Thomas Field (politician)

Thomas Andrew Hemming Field (1859 – 27 October 1937) was a New Zealand politician of the Reform Party.

Thomas Field
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Nelson
In office
10 December 1914 – 17 December 1919
Preceded byHarry Atmore
Succeeded byHarry Atmore
12th Mayor of Nelson
In office
1911–1913
Preceded byThomas Pettit
Succeeded byWilliam Lock
Personal details
Born
Thomas Andrew Hemming Field

1859
Long Gully, Victoria, Australia
Died (aged 78)
Nelson, New Zealand
Resting placeWakapuaka Cemetery
Spouse
Jessie Black
​
(m. 1881)​
RelationsArthur Nelson Field (son)

Early life and family

Field was born in Long Gully, Colony of Victoria, in 1859, the son of Thomas Field,[1][2] who had migrated from Ireland to Sydney in 1845.[3] The family emigrated to New Zealand in 1862, settling in Nelson,[2] where Field attended Nelson College from 1871 to 1872.[4] He married Jessie Black at Nelson on 24 May 1881,[5] and they had two sons and two daughters. Their eldest son Arthur Nelson Field was a journalist and right-wing author.[6]

In 1885, Field became one of the first cyclists to ride the length of New Zealand.[2]

Wilkins and Field

Field was managing director of Wilkins and Field Hardware in Nelson. The firm was founded by his father in 1866 in Westport, and became Wilkins and Field in 1880 when W.C. Wilkins joined the business in Nelson.[3]

Political career
New Zealand Parliament
Years Term Electorate Party
1914–1919 19th Nelson Reform

He was first elected as a Nelson City Councillor in 1907 and served in that capacity for four years. He was deputy mayor in 1910, and Mayor of Nelson between 1911 and 1913.[2][7] In 1911 Field defeated Thomas Pettit 1231 votes to 1047.[8] Field did not stand in 1913.

He held the Nelson electorate for one parliamentary term, from 1914 to 1919, after defeating Harry Atmore in 1914, but Atmore won the seat back in 1919, and held it for 27 more years.[9]

Field also served as a member of the Nelson Hospital Board, president of both the Nelson Chamber of Commerce and the Nelson Philosophical Institute, and a trustee of the Cawthron Institute.[2] He died suddenly at his office in Nelson on 27 October 1937,[10] and was buried at Wakapuaka Cemetery.[11] He was survived by his wife and his four children.[10]

See also

References
  1. "Australia, birth index, 1788–1922". Ancestry.com Operations. 2010. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
  2. Scholefield, G.H., ed. (1940). A Dictionary of New Zealand Biography (PDF). Vol. 1. Wellington: Department of Internal Affairs. p. 249. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
  3. "Commercial, industrial and professional". Cyclopedia of New Zealand: Nelson, Marlborough & Westland provincial districts. Christchurch: Cyclopedia Company. 1906. p. 97. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
  4. Nelson College Old Boys' Register, 1856–2006, 6th edition
  5. "Marriage". Westport Times. 31 May 1881. p. 2. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  6. Spoonley, Paul. "Field, Arthur Nelson: 1882–1963". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 4 April 2011.
  7. "Mayors of Nelson". The Prow. Retrieved 25 October 2010.
  8. "Advertisements". Colonist. Vol. LIII, no. 13091. 27 April 1911. p. 2.
  9. Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.
  10. "Obituary". The Evening Post. Vol. CXXIV, no. 102. 27 October 1937. p. 14. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  11. "Cemeteries database". Nelson City Council. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
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