Wilfred Henry Fortune (9 October 1897 – 28 February 1961) was a New Zealand politician of the National Party.

Personal life

Fortune was born in 1897 in

Paeroa Paeroa is a town in the Hauraki District of the Waikato Region in the North Island of New Zealand. Located at the base of the Coromandel Peninsula, it is close to the junction of the Waihou River and Ohinemuri River, and is approximately 20 kilo ...

. He received his education at

Auckland Grammar School 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 I ...

, the Auckland Teachers' Training College, and the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

. He obtained a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

, a

B.Com. A Bachelor of Commerce (abbreviated BComm or BCom; also, ''baccalaureates commercii'') is an undergraduate degree in business, usually awarded in Canada, Australia, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Ireland, New Zealand, Ghana, South Africa, Myanma ...

, and a diploma in social sciences. He initially worked as a teacher, then became a public secretary, and was then managing director of Young and Fortune Ltd. During World War II, he was a lieutenant colonel with the

New Zealand Expeditionary Force The New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) was the title of the military forces sent from New Zealand to fight alongside other British Empire and Dominion troops during World War I (1914–1918) and World War II (1939–1945). Ultimately, the NZE ...

(NZEF) in the Pacific. Fortune died on 28 February 1961.

Political career

As an Independent, he contested the in the Auckland West electorate resulting from Michael Joseph Savage's death, but was beaten by

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

's Peter Carr. He stood for National in the , but was beaten by the incumbent, Labour's

Bill Anderton William Theophilus Anderton (16 March 1891 – 20 January 1966) was a New Zealand politician of the New Zealand Labour Party, Labour Party. He served as Minister of Internal Affairs (New Zealand), Minister of Internal Affairs in the Second Labo ...

, by only 14 votes. In

1941 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January–August – 10,072 men, women and children with mental and physical disabilities are asphyxiated with carbon monoxide in a gas chamber, at Hadamar Eu ...

he won a seat on the Auckland City Council, serving two terms.

Member of parliament

Fortune was first elected to parliament at the subsequent election in , when Anderton successfully stood in , and Fortune was returned in Eden. Fortune held Eden until the , when he was defeated for . He was a member of the Executive Council from 1949 to 1954 in the First National Government. In January 1950 he was appointed Minister of Police. In 1955, Fortune was granted the use of the title of "Honourable" for life, having served more than three years as a member of the Executive Council.

After parliament

From 1956 until his death, he chaired the National Party in Auckland. In

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...

he won a by-election to regain a seat on the Auckland City Council. His interests lay in education and health, and he was a member of the Auckland Education Board, and the Seddon Memorial Technical College Board of Governors. He was a director of the YMCA, and chaired the Auckland Central Health Camp Council.

Notes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fortune, Wilfred 1897 births 1961 deaths New Zealand National Party MPs Members of the Cabinet of New Zealand Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives New Zealand MPs for Auckland electorates People from Paeroa People educated at Auckland Grammar School University of Auckland alumni New Zealand schoolteachers New Zealand military personnel of World War II Unsuccessful candidates in the 1954 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 1943 New Zealand general election Auckland City Councillors