Thomas William McDonald (December 1869 – 14 August 1968), sometimes known as Colonel Mac, was a United Party Member of Parliament in New Zealand.

Biography

Early life

McDonald was born in 1869 in

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. His parents died when he was a child and he had to earn his own living from an early age. Because of this he could not continue to attend school and so was mostly self-educated. He enlisted in the Tasmanian Auxiliary Force and in his early twenties he moved to New Zealand in pursuit of a professional military career. He applied for the New Zealand Permanent Militia and while awaiting his enlistment worked as a bush feller. Once enlisted in the militia he became a third-class gunner. He worked his was up the ranks and became a commissioned officer in the New Zealand Staff Corps. In 1905 he was elected

Mayor of Lower Hutt The city of Lower Hutt, New Zealand, was first proclaimed a borough on 1 February 1891. Prior to this it had been part of Hutt County, initially as a Roads Board and from 1881 as a Town Board. Since 2019, the mayor has been Campbell Barry. Li ...

, defeating former mayor

Walter Foster Walter Foster may refer to: * Walter Foster (cricketer) (born 1915), Barbadian cricketer * Walter Foster (mathematician), English mathematician * Walter Edward Foster (1873–1947), Canadian politician and businessman in New Brunswick * Walter T. F ...

. While he was mayor there was a large fire which caused the loss of a block of shops. At the time Lower Hutt was reliant on neighbouring

Petone Petone (Māori: ''Pito-one''), a large suburb of Lower Hutt, Wellington, stands at the southern end of the Hutt Valley, on the northern shore of Wellington Harbour. The Māori name means "end of the sand beach". Europeans first settled in Pe ...

for firefighting equipment. In an attempt to avoid a repeat incident McDonald and the council purchased a horse drawn fire engine in 1906. He also modernised sewage and water connections in a £52,000 public works scheme which began in August 1906, sewage reticulation had up until this been by buckets emptied by a night cart. He retired as mayor in 1907, succeeded by Thomas Peterkin. He married Amy Gertrude Kimbell in 1898 and in 1914, they were living 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 ...

's Queen Street. Prior to

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he was Lieutenant Colonel and in charge of the Otago Infantry Battalion, which trained at

Tahuna Park Tahuna and Tainui are two small, somewhat vaguely defined suburbs of the New Zealand city of Dunedin. They lie to the south of Andersons Bay and Musselburgh, close to Dunedin's southern coastline ( Ocean Beach). Both are often considered parts o ...

in Dunedin. During the war, he rose to the rank of

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

, and was sometimes known as Colonel Mac. Having fought in Egypt, he returned to New Zealand before the end of the war due to sickness contracted while in the

Sahara desert , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

. After months of recovery in Egypt he was invalided back to New Zealand where he was posted to home defence duties. He was one of the driving forces behind having a clubhouse established in Dunedin for the Returned Services' Association.

Member of Parliament

The death of Walter Powdrell triggered a

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 ...

in the electorate. McDonald announced his intention to stand for the Reform Party and travelled to Hawera. The Reform Party chose

Edwin Dixon Edwin Dixon (1867–1955) was a Reform Party Member of Parliament in New Zealand. Dixon served as mayor of Hāwera from 1915 to 1923. He won the Patea electorate in a 1921 by-election after the death of the previous MP, Walter Powdrell, ...

, the Mayor of Hawera, as their official candidate, and it was said that

Clutha Mackenzie Sir Clutha Nantes Mackenzie (11 February 1895 – 30 March 1966) was a New Zealand politician and worker for the blind. He was briefly a Reform Party (New Zealand), Reform Party Member of Parliament. Biography Mackenzie was born in Balclutha ...

was the party's second preference. Consequently, McDonald left again without contesting the by-election. During 1922, it became known that McDonald intended to move to

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 ...

and he received a requisition to stand in the electorate in the . He was one of four candidates, stood as an independent, and came third with some 18% of the votes. He was unanimously elected by the United Party to contest the electorate in the , and he defeated the incumbent Alex McLeod of the Reform Party. In the , McLeod in turn defeated McDonald. In

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude Franco-Italian Agreement of 1935, an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * ...

he stood again for the Wairarapa seat as the newly formed Democrat Party's candidate. He placed third out of four candidates.

Later life and death

In old age he was engaged in a lengthy dispute over his right to superannuation payments owed to him as a former member of parliament. He appeared in person at the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

at the age of 92 to argue his case, but all of his claims were dismissed. McDonald died in Wellington in 1968, aged 98. He was predeceased by his wife and son and survived by his daughter and several grandchildren.

Notes

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:McDonald, Thomas William 1869 births 1968 deaths Mayors of Lower Hutt New Zealand Liberal Party MPs New Zealand military personnel of World War I Australian emigrants to New Zealand Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives New Zealand MPs for North Island electorates Unsuccessful candidates in the 1922 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 1931 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 1935 New Zealand general election New Zealand Democrat Party (1934) politicians Colony of Tasmania people