Henry Fish
Henry Smith Fish (15 July 1838 – 23 September 1897) was a 19th-century New Zealand politician. For a time, he was a member of the Liberal Party. He was Mayor of Dunedin for a total of six years. Smith is remembered as one of the staunch opponents of Women's suffrage.
Early life
Fish was born in Pimlico, London, in 1838. His parents were Mary Ann Passmore and Henry Smith Fish, a painter. He received his education at Cave House School and from 1849 at Melbourne, where the family settled. He accompanied his father to the gold diggings in The Ovens, Nova Scotia. Afterwards, he worked in his father's painting and glazier business in Melbourne, and from around 1863, in Dunedin, to where the family relocated.[1] They traded as H. S. Fish and Son and were based in Princes Street South.[2]
On 31 January 1867, he married Jane Carr at Dunedin's St Paul's Church.[1]
Political career
| Parliament of New Zealand | ||||
| Years | Term | Electorate | Party | |
| 1881–1884 | 8th | Dunedin South | Independent | |
| 1887–1890 | 10th | Dunedin South | Independent | |
| 1890–1893 | 11th | City of Dunedin | Liberal | |
| 1896–1897 | 11th | City of Dunedin | Independent | |
Fish was first elected onto Dunedin City Council in 1867.[1] He was the Mayor of Dunedin from 1870 to 1873 and again from 1893 to 1895.[3] In total, he served on Dunedin City Council for over 20 years.[1]
Fish represented the Dunedin electorate on the Otago Provincial Council in 1870, and from 1873 until the abolition of provincial government in 1876.[4] He was briefly a member of the Executive Council in May/June 1875.[5]
He represented the Dunedin South electorate from 1881 to 1884 when he was defeated, then from 1887 to 1890. He then held one of the three seats for the City of Dunedin multi-member electorate from 1890[6] to 1893 when he was defeated, and from 1896 to 1897, when he died. He was replaced by Alexander Sligo.[7]
Fish represented liquor interests in Parliament, and was an opponent of Women's suffrage in 1890–1893 on their behalf. He paid his anti-suffragist campaigners a bounty for signatures collected, but lost credibility when some signatures were found to be fraudulent.[8]
Death
Smith died of throat cancer in Dunedin on 23 September 1897.[1][9]
Notes
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- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ Scholefield 1950, p. 220.
- ↑ Scholefield 1950, p. 217.
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- ↑ Wilson 1985, p. 196.
- ↑ Women’s Suffrage, Archives New Zealand Info Sheet 4, March 2011
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References
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| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Mayor of Dunedin 1870–1873 1893–1895 |
Succeeded by Andrew Mercer |
| Preceded by | Succeeded by Nathaniel Young Armstrong Wales |
|
- Use dmy dates from August 2014
- Use New Zealand English from August 2014
- All Wikipedia articles written in New Zealand English
- 1838 births
- 1897 deaths
- Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives
- Mayors of Dunedin
- Cancer deaths in New Zealand
- Deaths from esophageal cancer
- New Zealand MPs for Dunedin electorates
- Burials at Dunedin Southern Cemetery
- Members of the Otago Provincial Council
- Members of Otago provincial executive councils
- Unsuccessful candidates in the New Zealand general election, 1884
- Unsuccessful candidates in the New Zealand general election, 1893
