Peter Neilson (1879 – 3 November 1948) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party.

Biography

Early life and career

He was born in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

in 1879 and was educated locally at George Street Public School. He then became an apprentice baker before gaining employment at a local bakery firm. He was then a business partner of Jim Munro from 1914. When Munro was elected to Parliament in 1922 the partnership was dissolved and Nielson found employment as foreman at another bakery, which he held until 1935. He became a trade union member and was later president of the Dunedin Bakers' Union.

Member of Parliament

He had been active in the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...

and

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

, and had been a member of the

Maori Hill Māori Hill is a residential suburb of the New Zealand city of Dunedin. It is located at the northern end of the ridge which runs in a crescent around the central city's western edge, to the northwest of the city centre, immediately above and w ...

Borough Council for four years. He was elected to the

Dunedin City Council The Dunedin City Council ( mi, Kaunihera ā-Rohe o Ōtepoti) is the local government authority for Dunedin in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority elected to represent the people of Dunedin. Since October 2022, the Mayor of Dunedin is Jul ...

at the 1935 local-body elections, serving until 1938. Mayor Edwin Thoms Cox appointed Neilson chairman of the council's library committee for the triennium. Neilson had unsuccessfully stood in the

Dunedin Central Dunedin Central was a parliamentary electorate in the city of Dunedin in Otago, New Zealand from 1881 to 1890 and 1905 to 1984. Population centres The previous electoral redistribution was undertaken in 1875 for the 1875–1876 election. In th ...

electorate in the . He stood again for Dunedin Central in Labour's landslide win in the , holding the seat until , when he retired from Parliament for personal reasons. He was succeeded by fellow Labour member and future Minister of Defense

Philip Connolly Philip George Connolly (14 November 1899 – 13 February 1970) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party. Early life Connoly was born in Dunedin on 14 November 1899 to Hugh Babbington Connolly and Evelyn Emily Connolly (née Smith). He ...

Later life and death

Neilson died on 3 November 1948 at Cook Hospital aged 69 after a three-week illness, survived by his wife and daughter. He was buried at Taruheru Cemetery, Gisborne.

Notes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Neilson, Peter 1879 births 1948 deaths New Zealand Labour Party MPs New Zealand MPs for Dunedin electorates New Zealand Socialist Party politicians Social Democratic Party (New Zealand) politicians Dunedin City Councillors Unsuccessful candidates in the 1931 New Zealand general election Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives Burials at Taruheru Cemetery