William James Speight (1843 – 24 April 1919) was a 19th-century Member of Parliament in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, New Zealand.

Biography

Speight was born in Dublin in 1843, where he attended the

Blue Coat School A bluecoat school is a type of charity school in England, the first of which was founded in the 16th century. Most of them have closed; some remain open as schools, often on different sites, and some of the original buildings have been adapted ...

. He trained as a

mechanical engineer Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations of ...

in his father's firm and emigrated to New Zealand in 1865 on the ''Maori''. When gold was found in the

Coromandel Coromandel may refer to: Places India *Coromandel Coast, India **Presidency of Coromandel and Bengal Settlements ** Dutch Coromandel *Coromandel, KGF, Karnataka, India New Zealand *Coromandel, New Zealand, a town on the Coromandel Peninsula *Coro ...

, he moved to

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

. He married his cousin, a daughter of Isaac Speight, in 1872. They had six sons and three daughters. He contested the

Auckland East Auckland East was a New Zealand electorate, situated in the east of Auckland. It existed between 1861 and 1887, and again between 1905 and 1946. History The Auckland East electorate was established for the 1860–1861 election, when the City ...

electorate in the 1879 general election against James Clark and with 371 to 363 votes obtained a narrow victory. He represented the electorate until the end of the parliamentary term in 1881, when he was defeated (for the Thames electorate). Speight died in

on 24 April 1919, and was buried at Purewa Cemetery.

References

1843 births 1919 deaths Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives Unsuccessful candidates in the 1881 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 1884 New Zealand general election New Zealand MPs for Auckland electorates Engineers from Dublin (city) Irish emigrants to New Zealand (before 1923) Burials at Purewa Cemetery 19th-century New Zealand politicians Unsuccessful candidates in the 1911 New Zealand general election {{NewZealand-politician-stub