Jewish New Zealand politicians Polish emigrants to New Zealand 20th-century New Zealand politicians Emigrants from the Russian Empire to New Zealand New Zealand Socialist Party politicians Social Democratic Party (New Zealand) politicians New Zealand Labour Party politicians Dunedin City Councillors Date of birth missing {{NewZealand-politician-stub