Thomas Henry Davey (1856 – 5 April 1934) was a New Zealand Member of Parliament for the electorates of City of Christchurch and Christchurch East. He is regarded as a member of the Liberal Party, but was critical of aspects of the party and its leadership.

Early life

Davey was born in Liskeard in south east Cornwall, England. He learned the trade of printing. With his parents, he came to New Zealand in 1874, arriving in Wellington on the ''Douglass''. They lived in Feilding (where he worked as a saw miller), Wellington (where he worked for the Government printer) and then Christchurch. He was a printer for the '' Lyttelton Times'' newspaper and became President of the Typographical Union and Vice-President of the Trades and Labour Council. On 8 August 1884, he married Maude Davey, daughter of John Dobson (surveyor) from Oxford.

Member of Parliament

From between the general elections of 1902 and

1905 As the second year of the massive Russo-Japanese War begins, more than 100,000 die in the largest world battles of that era, and the war chaos leads to the 1905 Russian Revolution against Nicholas II of Russia (Shostakovich's 11th Symphony i ...

, Davey was one of the three members of parliament representing the multi-member City of Christchurch electorate. He had been presented with a petition to stand for parliament and came third out of nine contenders in this three-member electorate, behind Tommy Taylor and Harry Ell. In 1905, these multi-member electorates were split up, and he won the Christchurch East electorate against three other contenders: William Whitehouse Collins (who had previously been in Parliament for the Liberal Party), Henry Toogood (a young engineer who only recently left Canterbury College and who would become one of the founding members of the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand), and

Frederick Cooke Frederick George Cooke (1 February 1897 – 17 July 1965) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for a single term from 1950 until 1953 . He was a member of the Country Party. Cooke was bor ...

(a prominent member of the Socialist Party). Davey held Christchurch East to

1914 This year saw the beginning of what became known as World War I, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. It als ...

, when he retired. Like Harry Ell, Davey showed an independent attitude towards the Liberal Government. He demanded an elective executive, and said that

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

Richard Seddon held too many portfolios. He also believed that the

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

should be reconstructed. Nonetheless, Davey is listed as a member of the Liberal Party in Wilson's ''New Zealand Parliamentary Record : 1840–1984''. Davey was elected Mayor of

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

in 1897. He was a member of the Hospital Board and the Board of Canterbury College. The '' Lyttelton Times'' parliamentary correspondent described Davey as: ''"tall, straight, solidly built – the best Mayor St. Albans ever had"''.

Death

Davey died on 5 April 1934 and was buried at Linwood Cemetery.

Early life

Member of Parliament

Death

References

Further reading