Russell John Calvert (1 February 1909 – 20 August 2011) was a New Zealand local-body politician. He served as

Mayor of Dunedin The Mayor of Dunedin is the head of the local government, the city council of Dunedin, New Zealand. The Mayor's role is "to provide leadership to the other elected members of the territorial authority, be a leader in the community and perform c ...

between 1965 and 1968.

Biography

Early life

Calvert was born in Masterton in 1909. He was educated at

Nelson College Nelson College is the oldest state secondary school in New Zealand. It is an all-boys school in the City of Nelson that teaches from years 9 to 13. In addition, it runs a private preparatory school for year 7 and 8 boys. The school also has ...

in 1923 and in Wellington.''Nelson College Old Boys' Register, 1856–2006'', 6th edition Calvert had wanted to join the Merchant Navy, but was unable to fund the ₤50 necessary for officers training as a captain, so instead he started work with his uncle as a dental technician in Wellington. He then 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 ...

and established his own dental technician's laboratory there, living in Dunedin for 52 years. He served in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

in the army in an artillery unit in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

and the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

, and for a short time in

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Political career

In Dunedin he became involved in local-body affairs in the late-1940s as a member of the

Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is a ...

Ratepayers and Householders Association. He was later an organiser of the Dunedin Combined Ratepayers' Association and was part of a successful campaign in 1953 for unimproved value rating. He later sought the Labour nomination at the 1953 North Dunedin by-election but was not selected. He was first elected to the

Dunedin City Council The Dunedin City Council ( mi, Kaunihera ā-Rohe o Ōtepoti) is the local government authority for Dunedin in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority elected to represent the people of Dunedin. Since October 2022, the Mayor of Dunedin is Jules ...

in a 1958 by-election, beating former National MP

Jim Barnes James Martin Barnes (April 8, 1886 – May 24, 1966) was an English golfer and a leading figure in the early years of professional golf in the United States. He is one of three native Britons (with Tommy Armour and Rory McIlroy) to win three di ...

, to replace Fred Jones who had been appointed New Zealand's High Commissioner to Australia. At the regularly scheduled election in 1959 he was initially successful in securing re-election, as the lowest polling successful candidate, just 11 votes ahead of the next candidate Edgar Whittleston. After the official count was finished, which included an extra 1,570 special votes, it changed the result slightly with Whittleston displacing Calvert as the lowest polling successful candidate by 93 votes. He returned to the council in another by-election in July 1961 and then stood unsuccessfully for mayor in

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wors ...

. His mayoral candidature was last minute, with

Phil Connolly Philip George Connolly (14 November 1899 – 13 February 1970) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party. Early life Connoly was born in Dunedin on 14 November 1899 to Hugh Babbington Connolly and Evelyn Emily Connolly (née Smith). He ...

the MP for

Dunedin Central Dunedin Central was a parliamentary electorate in the city of Dunedin in Otago, New Zealand from 1881 to 1890 and 1905 to 1984. Population centres The previous electoral redistribution was undertaken in 1875 for the 1875–1876 election. In the ...

initially set to be Labour's mayoral candidate. However when Connolly was forced to withdraw on grounds of ill-health Clavert replaced him, narrowly losing to the incumbent Mayor Stuart Sidey. He stood for the city council as well as the mayoralty and was comfortably re-elected to the council (polling second highest). Three years later he stood for the mayoralty again, this time beating Sidey. He served for one term as mayor from 1965 to 1968 when he was defeated by Jim Barnes. He was then re-elected to the council mid-term in a 1970 by-election before standing for mayor unsuccessfully one last time in 1971. He was the chairman of many committees and on a number of executive boards during his career, including being chairman of the Clutha Valley Development Commission, looking at hydro-electric power development in the area. He also was on the Town and Country Planning Appeal Board for four terms.

Later life and death

His first wife, Eileen, died in 1977 and Calvert then lived for three years in

Arrowtown Arrowtown (Māori: ''Haehaenui'') is a historic gold mining town in the Otago region of the South Island of New Zealand. Arrowtown is located on the banks of the Arrow River approximately 7.5 km from State Highway 6. Arrowtown is locat ...

at the family holiday home where he worked at the local golf club as unofficial and unpaid assistant greenkeeper. Together with his second wife, Win, he moved to first

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

and then

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

to be nearer to her family. In later life he was a leading campaigner for higher pensions for those with spouses in care. After presenting a petition to parliament in 2005, signed by 1,519 people, Senior Citizens Minister

Ruth Dyson Ruth Suzanne Dyson (born 11 August 1957) is a former New Zealand politician. She was a Labour Party Member of Parliament from 1993 to 2020. She represented the electorate from the election to 2020. She also held a number of senior offices i ...

announced all married pensioners who had a partner in long-term residential care would from July 2006 be eligible for the higher single rate of superannuation. He died in 2011 aged 102.

Notes

References

* 1909 births 2011 deaths People from Masterton People educated at Nelson College New Zealand dentists New Zealand military personnel of World War II New Zealand justices of the peace New Zealand Labour Party politicians Dunedin City Councillors Mayors of Dunedin New Zealand centenarians Men centenarians {{NewZealand-mayor-stub