Ashley was a
New Zealand electorate situated north of
Christchurch
Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...
. It was in use from 1866 to 1902, and was replaced with the
Hurunui electorate.
Population centres
In the 1865 electoral redistribution, the
House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...
focussed its review of electorates to
South Island
The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...
electorates only, as the
Otago gold rush had caused significant population growth, and a redistribution of the existing population. Fifteen additional South Island electorates were created, including Ashley, and the number of Members of Parliament was increased by 13 to 70.
The Ashley electorate was formed from a corner of
Cheviot electorate, and included the towns of
Ashley,
Amberley, and
Oxford
Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town.
The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...
. The electorate's boundaries remained roughly the same until the
1881 election, when it expanded slightly into
Kaiapoi electorate and Amberley was returned to Cheviot. In the
1887 election, the electorate expanded westwards into Cheviot's southern tip. In the
1890 election, Cheviot itself was abolished, and the majority of its territory was absorbed into Ashley — to compensate, territory was taken from Ashley in the south and given to Kaiapoi. In the
1893 election, Ashley expanded further north, taking the town of
Kaikōura
Kaikōura (; ) is a town on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand, located on New Zealand State Highway 1, State Highway 1, north of Christchurch. The town has an estimated permanent resident population of as of . Kaikōura is th ...
from
Wairau electorate, but ceded Oxford to Kaiapoi in the south. In the
1902 election, Ashley was dissolved, being replaced with an electorate called Hurunui, covering much the same area.
History
The first representative was
Lancelot Walker, who won the unopposed. Walker resigned in the following year and was succeeded by
Henry Tancred in the ; Tancred was also unopposed.
Tancred retired at the end of the parliamentary term in 1870
and was succeeded by
John Evans Brown, who won the election against two others.
At the
1876 election, Brown was challenged by
William Miles Maskell, who had been one of his opponents in 1871, but Brown retained his seat.
For the
1879 election, three candidates contested the election, with
William Sefton Moorhouse gaining an absolute majority.
The
1881 election was contested by five candidates, with
William Fisher Pearson the winner.
In the
1884 election, Pearson had a dominant win over one challenger.
In the , the electorate was contested by
Richard Meredith,
James Dupré Lance and John George Knight,
who received 648, 611 and 137 votes, respectively. Meredith was thus declared elected.
Members of Parliament
Key
Election results
1899 election
1896 election
1893 election
1890 election
1888 by-election
1887 election
1884 election
1881 election
1879 election
1875–1876 election
1871 election
Notes
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashley (New Zealand Electorate)
Historical electorates of New Zealand
1865 establishments in New Zealand
1902 disestablishments in New Zealand
Waimakariri District
Politics of the Canterbury Region