Sir Peter Tait (5 September 1915 – 31 January 1996) was a New Zealand

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Party Member of Parliament, mayor of Napier, small businessman and opponent of New Zealand's Homosexual Law Reform Act.

Early life

Tait was born on 5 September 1915, in

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's Island Bay suburb. His family were Scottish immigrants, originally from the

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. His father Jack and his uncles Peter and Ross belonged to the best known Shetland fishing families in Island Bay. Through his early life, Tait suffered from tuberculosis, which meant that he was unable to play an active role in New Zealand's

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effort, nor could he become a Baptist minister. He moved from

Waipukurau Waipukurau is the largest town in the Central Hawke's Bay District on the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is located on the banks of the Tukituki River, 7 kilometres south of Waipawa and 50 kilometres southwest of Hastings. H ...

, a rural community, to the East Coast of the

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, and ultimately settled in Napier. Once established there, he opened a shoe store, which came to have branches in Waipukurau, Napier,

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

and Dannevirke.

Political career

Member of Parliament

Tait served as the National Member of Parliament for Napier (1951–1954). In 1953, he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal.

Mayor of Napier

Two years after leaving Parliament, he became Mayor of Napier for the next eighteen years (1956–1974).

Later life and death

Tait was a

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

, who helped to organise the

Coalition of Concerned Citizens The Coalition of Concerned Citizens was a New Zealand Christian conservative pressure group, and one of several attempts to form pro-censorship, anti-abortion, anti-gay and sex education opponents into a comprehensive social conservative politica ...

in the mid-eighties, and fought against homosexual law reform. Ultimately, though, the Homosexual Law Reform Act passed its final reading. Tait then ran foul of his former colleagues in the 'Gang of Twenty' affair in 1989 when the contributory mortgage company he chaired, AdvisorCorp, found itself the target of attacks from National Party leader

Jim Bolger James Brendan Bolger ( ; born 31 May 1935) is a New Zealand retired politician of the National Party who was the 35th prime minister of New Zealand, serving from 1990 to 1997. Bolger was born to an Irish immigrant family in Ōpunake, Taran ...

. Bolger would later publicly apologise to Tait, but two of the principals in the company were successfully prosecuted and AdvisorCorp collapsed. He funded the Tait Fountain in Napier, which commemorates

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and was dedicated on 9 May 1995 on the 50th anniversary of the end of that war. Tait was appointed an

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in the

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and promoted to

Knight Commander 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 ...

in the

1975 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1975 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced on 1 January 1975 to celeb ...

. He died in 1996.

References

*''Obituary: Peter Tait'' from ''Evening Post (Wellington)'' 2 October 1996 *Laurie Guy: ''Worlds in Collision: The Gay Law Reform Debate in New Zealand: 1960-1985'' Wellington: Victoria University Press: (2002) {{DEFAULTSORT:Tait, Peter 1915 births 1996 deaths New Zealand National Party MPs New Zealand activists New Zealand Baptists Mayors of Napier, New Zealand New Zealand MPs for North Island electorates Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives Unsuccessful candidates in the 1954 New Zealand general election New Zealand Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire New Zealand politicians awarded knighthoods 20th-century Baptists