Edwin Mitchelson
New Zealand politician
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Sir Edwin Mitchelson KCMG (7 April 1846 – 11 April 1934) was a New Zealand politician and timber merchant.
Sir Edwin Mitchelson | |
|---|---|
| |
| 19th Mayor of Auckland City | |
| In office 13 May 1903 – 3 May 1905 | |
| Preceded by | Alfred Kidd |
| Succeeded by | Arthur Myers |
| 15th Minister of Native Affairs | |
| In office 11 October 1887 – 24 January 1891 | |
| Prime Minister | Harry Atkinson |
| Preceded by | John Ballance |
| Succeeded by | John Ballance |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 7 April 1846 Auckland, New Zealand |
| Died | 11 April 1934 (aged 88) Auckland, New Zealand |
Member of Parliament
| Years | Term | Electorate | Party | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1881–1884 | 8th | Marsden | Independent | ||
| 1884–1887 | 9th | Marsden | Independent | ||
| 1887–1890 | 10th | Eden | Independent | ||
| 1890–1893 | 11th | Eden | Conservative | ||
| 1893–1896 | 12th | Eden | Conservative | ||
Mitchelson was born in Auckland in a cottage on Queen Street in the mid 1840s.[1] He developed business interests in timber and kauri gum, shipbuilding, and horse racing and breeding.[1] He was a cabinet minister from 1883 to 1884 and 1887 to 1880 as Minister of Public Works.[2] From 1887 to 1891 he was Minister of Māori Affairs (called Native Affairs), and from 1889 to 1891 he was Minister of Telegraphs and Postmaster-General.[3]
He represented the Marsden electorate from 1881 to 1887, then Eden from 1887 to 1896, when he was defeated (for the City of Auckland electorate).[4]
Later years
Mitchelson was the Mayor of Auckland City from 1903 to 1905,[5] chairman of the Remuera Road Board,[1] and a member of the Legislative Council from 1920 until his death on 11 April 1934.[6] He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George in the 1921 King's Birthday Honours.[7] He was buried at Purewa Cemetery in the Auckland suburb of Meadowbank.[8]
Personal life
Mitchelson had a wooden mansion built at Muriwai around the year 1902, which he named Oaia, named after Oaia Island.[9] In 1935, Arthur William Baden Powell named the fossil species Bathytoma mitchelsoni in honour of Mitchelson, as the holotype of the species had been found in deposits on Mitchelson's Muriwai property.[10]
