Robert Alexander Wright (8 August 1863 – 6 December 1947) was the

Mayor of Wellington The Mayor of Wellington is the head of the municipal government of the City of Wellington. The mayor presides over the Wellington City Council. The mayor is directly elected using the Single Transferable Vote method of proportional representati ...

from 1921 to 1925, and a New Zealand politician of the Reform 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 ...

to Robert and Lydia Esther Wright, who moved to

Hokitika Hokitika is a town in the West Coast region of New Zealand's South Island, south of Greymouth, and close to the mouth of the Hokitika River. It is the seat and largest town in the Westland District. The town's estimated population is as of . ...

on the West Coast when he was an infant. He had eight siblings; a brother, Hercules Richard Wright was later a notable Rugby League player. Robert was educated at the Scots Grammar School. He married Elizabeth Coulter from the

Wairarapa The Wairarapa (; ), a geographical region of New Zealand, lies in the south-eastern corner of the North Island, east of metropolitan Wellington and south-west of the Hawke's Bay Region. It is lightly populated, having several rural service ...

in 1898, and they had two daughters. He was a printer with the Government Printing Office, then for 17 years with the '' New Zealand Mail''. Then with W. J. Carman he founded the printing firm of Wright and Carman. He was a member of the Church of Christ.Obituary in '' Evening Post'', Wellington, 8 December 1947 page 8 On 31 October 1924 Wright opened the de Lux Theatre on the corner of Cambridge Terrace and Majoribanks Street. In 1930 the building was sold and renamed the Embassy Theatre and was the site of the premiere of '' Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King''.

Parliamentary career

He represented the

Wellington South Wellington South was a Canadian federal electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1867 to 1968. It was located in the province of Ontario. It was created by the British North America Act of 1867 as the "South Riding ...

electorate in Parliament from 1908 to

1911 A notable ongoing event was the Comparison of the Amundsen and Scott Expeditions, race for the South Pole. Events January * January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory ...

when he was defeated, then the

Wellington Suburbs and Country Wellington Suburbs and Country is a former parliamentary electorate in Wellington, New Zealand, from 1911 to 1919. The electorate was combined from Wellington Suburbs and Wellington Country electorates. Population centres In the 1911 electoral ...

electorate from

1914 This year saw the beginning of what became known as World War I, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. It als ...

to 1919 and the Wellington Suburbs electorate from

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1938 Events January * January 1 ** The Constitution of Estonia#Third Constitution (de facto 1938–1940, de jure 1938–1992), new constitution of Estonia enters into force, which many consider to be the ending of the Era of Silence and the a ...

. In the 1935 contest Wright stood 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 ...

and was successful. He was defeated for the Wellington West electorate in

. In 1935 and 1938 he was not opposed by the National Party, and he habitually voted with National. He was Minister of Education from 1926 to 1928 in the Reform Government. Towards the end of the Coates Ministry, he was

Minister of Labour Minister of Labour (in British English) or Labor (in American English) is typically a cabinet-level position with portfolio responsibility for setting national labour standards, labour dispute mechanisms, employment, workforce participation, traini ...

for less than a fortnight. As Minister of Education he was responsible for a complete revision undertaken in 1927 of the primary school syllabus. He had the nickname 'Monkey' Wright and in parliament was one of the main Reform MPs who would heckle the Labour Party when it was in opposition. He was particularly critical of Labour's division of credit taunting that Labour's backbenchers were proposing policies not supported by their front bench. In 1935, Wright was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal. He was selected to stand for the National Party for Wellington Suburbs in the 1941 general election, which was postponed to 1943 because of the war.

Local politics

He first stood for political office in

1912 Events January * January 1 – The Republic of China (1912–49), Republic of China is established. * January 5 – The Prague Conference (6th All-Russian Conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party) opens. * January 6 ...

when he stood for

. One of three centre-right candidates he helped split the vote and enabled the Labour candidate

David McLaren David McLaren may refer to: * David McLaren (colonial manager) (1785–1850), colonial manager (CEO) of the colony of South Australia (1837–1841) * David McLaren (politician) (1872–1939), mayor of Wellington and member of the New Zealand Parlia ...

to win. Wright finished fourth with 1,557 votes (15.06%). Wright was elected to the

Wellington City Council Wellington City Council is a territorial authority in New Zealand, governing the country's capital city Wellington, and ''de facto'' second-largest city (if the commonly considered parts of Wellington, the Upper Hutt, Porirua, Lower Hutt and ...

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, remaining a councillor for eight years until he stood for and was elected Mayor of Wellington in his second attempt in

1921 Events January * January 2 ** The Association football club Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, from Belo Horizonte, is founded as the multi-sports club Palestra Italia by Italian expatriates in First Brazilian Republic, Brazil. ** The Spanish lin ...

, the same time as Wellington's first female Councillor, Annie McVicar, was elected. Two years later he faced a strong challenge to re-election when he was opposed by high profile Labour councillor and MP

Peter Fraser Peter Fraser (; 28 August 1884 – 12 December 1950) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 24th prime minister of New Zealand from 27 March 1940 until 13 December 1949. Considered a major figure in the history of the New Zealand La ...

. Wright was only narrowly re-elected by 273 votes (just over 1% of the total) which would remain the closest mayoral election in Wellington until

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

. Wright was to remain Mayor until 1925 when he retired from the role. Wright had three further spells as a member of the city council from 1925 to 1927, 1929 to 1931 and 1935 to 1947. He also made an unsuccessful attempt to return to the council when he stood in a 1933 by-election. Fraser was his main opponent and it was dubbed by the media as a "grudge match" repeat of 1923. Fraser was victorious in a heavy polling contest. From 1913 to 1921 Wright was a member of the

Wellington Harbour Board (Strong but true) , predecessor = , merged = , successor = , formation = , founder = , founding_location = , dissolved = , merger = , type ...

representing Wellington city before becoming an ''ex officio'' member as Mayor of Wellington until 1925.

Death

He died on 6 December 1947 aged 84 at his home in Kelburn, Wellington.

Notes

References

* * * * , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Robert Alexander 1863 births 1947 deaths Reform Party (New Zealand) MPs Independent MPs of New Zealand Members of the Cabinet of New Zealand Mayors of Wellington New Zealand National Party politicians New Zealand education ministers Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives New Zealand MPs for Wellington electorates Unsuccessful candidates in the 1911 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 1938 New Zealand general election Candidates in the 1941 New Zealand general election Wellington City Councillors Wellington Harbour Board members New Zealand justices of the peace