Lindsay Buick
New Zealand politician (1866–1938)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thomas Lindsay Buick CMG (13 May 1865 – 22 February 1938) was a Liberal Member of Parliament for Wairau, New Zealand, a journalist and a historian. He published under the name T. Lindsay Buick.
Lindsay Buick | |
|---|---|
| |
| Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Wairau | |
| In office 5 December 1890 – 19 December 1896 | |
| Preceded by | Henry Dodson |
| Succeeded by | Charles H. Mills |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 13 May 1865 Oamaru, New Zealand |
| Died | 22 February 1938 (aged 72) Wellington, New Zealand |
| Party | Liberal |
| Spouse | Mary Fitzgerald |
Early life
Born in Oamaru on 13 May 1865, Buick was the son of Margaret (née Petrie) and John Walter Buick.[1][2] His parents had emigrated from England to Port Chalmers in 1860. Buick received his education at schools in Oamaru and moved to Blenheim in 1884 to work as a carpenter. Although he had no relation to Ireland or Catholicism, he joined the Irish National League "purely as a lover of liberty and justice", and in 1889 he embarked on a speaker tour. He was also active in the temperance movement.[1]
Buick married Mary Fitzgerald on 8 January 1891 at Blenheim; they were to have no children.[1]
Member of Parliament
| Years | Term | Electorate | Party | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1890–1893 | 11th | Wairau | Liberal–Labour | ||
| 1893–1896 | 12th | Wairau | Liberal–Labour | ||
Buick represented the Wairau electorate in the New Zealand House of Representatives from 1890 to 1896, when he was defeated.[3][4] The 1896 general election was contested by Buick and Charles H. Mills, who received 2014 and 2072 votes, respectively. Mills thus succeeded Buick.[5] He was a temperance advocate and supporter of Irish Home Rule.[6]
From 1893 until 1894 he was the Liberal Party's junior whip.[7]
Years later, in July 1904 he unsuccessfully contested Pahiatua by-election as the official Liberal candidate.[1]
Historical work
Buick wrote numerous works on the pre-European and early contact history New Zealand, and two books on music. His The Treaty of Waitangi: or, How New Zealand became a British Colony (1916) remained the only substantial work on the Treaty until the late 1980s.
Later, he was owner/publisher of the Dannevirke Advocate.[8]
Honours and awards
In the 1933 King's Birthday Honours, Buick was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG), for public services.[9] In 1935, he was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal.[10]
Published work
- Old Marlborough: or, The Story of a Province. Hart and Keeling. 1900.
- Old Manawatu: or, The Wild Days of the West (1903)
- Old New Zealander: or, Te Rauparaha, the Napoleon of the South (1911)
- Letters from Abroad (1914)
- The Treaty of Waitangi: or, How New Zealand became a British Colony (1916)
- New Zealand's First War: or, The Rebellion of Hone Heke (1926)
- Romance of the Gramophone (1927)
- French at Akaroa: An Adventure in Colonization (1928)
- Jubilee of the Port of Wellington, 1880-1930 (1930)
- Mystery of the Moa: New Zealand's Avian Giant (1931)
- British Residency at Waitangi (1932)
- Waitangi: Ninety-four Years After (1934)
- Old British Residency at the Bay of Islands (1934)
- Centenary of a Flag: New Zealand's Old National Ensign (1934)
- Elijah: The Story of Mendelssohn’s Oratorio (1935)
- The Discovery of Dinornis: The Story of a Man, a Bone, and a Bird (1936)
- Moa-Hunters of New Zealand: Sportsmen of the Stone Age (1936)