Wellington (New Zealand electorate)

Wellington (originally City of Wellington), was a parliamentary electorate in Wellington, New Zealand. It existed from 1853 to 1905 with a break in the 1880s. It was a multi-member electorate. The electorate was represented, over the years, by 24 members of parliament.

Population centres

In December 1887, the House of Representatives voted to reduce its membership from general electorates from 91 to 70. The 1890 electoral redistribution used the same 1886 census data used for the 1887 electoral redistribution. In addition, three-member electorates were introduced in the four main centres. This resulted in a major restructuring of electorates, and Wellington was one of eight electorates to be re-created for the 1890 election.^[1]

History

The electorate was one of the original electorates used in the 1853 election for the 1st New Zealand Parliament. During the period until 1871, Wellington was a three-member electorate.

In 1858, Isaac Featherston and William Fitzherbert resigned their seats in Parliament.^[2] Featherston apparently wanted to return to England.^[3] Instead, he successfully stood for re-election within months. The other person returned in the same by-election was William Barnard Rhodes.^[4]

The election for the 3rd Parliament was held on 11 December 1860,^[5] with the announcement of the official results on 15 December.^[6]

Members of Parliament

Key

  Independent   Liberal   Conservative   Liberal–Labour   Independent Liberal

Three-member electorate (1853–1871)

Election	Winner(s)
1853 election		Charles Clifford		Robert Hart		James Kelham
1855 election				Isaac Featherston		William Fitzherbert
1858 by-election				Isaac Featherston		William Rhodes
1860 election		William Taylor[7]
1866 election						Charles Borlase[8]

Two-member electorate (1871–1881)

Election	Winner(s)
1871 election		George Hunter		Edward Pearce[9]
1875 election
1877 by-election				William Travers
1878 by-election				George Elliott Barton[10]
1879 election		William Hutchison[11]		William Levin[12]
(Electorate abolished 1881–1890)

Three-member electorate (1890–1905)

From 1881 to 1890, the Wellington electorate was replaced by three separate electorates: Te Aro and Thorndon during the whole nine years, and Wellington South (until 1887) then Wellington East (1887–1890)

Election	Winner(s)
1890 election		George Fisher		Kennedy Macdonald[13]		John Duthie
1892 by-election				William McLean[14]
1893 election		Francis Bell		Robert Stout
1896 election		George Fisher				John Hutcheson
1898 by-election[15]				John Duthie
1899 by-election						John Hutcheson
1899 election				Arthur Atkinson
1902 election				John Duthie		John Aitken
1905 by-election		Francis Fisher
(Electorate abolished 1905; see Wellington Central, Wellington East, and Wellington North)

In 1905 the Wellington electorate was again replaced by three electorates: Wellington Central, Wellington East, and Wellington North. In the 1905 election, all three Wellington incumbents stood in the new electorates, with Fisher and Aitken winning in Central and East respectively, while Duthie lost to Charles Izard in Wellington North – ending his parliamentary career.

Election results

1905 by-election

1905 City of Wellington by-election^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent Liberal	Francis Fisher	4,692	42.06
	Liberal	Charles Izard	3,441	30.84
	Liberal–Labour	John Hutcheson	3,021	27.08
Majority			1,251	11.21
Turnout			11,154
	Independent Liberal gain from Liberal		Swing

1902 election

1902 New Zealand general election^[17][18][19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Aitken	7,808	55.29
	Conservative	John Duthie	6,886	48.76
	Liberal	George Fisher	6,685	47.34
	Independent Liberal	Patrick O'Regan	6,304	44.64
	Conservative	Arthur Atkinson	6,094	43.15
	Liberal	John Findlay	4,764	33.74
	Liberal	James Godber	1,437	10.18
	Liberal	Edwin George Jellicoe[20]	1,384	9.80
	Labour	David McLaren	1,003	7.10
Majority			3811	2.70
Informal votes			328
Total votes			42,365
Turnout			14,122	66.56
Registered electors			21,218

¹ Majority is difference between lowest winning poll (Fisher: 6,685) and highest losing poll (O'Regan: 6,304)

Participation by gender			%
Female	Turnout	7,312	72.00
	Enrolled females	10,155	47.86
Male	Enrolled males	11,063	52.14

1899 election

1899 New Zealand general election^[21][22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal–Labour	John Hutcheson	7,436	51.06	+2.38
	Conservative	Arthur Atkinson	6,703	46.02	+1.75
	Liberal	George Fisher	6,442	44.23	−0.26
	Liberal	Kennedy Macdonald	6,320	43.39
	Conservative	Thomas William Hislop	6,297	43.23
	Independent Liberal	Edwin George Jellicoe[20]	4,751	32.62
	Liberal	Charles Luke	3,812	26.17
	Independent Liberal	Thomas Carmichael	1,004	6.89
	Liberal–Labour	William Earnshaw	851	5.84
	Independent Liberal	Denton Burnett Duncan	78	0.54
Majority			1221	0.84	+0.04
Total votes			43,694
Turnout			14,565	77.17	+8.95
Registered electors			18,874

¹ Majority is difference between lowest winning poll (Fisher: 6,442) and highest losing poll (Macdonald: 6,320)

Participation by gender			%
Female	Turnout	7,080	79.30
	Enrolled females	8,928	47.30
Male	Enrolled males	9,946	52.70

1899 by-election

1899 City of Wellington by-election^[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal–Labour	John Hutcheson	6,945	58.28
	Independent	Edwin George Jellicoe[20]	4,971	41.72
Majority			1,974	16.57
Turnout			11,916

1898 by-election

1898 City of Wellington by-election^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Duthie	7,283	53.80
	Liberal	Richard Clement Kirk	6,254	46.20
Majority			1,029	7.60
Turnout			13,537	77.26
Registered electors			17,522[25]

1896 election

1896 New Zealand general election^[26][27][28]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal–Labour	John Hutcheson	6,410	48.68
	Independent	Robert Stout	6,305	47.88
	Liberal	George Fisher	5,858	44.49
	Conservative	Arthur Atkinson	5,830	44.27
	Liberal	Charles Wilson	5,569	42.29
	Conservative	Andrew Agnew Stuart Menteath	5,559	42.22
	Liberal	Francis Fraser	1,811	13.75
	Independent	Justinian John Kivern Powell	185	1.40
	Liberal	Arthur Warburton	91	0.69
Majority			28 1	0.21
Total votes			37,618
Turnout			13,168[29]2	68.21
Registered electors			19,304[30]

¹ Majority is difference between lowest winning poll (Fisher: 5,858) and highest losing poll (Atkinson: 5,830)

² Turnout is total number of voters – as voters had three votes each total votes cast was higher (37,618)

1893 election

1893 New Zealand general election^[31]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Robert Stout	6,218	46.73
	Conservative	Francis Bell	5,773	43.39
	Conservative	John Duthie	4,840	36.37
	Liberal	Kennedy Macdonald	3,863	29.03
	Liberal	Francis Fraser	3,729	28.02
	Independent	Harry Vogel	3,606	27.10
	Liberal	William McLean[14]	3,438	25.84
	Liberal	George Fisher	2,385	17.92
	Independent	Thomas Dwan	1,157	8.70
	Independent	William Travers	1,093	8.21
Majority			9771
Informal votes			147
Total votes			36,249
Turnout			13,306 2	80.66
Registered electors			16,497

1893 was the first election in which women could vote (the electoral act giving women the vote was passed ten weeks prior to the election).^[32] Electoral returns quantified female enrolment and turnout, and showed women's turnout was higher than men's while women's enrolment was lower.

Participation by gender			%
Female	Turnout	6,146	84.42
	Enrolled females	7,280	44.13
Male	Turnout	7,160	77.68
	Enrolled males	9,217	55.87

¹ Majority is difference between lowest winning poll (Duthie – 4,840) and highest losing poll (Mcdonald – 3,863)

² Turnout is total number of voters – as voters had three votes each total votes cast was higher (36,102 valid, and 147 invalid votes)

1892 by-election

1892 City of Wellington by-election^[33][34]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William McLean	3,388	51.08	+30.97
	Conservative	Francis Bell	3,245	48.92	+5.31
Majority			143	2.16	−1.32
Turnout			6,633	75.50	+15.49
Registered electors			8,786

1890 election

1890 New Zealand general election^[35]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	George Fisher	2,828	53.64
	Conservative	John Duthie	2,779	52.71
	Liberal	Kennedy Macdonald	2,482	47.08
	Conservative	Francis Bell	2,299	43.61
	Liberal	Edwin George Jellicoe[20]	1,921	35.98
	Liberal	Francis Fraser	1,755	33.29
	Liberal	William McLean[14]	1,060	20.11
	Liberal	Robert Winter[36]	716	13.58
Majority			183	3.47
Total votes			15,816
Turnout			5,272	60.00
Registered electors			8,786

1878 by-election

1878 City of Wellington by-election^{[37][38][39][40]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	George Elliott Barton	506	41.04
	Independent	Colonel E. Pearce	463	21.41
	Independent	William Hutchison	263	37.58
Majority			43	3.49
Informal votes
Turnout			1232
Registered electors

1877 by-election

1877 City of Wellington by-election^[41][42]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	William Travers	572	50.00
	Independent	William Hutchison	557	48.69
Majority			15	1.31
Informal votes
Turnout			1129
Registered electors

1858 by-election

1858 City of Wellington by-election^[43]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Isaac Featherston	360
	Independent	William Rhodes	352
	Independent	Jerningham Wakefield	349
	Independent	William Bowler[44]	347
Majority			3[nb 1]
Total votes			1,408

Table footnotes

1. Majority is the difference between lowest winning poll (Rhodes: 352) and highest losing poll (Wakefield: 349)

1855 election

1855 City of Wellington election^[45]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Charles Clifford	290
	Independent	Isaac Featherston	289
	Independent	William Fitzherbert	258
	Independent	Stephen Carkeek	244
	Independent	Robert Hart	238
Majority			14[lb 1]
Total votes			1,319

Table footnotes

1. Majority is the difference between lowest winning poll (Fitzherbert: 258) and highest losing poll (Carkeek: 244)