Coleridge (New Zealand electorate)
Encyclopedia
Coleridge is a former parliamentary electorate
New Zealand electorates
An electorate is a voting district for elections to the Parliament of New Zealand. In informal discussion, electorates are often called seats. The most formal description, electoral district, is rarely seen outside of electoral legislation. Before 1996, all Members of Parliament were directly...

 in the Canterbury Region of New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

. The electorate existed from the 1866 election
New Zealand general election, 1866
The New Zealand general election of 1866 was held between 12 February and 6 April to elect 70 MPs to the fourth term of the New Zealand Parliament. 13,196 votes were cast....

 to 1887.

Population centres

This electorate is in the rural part of the Canterbury Region. In the 1871 election, polling stations were in the Bealey settlement near Arthur's Pass
Arthur's Pass
Arthur's Pass is a mountain pass in the Southern Alps of the South Island of New Zealand. It marks part of the boundary between the West Coast and Canterbury regions, 140 km from Christchurch and 95 km from Greymouth. The pass lies in a saddle between the valleys of the Otira River, a...

 and Ashburton
Ashburton, New Zealand
Ashburton is a town and district in the Canterbury Region on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It is the third-largest centre in Canterbury, after Christchurch and Timaru. The area around Ashburton is frequently referred to as Mid Canterbury, which is also the name of the...

, and one of the election meetings was held at Hororata
Hororata
Hororata is a small settlement at the northwestern edge of the Canterbury Plains in the South Island of New Zealand. It is located 15 kilometres southwest of Darfield, five kilometres south of Glentunnel, and 50 kilometres west of Christchurch, on the banks of the Hororata River.Hororata...

. The electorate is named after Lake Coleridge
Lake Coleridge
Lake Coleridge is located in inland Canterbury, in New Zealand's South Island. Located 35 kilometres to the northwest of Methven, it has a surface area of 47 km²....

.

History

The electorate was established for the 1866 general election
New Zealand general election, 1866
The New Zealand general election of 1866 was held between 12 February and 6 April to elect 70 MPs to the fourth term of the New Zealand Parliament. 13,196 votes were cast....

, when the 4th Parliament
4th New Zealand Parliament
The 4th New Zealand Parliament was a term of the Parliament of New Zealand.Elections for this term were held in 61 electorates between 12 February and 6 April 1866 to elect 70 MPs. Parliament was prorogued in late 1870. During the term of this Parliament, two Ministries were in power...

 was determined. John Cracroft Wilson was its first elected representative. He was elected unopposed.

In the 1871 general election, John Karslake Karslake
John Karslake Karslake
John Karslake Karslake was a 19th century Member of Parliament in the Canterbury Region of New Zealand.-Private life:Karslake arrived in Lyttelton on the Gananoque on 9 May 1860. The ship had sailed from London. In 1861, Karslake was living in the Cheviot district.In about 1863, Karslake and...

 and George Hart
George Hart (politician)
George Hart was a 19th century Member of Parliament in the Canterbury Region of New Zealand.He represented the Coleridge electorate in 1879, from 8 May to 15 August when he was defeated.-References:...

 contested the electorate. Both men had no prior political experience. Karslake and Hart received 35 and 27 votes, respectively. Karslake was thus returned. He resigned in 1872 to return to England.

The resulting 1872 by-election was contested by George Hart, William Bluett
William Bluett
William James Geffrard Bluett was a 19th century Member of Parliament in the Canterbury Region of New Zealand.He represented the Coleridge electorate from 1872 to 1875, when he was defeated.-References:...

 and John Jebson on 22 July 1872. Hart, Bluett and Jebson received 99, 106 and 48 votes, respectively, with Bluett thus being elected. He served until the end of the term in 1875.

The 6 January 1876 election was contested by four people; the incumbent Bluett, Cathcart Wason
Cathcart Wason
Cathcart Wason , generally known as Cathcart Wason, was a Scottish farmer and politician who served as a Member of Parliament in two countries: first in New Zealand and then in Scotland, after the failure of his colonial ventures...

, Mr Tosswill and John Jebson, who received 71, 167, 160 and 53 votes, respectively. Wason was thus elected, but he resigned his seat in Parliament in April 1879. George Hart was returned unopposed in the subsequent by-election on 8 May 1879.

Members of Parliament

The electorate was represented by seven Members of Parliament:
Election Winner
1866 election
New Zealand general election, 1866
The New Zealand general election of 1866 was held between 12 February and 6 April to elect 70 MPs to the fourth term of the New Zealand Parliament. 13,196 votes were cast....

John Cracroft Wilson (Independent
Independent (politician)
In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...

)
1871 election John Karslake Karslake
John Karslake Karslake
John Karslake Karslake was a 19th century Member of Parliament in the Canterbury Region of New Zealand.-Private life:Karslake arrived in Lyttelton on the Gananoque on 9 May 1860. The ship had sailed from London. In 1861, Karslake was living in the Cheviot district.In about 1863, Karslake and...

 (Independent)
1872 by-election William Bluett
William Bluett
William James Geffrard Bluett was a 19th century Member of Parliament in the Canterbury Region of New Zealand.He represented the Coleridge electorate from 1872 to 1875, when he was defeated.-References:...

 (Independent)
1876 election Cathcart Wason
Cathcart Wason
Cathcart Wason , generally known as Cathcart Wason, was a Scottish farmer and politician who served as a Member of Parliament in two countries: first in New Zealand and then in Scotland, after the failure of his colonial ventures...

 (Independent)
1879 by-election George Hart
George Hart (politician)
George Hart was a 19th century Member of Parliament in the Canterbury Region of New Zealand.He represented the Coleridge electorate in 1879, from 8 May to 15 August when he was defeated.-References:...

 (Independent)
1879 election
New Zealand general election, 1879
The New Zealand general election of 1879 was held between 28 August and 15 September to elect a total of 88 MPs to the 7th session of the New Zealand Parliament. The Māori vote was held on 1 and 8 September. A total number of 82,271 voters turned out to vote.The election came about when George...

Edward George Wright
Edward George Wright
Edward George Wright was an independent conservative Member of Parliament in New Zealand.He represented the Coleridge electorate from 1879 to 1881, then the Ashburton electorate from 1881 to 1884 and from 1890 to 1893, when he was defeated for Rangitata, then for Ashburton electorate again from...

 (Independent)
1881 election
New Zealand general election, 1881
The New Zealand general election of 1881 was held 9 December to elect a total of 95 MPs to the 8th session of the New Zealand Parliament. The Māori vote was held on 8 December...

David McMillan
David McMillan (politician)
David McMillan was a 19th century Member of Parliament in the Canterbury Region of New Zealand.He represented the Coleridge electorate from 1881 to 1887, when he retired.-References:...

(Independent)
1884 election
New Zealand general election, 1884
The New Zealand general election of 1884 was held on 22 July to elect a total of 95 MPs to the 9th session of the New Zealand Parliament. The Māori vote was held on 21 July. A total number of 137,686 voters turned out to vote.-References:...

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