William Alfred Sheat (23 May 1899 – 24 May 1982) was a New Zealand

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for two

Taranaki Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth Dist ...

electorates.

Early life

Sheat was born at Pihama,

, in 1899. He was the son of Joseph Sheat and his wife Susannah (). He received his early education at Pihama Primary and Hawera District High School. He attended

Victoria University College Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well know ...

and graduated

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 yea ...

in 1920 and

LL.B. Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

in 1923. He married Ella Marjorie Newton, who was also a Victoria University College graduate (

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in 1925), on 22 January 1929. The wedding was held at St John's Presbyterian Church in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

. They had two sons, including Bill Sheat. Sheat was admitted as a solicitor in 1922. He lectured economics at the

Workers' Educational Association The Workers' Educational Association (WEA), founded in 1903, is the UK's largest voluntary sector provider of adult education and one of Britain's biggest charities. The WEA is a democratic and voluntary adult education movement. It delivers lea ...

from 1923 to 1925. From 1926 to 1928, he taught at

Marlborough College Marlborough College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent boarding school) for pupils aged 13 to 18 in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England. Founded in 1843 for the sons of Church ...

. From 1928, he farmed in Pihama.

Political activity

Early political career

Sheat served on the Egmont County Council for twelve years. He was initially a member of the Labour Party and stood as the Labour candidate for

in , and for in . At the , Sheat contested the New Plymouth electorate again, this time as an

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

. He joined the National Party in 1940.

Member of Parliament

Bill Sheat represented the Patea electorate between

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 – ...

and 1954 and then the Egmont electorate from

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 ...

to 1966. After a 1953 redistricting much of the Patea seat (including his residence) shifted to the electorate. The seat of had been recreated and the home of the incumbent MP for Egmont,

Ernest Corbett Ernest Bowyer Corbett (7 May 1898 – 15 June 1968) was a New Zealand National Party politician. Early life and family Corbett was born in Ōkato in 1898; his father was William Corbett. His mother was descended from Thomas Hansen, who had co ...

, was now situated in Stratford. Sheat did not wish to represent the enlarged, mostly rural, Patea and thought it appropriate that he instead contest Egmont and Corbett contest Stratford. However Corbett was selected again in Egmont instead of Sheat, leading Sheat to accuse the local party electorate organiser of predetermining the candidacy. On 14 May 1954 he resigned his seat with the intention of winning it back at a by-election as an

. He narrowly held the seat in the 31 July

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 ...

, which National did not contest. He subsequently did not stand in the 1954 general election. In

Sheat returned to Parliament as MP for Egmont after Corbett's retirement until he retired in 1966. Sheat was Undersecretary to the Minister of Works between 1949 and 1954. Prior to his selection dispute he looked certain of gaining a cabinet post, but

Keith Holyoake Sir Keith Jacka Holyoake, (; 11 February 1904 – 8 December 1983) was the 26th prime minister of New Zealand, serving for a brief period in 1957 and then from 1960 to 1972, and also the 13th governor-general of New Zealand, serving from 1977 ...

never forgave him for resigning and overlooked him when selecting his cabinet in 1960 and 1963. This was despite Sheat still defending the National Government against Labour's criticisms (particularly with regards to financial policy) while fighting the by-election as an independent candidate.

Death

Sheat died on 24 May 1982, aged 83 years. He was cremated in the Wellington suburb of

Karori Karori is a suburb located at the western edge of the urban area of Wellington, New Zealand, 4 km from the city centre and is one of New Zealand's most populous suburbs, with a population of in History Origins The name ''Karori'' used ...

four days later.

Notes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sheat, William 1899 births 1982 deaths People educated at Hawera High School New Zealand National Party MPs Independent MPs of New Zealand Local politicians in New Zealand 20th-century New Zealand farmers 20th-century New Zealand lawyers New Zealand Labour Party politicians Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives New Zealand MPs for North Island electorates Unsuccessful candidates in the 1931 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 1925 New Zealand general election