Mary Manson Dreaver (née Bain, 31 March 1887 – 19 July 1961) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party.

Biography

Early life

She was born in

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 ...

, the oldest of 13 children of Alexander Manson Bain and Hanna Kiely. She married Andrew James Dreaver in 1911. She was a minister and president of the National

Spiritualist Church A spiritualist church is a church affiliated with the informal spiritualist movement which began in the United States in the 1840s. Spiritualist churches are now found around the world, but are most common in English-speaking countries, while in ...

of New Zealand, a

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

as '' Maorilander'' in the ''

New Zealand Woman's Weekly The ''New Zealand Woman's Weekly'' is a weekly New Zealand women's magazine published by Are Media. , it had a circulation of 82,040, third by paid sales after ''TV Guide'' and ''New Zealand Woman's Day''. History On 8 December 1932, journalist ...

'', and a broadcaster on Radio 1ZB as ''Aunt Maisy''. In 1934 she became the first woman minister appointed by the church in New Zealand.

Political career

Dreaver sought selection by the Labour Party for the in the electorate, but was beaten by

Tom Bloodworth Thomas Bloodworth (10 February 1882 – 11 May 1974) was a New Zealand politician. He was a Member of the Legislative Council and its last Chairman of Committees. Political career Born in Maxey, Northamptonshire in 1882, Bloodworth was a me ...

. In 1931 she was elected to the Auckland Hospital Board as a Labour candidate. In 1933 a visit by her to the hospital kitchen and claims of long hours and "sweated labour" there aroused controversy on the board. Dreaver then sought the Labour nomination for the in the seat, but was beaten by Arthur Osborne. In the she stood for Labour in , coming second. In 1940 she stood for the Labour nomination at the Auckland West by-election following the death of Prime Minister

Michael Joseph Savage Michael Joseph Savage (23 March 1872 – 27 March 1940) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 23rd prime minister of New Zealand, heading the First Labour Government from 1935 until his death in 1940. Savage was born in the Colon ...

, but lost to Peter Carr. In 1941 she won the Waitemata electorate when a

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 ...

was held after the death of the previous Labour Party MP,

Jack Lyon William John Lyon (15 February 1898 – 26 May 1941) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party. He was killed in World War II while serving with the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force. Early life and career Lyon was born in London, En ...

. She was defeated in the next (

1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 ...

) general election, by the National Party candidate, Henry Thorne Morton. Mary Dreaver, 1934

She was the third woman to be elected to

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

after

Elizabeth McCombs Elizabeth Reid McCombs (née Henderson, 19 November 1873 – 7 June 1935) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party who in 1933 became the first woman elected to the New Zealand Parliament. New Zealand women gained the right to vote in ...

and

Catherine Stewart Catherine Campbell Stewart (née Sword, 15 August 1881 – 2 April 1957) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party. Early life Born in Glasgow, she migrated with her family to New Zealand in 1921. She was an ardent suffragette, and a ...

and the first woman from Auckland. She also was on several

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

local bodies. She was a member of the Auckland Hospital Board from 1933 to 1944 and again from 1950 to 1956, the Auckland Transport Board from 1939 to 1944, the Auckland Electric Power Board from 1944 to 1947, and the Auckland Metropolitan Drainage Board between 1956 and 1957. She was a member of the

Auckland City Council Auckland City Council was the local government authority for Auckland City, New Zealand, from 1871 to 1 November 2010, when it and Auckland's six other city and district councils were amalgamated to form the Auckland Council. It was an elected b ...

(its second woman member) from 1938 to 1944 and again from 1953 to 1961. Her son Alex was also a city councillor from 1953 to 1974. Dreaver and Mary Anderson were the first two women appointed to the Legislative Council. They were appointed by the First Labour Government in 1946 (after a law change in 1941 to make women eligible); they served to 1950 when the Legislative Council was abolished.

Later life

In the

1946 New Year Honours The 1946 New Year Honours were appointments by many of the Commonwealth Realms of King George VI to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and to celebrate the passing of 1945 and the beginni ...

, Dreaver was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

for services in connection with recruiting for the Women's Land Army. She died in Auckland on 19 July 1961. She was survived by her husband (by only three months), three daughters and two sons.

Notes

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dreaver, Mary 1887 births 1961 deaths New Zealand Labour Party MPs Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives Members of the New Zealand Legislative Council New Zealand broadcasters Local politicians in New Zealand Women members of the New Zealand House of Representatives New Zealand Labour Party MLCs New Zealand MPs for Auckland electorates New Zealand Members of the Order of the British Empire Politicians from Dunedin Unsuccessful candidates in the 1943 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 1938 New Zealand general election 20th-century New Zealand women politicians Women members of the New Zealand Legislative Council Auckland City Councillors 20th-century New Zealand politicians Members of district health boards in New Zealand 20th-century New Zealand journalists