Terry McCombs

Sir Terence Henderson McCombs OBE ED (5 September 1905 – 6 November 1982) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party, a High Commissioner, and the first principal of Cashmere High School.

The Honourable
Sir Terry McCombs
OBE ED
McCombs, c. 1950
15th High Commissioner from New Zealand to the United Kingdom
In office
15 March 1973 – 22 March 1975
MonarchElizabeth II
Preceded byMerwyn Norrish
Succeeded byHugh Watt
24th Minister of Education
In office
18 October 1947 – 13 December 1949
Prime MinisterPeter Fraser
Preceded byRex Mason
Succeeded byRonald Algie
6th Minister for Science and Industrial Research
In office
18 October 1947 – 13 December 1949
Prime MinisterPeter Fraser
Preceded byArnold Nordmeyer
Succeeded byKeith Holyoake
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Lyttelton
In office
24 July 1935 – 1 September 1951
Preceded byElizabeth McCombs
Succeeded byHarry Lake
Personal details
Born(1905-09-05)5 September 1905
Christchurch, New Zealand
Died6 November 1982(1982-11-06) (aged 77)
Kawakawa, New Zealand
Political partyLabour
Spouses
Beryl Lavinia Butterick
​
​
(m. 1935; died 1952)​
    Christina Mary Tulloch
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1955⁠–⁠1982)​
    RelationsJames McCombs (father)
    Elizabeth McCombs (mother)
    Christina Henderson (aunt)
    Stella Henderson (aunt)
    Children5
    Alma materCanterbury University College
    ProfessionSchool teacher and headmaster

    Biography

    Early life

    McCombs was born in 1905 and received his early education at Fendalton School.[1] He was further educated at Christchurch Boys' High School and Waitaki Boys' High School before graduating from Canterbury University College with MSc(Hons) in chemistry in 1929.[2][3][4] He won two research scholarships in chemistry and was hoping to obtain a post in the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) but at the time, due to the Great Depression, the DSIR was not hiring any new staff.[1] Instead he was appointed as a teacher at Seddon Memorial Technical College in Auckland in 1934.[5]

    Member of Parliament
    New Zealand Parliament
    Years Term Electorate Party
    1935 24th Lyttelton Labour
    1935–1938 25th Lyttelton Labour
    1938–1943 26th Lyttelton Labour
    1943–1946 27th Lyttelton Labour
    1946–1949 28th Lyttelton Labour
    1949–1951 29th Lyttelton Labour

    Following his mother's death, McCombs was selected as her replacement as the Labour Party candidate for the Lyttelton electorate.[2] He was elected and represented Lyttelton from the 1935 by-election until he was defeated in the bitter 1951 election.[6] In 1936, McCombs was appointed to the Canterbury University College Council, and he remained a member until 1947, when he became Minister of Education.[7] From 1938 to 1947 he was a member of the Lyttelton Harbour Board.[1]

    From 1945 to 1947 he was Under-Secretary to Walter Nash, the Minister of Finance. He was Minister of Education and Minister for Science and Industrial Research from 1947 to 1949, near the end of the term of the First Labour Government.[8] As Minister of Education, he was involved on behalf of the Government in the purchase of the Ilam campus for the university.[9] In the centennial history of the university, it is stated that "Canterbury has never enjoyed greater ministerial support than it did from McCombs".[10]

    Following the defeat of the Labour government McCombs was nominated to stand for the deputy leadership in January 1951 following the death of Peter Fraser. He polled second in the caucus ballot with seven votes, compared to Jerry Skinner with twenty-two and two votes to Fred Hackett.[11]

    Post-parliamentary career

    At the 1950 local-body elections he was elected a member of the Christchurch City Council. Re-elected in 1953, he did not stand for a third term in 1956.[1]

    After his parliamentary defeat in 1951, McCombs returned to teaching.[1] In 1956, he became the founding headmaster of Cashmere High School in Christchurch.[12] In 1957, he again became a member of the University of Canterbury Council (the name of which Canterbury University College had been changed to).[13] He was Chancellor of the University of Canterbury from 1968 to 1971.[14] He was a member of Rotary International and belonged to the Christchurch South club, of which he was the district governor of in 1967.[1]

    From 1973 to 1975 he was New Zealand's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.[15] After being recalled early from his posting to London, to ease the retirement of outgoing Deputy Prime Minister Hugh Watt, he was appointed chairman of the Committee on Secondary Schools from 1975 to 1976.[1]

    In 1977 he began a second spell on the Christchurch City Council, elected in the Eastern Ward.[16] He was appointed chairman of the council's town-planning committee. He gained a wealth of knowledge on the subject of planning and the complex laws that governed it and, according to Deputy Mayor Rex Lester, he "...always seemed to have the uncanny ability in coming up with the right decision."[1] After Labour won a majority on the city council in 1980, McCombs was speculated as a possible Deputy Mayor, but he was not interested in the job and happy to make way for Lester who, unlike McCombs, had mayoral ambitions.[17]

    Death

    He died on 6 November 1982 in Kawakawa hospital, aged 77, while on a holiday in Northland. He was survived by his second wife, four sons and a daughter.[1] He was buried at Waimairi Cemetery in Christchurch.[18]

    Awards and recognition

    McCombs was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, for services to education, in the 1971 Queen's Birthday Honours[19] and a Knight Bachelor in April 1975.[20]

    Family

    His parents, Elizabeth McCombs (née Henderson) and James McCombs, were both socialists. Between them, his parents represented the Lyttelton electorate from 1913 to 1935.[6][21][22]

    In 1935 he married Beryl Lavinia Butterick. Beryl died in 1952, and as a result McCombs became a solo parent with four school-age children. He was later remarried to Christina Mary Tulloch in 1955.[1] His second wife, Christina, Lady McCombs, was awarded the Queen's Service Medal for community service in the 2007 New Year Honours.[23] She died in Christchurch on 13 August 2016, aged 99 years.[24]

    Notes
    1. "Obituary − Sir Terence McCombs". The Press. 8 November 1982. p. 3.
    2. "Labour's choice". Auckland Star. 21 June 1935. p. 3. Retrieved 19 April 2014.
    3. "NZ university graduates 1870–1961: Mc". Retrieved 19 April 2014.
    4. McCombs, Terence (1938). An investigation into the mechanism of the optical resolution of "normal" -αγ-dimethyl-glutaconic acid by means of strychnine and the racemising action of acids and alkalis on the active acid (Masters thesis). UC Research Repository, University of Canterbury. doi:10.26021/6839. hdl:10092/8585.
    5. "Technical College". The New Zealand Herald. 23 March 1934. p. 11. Retrieved 19 April 2014.
    6. Wilson 1985, p. 214.
    7. Gardner et al 1973, pp. 336, 454.
    8. Wilson 1985, p. 84.
    9. Gardner et al 1973, p. 336.
    10. Gardner et al 1973, p. 338.
    11. Hobbs 1967, p. 112.
    12. "School History". Cashmere High School. Retrieved 30 December 2011.
    13. Gardner et al 1973, p. 454.
    14. Gardner et al 1973, p. 451.
    15. "Heads of Missions List: U". New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. 8 July 2006. Archived from the original on 30 September 2006.
    16. "Labour winners give new look to council". The Press. 10 October 1977. p. 1.
    17. "City Council falls to Labour but Mr Hay retains Mayoralty". The Press. 13 October 1980. p. 1.
    18. "Cemeteries database result detail". Christchurch City Council. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
    19. "No. 45386". The London Gazette (3rd supplement). 12 June 1971. p. 5998.
    20. "No. 46549". The London Gazette (Supplement). 18 April 1975. p. 5021.
    21. Garner, Jean. "McCombs, Elizabeth Reid". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
    22. Garner, Jean. "McCombs, James". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 28 January 2011.
    23. "New Year honours list 2007". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 30 December 2006. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
    24. "Lady McCombs death notice". The Dominion Post. 18 August 2016. Retrieved 18 August 2016.

    References
    Wikimedia Commons has media related to Terry McCombs.
    • Gardner, W. J.; Beardsley, E. T.; Carter, T. E. (1973). Phillips, Neville Crompton (ed.). A History of the University of Canterbury, 1873–1973. Christchurch: University of Canterbury.
    • Hobbs, Leslie (1967). The Thirty-Year Wonders. Christchurch: Whitcombe and Tombs. OCLC 459718.
    • Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First published in 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.
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