John Hall (New Zealand)
Encyclopedia
Sir John Hall was born in Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...

, England, and later became the 12th Prime Minister
Prime Minister of New Zealand
The Prime Minister of New Zealand is New Zealand's head of government consequent on being the leader of the party or coalition with majority support in the Parliament of New Zealand...

 of New Zealand. He was also Mayor of Christchurch
Mayor of Christchurch
The Mayor of Christchurch is the head of the municipal government of Christchurch, New Zealand, and presides over the Christchurch City Council. The mayor is directly elected using a First Past the Post electoral system...

.

Migration to New Zealand

After reading a book on sheep farming, Hall emigrated to New Zealand, on the Samarang, arriving in Lyttelton
Lyttelton, New Zealand
Lyttelton is a port town on the north shore of Lyttelton Harbour close to Banks Peninsula, a suburb of Christchurch on the eastern coast of the South Island of New Zealand....

 on 31 July 1852. His brothers George
George Williamson Hall
George Williamson Hall was a 19th century Member of Parliament in Christchurch, New Zealand.He represented the Heathcote electorate from 1861 to 1862, when he resigned. The resulting by-election was won by William Sefton Moorhouse....

 and Thomas followed him to New Zealand soon after. He developed one of the first large scale sheep farming runs in Canterbury.

Political offices







In 1853, he was elected to the Canterbury Provincial Council
Canterbury Province
The Canterbury Province was a province of New Zealand from 1853 until the abolition of provincial government in 1876. On the east coast the province was bounded by the Hurunui River in the north and the Waitaki River in the south...

. He would later rise through the ranks of magistrate, was the first town council Chairman
Mayor of Christchurch
The Mayor of Christchurch is the head of the municipal government of Christchurch, New Zealand, and presides over the Christchurch City Council. The mayor is directly elected using a First Past the Post electoral system...

 in Christchurch (the forerunner to the position of mayor, 1862 and 1863), and Postmaster-General. In Parliament he represented the electorates of Christchurch Country
Christchurch Country
Christchurch Country was a parliamentary electorate in the Canterbury region of New Zealand from 1853 to 1860. It was thus one of the original 24 electorates used for the 1st New Zealand Parliament.-Location:...

 1855–60 (resigned in early 1860), Heathcote
Heathcote (New Zealand electorate)
Heathcote was a 19th century parliamentary electorate in Christchurch, New Zealand.-History:Heathcote existed from 1861 to 1893.George Williamson Hall resigned in 1862. He was succeeded by William Sefton Moorhouse in the 1862 by-election...

 1866–70 & 1871–72 (resigned), Selwyn
Selwyn (New Zealand electorate)
Selwyn is the name of three seats in the New Zealand House of Representatives, based around towns on the outskirts of Christchurch city. In an historical sense, the name refers to an electorate that existed between 1866 and 1919...

 1879–83 (resigned) & 1887–90, and Ellesmere
Ellesmere (New Zealand electorate)
Ellesmere was a parliamentary electorate in the Canterbury Region of New Zealand. It existed for two periods between 1861 and 1928 and was represented by six Members of Parliament.-Population centres:Ellesmere was a rural electorate...

 1890–93 (retired).

In the 1865–66 election, he contested the Heathcote electorate against G. Buckley, and they received 338 and 239 votes, respectively.

Premier of New Zealand

On 8 October 1879, he was appointed the Premier of New Zealand, where his ministry carried out reforms of the male suffrage (extending voting rights) and dealt with a conflict between settlers and Māori at Parihaka
Parihaka
Parihaka is a small community in Taranaki Region, New Zealand, located between Mount Taranaki and the Tasman Sea. In the 1870s and 1880s the settlement, then reputed to be the largest Māori village in New Zealand, became the centre of a major campaign of non-violent resistance to European...

, although poor health caused him to resign the position less than three years later.

Women's suffrage

Hall took an active interest in women's rights. He moved the Parliamentary Bill that gave women in New Zealand the vote (1893), (the first country in the world to do so), he became the honorary Mayor of Christchurch, for the New Zealand International Exhibition
International Exhibition (1906)
The New Zealand International Exhibition opened 1 November 1906 in Hagley Park, Christchurch, New Zealand. Nearly two million people visited the exhibition during the next few months. A branch railway line was built across North Hagley Park to service the exhibition...

 from 1 November 1906 to 15 April 1907. Hall died in Christchurch on 25 June 1907, i.e. shortly after the exhibition had finished. He is buried in the St. John cemetery in 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...

.

One of his granddaughters, Mary Grigg
Mary Grigg
Mary Victoria Cracroft Grigg, Lady Polson, MBE was a New Zealand politician of the National Party.She represented the Mid-Canterbury electorate in Parliament from 1942 after the death of her husband Arthur Nattle Grigg who she had married in 1920, and who had held the seat from 1938...

, later became an MP for the National Party
New Zealand National Party
The New Zealand National Party is the largest party in the New Zealand House of Representatives and in November 2008 formed a minority government with support from three minor parties.-Policies:...

.
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