Arthur Rhodes (politician)

{{Infobox officeholder

|honorific-prefix = The Honourable

|name = Arthur Rhodes

|honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|country=NZL|OBE|size=100%}}

|image = Arthur Edgar Gravenor Rhodes.jpg

|imagesize =

|smallimage =

|alt = portrait photo of a man in his late 20s

|caption = Rhodes in ca 1887

| constituency_MP = Gladstone

| parliament = New Zealand

| term_start = 1887

| term_end = 1890

| predecessor = James Sutter

| successor = electorate abolished

| constituency_MP2 = Geraldine

| parliament2 = New Zealand

| term_start2 = 1890

| term_end2 = 1893

| predecessor2 = Electorate in abeyance

| successor2 = Electorate in abeyance

|order3 = 24th

|office3 = Mayor of Christchurch

|term_start3 = 1901

|term_end3 = 1902

|predecessor3 = William Reece

|successor3 = Henry Wigram

|monarch =

|president =

|primeminister =

|governor =

|governor-general =

|governor_general =

|succeeding =

|constituency =

|majority =

|birth_date = 20 March 1859

|birth_place = The Levels near Timaru, New Zealand

|death_date = {{Death date and age|1922|12|26|1859|3|20|df=yes}}

|death_place =

|restingplace = Bromley Cemetery, Christchurch

|restingplacecoordinates =

|nationality = New Zealand

|party =

|otherparty =

|spouse = {{marriage|Rose Moorhouse|1892}}

|partner =

|relations = George Rhodes (father)
William Barnard Rhodes (uncle)
Robert Heaton Rhodes (uncle)
Heaton Rhodes (cousin)

|children =

|residence = Te Koraha

|alma_mater =

|occupation =

|profession =

|cabinet =

|committees =

|portfolio =

|religion =

|signature =

|signature_alt =

}}

Arthur Edgar Gravenor Rhodes {{post-nominals|country=NZL|OBE|size=85%}} (20 March 1859 – 26 December 1922) was a New Zealand member of parliament and mayor of Christchurch.

Early life

Rhodes was the son of George Rhodes.{{cite book |title=The Cyclopedia of New Zealand : Canterbury Provincial District |year=1903 |url=http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Cyc03Cycl-t1-body1-d3-d9-d25.html |publisher=The Cyclopedia of New Zealand |author=Cyclopedia Company Limited |access-date= 22 June 2012 |location=Christchurch |chapter=Mr. Arthur Edgar Gravenor Rhodes}} He was born on his father's station, The Levels, near Timaru.{{NZHPT|3130|Te Koraha|12 July 2012}} He received his education at Christ's College, Christchurch, where he captained the cricket and the football teams.{{cite news |title=Personal |url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=NA19221228.2.27 |access-date=12 July 2012 |work=The Northern Advocate |date=28 December 1922 |page=5}} He then attended Jesus College, Cambridge. He graduated with a BA and L.L.B. from the English college in 1880. He was called to the bar at the Inner Temple in 1882 and in the same year, he returned to New Zealand.

Professional career

Rhodes founded his own legal firm in Christchurch in 1884.{{cite web |title= Rhodes & Co Lawyers |url=http://www.rhodes.co.nz/about-us.html |publisher=Rhodes & Co|access-date=11 July 2012}} Later, Michael Godby and John Heaton Rhodes became partners and the firm was called 'Rhodes Ross'. Alan Fraser from Rangiora merged with the firm, from which 'Rhodes Godby and Fraser' resulted, later to be renamed 'Rhodes Fraser & Co'.{{cite web|title=History |url=http://www.williamsmckenzie.co.nz/history/ |publisher=Williams McKenzie Lawyers |access-date=11 July 2012 |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120423023904/http://www.williamsmckenzie.co.nz/history/ |archive-date=23 April 2012 }} Today, the firm trades as 'Rhodes & Co' in Victoria Street, Christchurch, New Zealand.

Rhodes had a number of commercial interests. He was chairman of the New Zealand Shipping Company and chairman of The Press.

Rhodes was also variously president of the New Zealand Rugby Union,{{cite news|title=N.Z. Rugby Union|location=Wellington|via=National Library of New Zealand|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NEM18960428.2.23}} president of the Canterbury Rugby Union, chairman of the board of governors of Canterbury College/University of Canterbury.{{cn|date=January 2024}}

Te Koraha

File:Te Koraha, 1901.jpg

After Rhodes returned from his tertiary education in England, he purchased {{convert|9|acre}} of land in Merivale, setting himself up for having a family and demonstrating his ambitions. He called the property Te Koraha, which is Māori for 'the wilderness'. Development started in 1884, when he had cottages removed and stables and a coach house built. Construction of the homestead, designed by Armson, Collins and Harman, started in 1886. It was enlarged in 1894 and became a centre of the social life of Christchurch.

Many important people stayed at Te Koraha, including Governors George Grey and Lord Islington. During his mayoralty, the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York were given use of Te Koraha while they stayed in Christchurch. Later in 1901, Robert Falcon Scott stayed there prior to leaving on the Discovery Expedition.

Upon Rhodes' death, the house passed on to his son Tahu, who sold it. It was leased by Rangi Ruru Girls' School, who used it as a boarding house until 2002, when it became their administration building.{{cite web|title=The House & House Life |url=http://www.rangiruru.school.nz/index.php/boarding/house |publisher=Rangi Ruru |access-date=13 July 2012 |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120806071401/http://www.rangiruru.school.nz/index.php/boarding/house |archive-date=6 August 2012 }} Extensively damaged in the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake, the building was restored and reopened in July 2012.{{cite news|title=Rangi Ruru Girls' School's homestead restored |url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/7264132/Rangi-Ruru-schools-homestead-restored |access-date=13 July 2012|work=The Press |date=12 July 2012|location=Christchurch|page=A4}}

Political career

;Member of Parliament

{{NZ parlbox

|start = {{NZ election link year|1887}}

|end = 1890

|term = 10th

|electorate = {{NZ electorate link|Gladstone}}

|party = Independent politician

}}

{{NZ parlbox

|start = {{NZ election link year|1890}}

|end = 1893

|term = 11th

|electorate = {{NZ electorate link|Geraldine}}

|party = Independent politician

}}

Rhodes represented the Gladstone ({{NZ election link year|1887}}–1890) and Geraldine ({{NZ election link year|1890}}–1893) electorates.{{sfn|Wilson|1985|p=229}} He was defeated in the 1893 general election for the Pareora electorate that replaced Geraldine by Frederick Flatman.{{sfn|Wilson|1985|p=271}} Rhodes contested the Geraldine electorate in the {{NZ election link|1896}}, but was again beaten by Flatman.{{cite news |title=Geraldine |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=TS18961205.2.51.11 |access-date=12 July 2012 |work=The Star |issue=5739 |date=5 December 1896 |page=6}} He contested the {{NZ electorate link|Avon}} electorate in {{NZ election link year|1899}} and was beaten by the incumbent, William Tanner.{{cite web |url= https://atojs.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/atojs?a=d&cl=search&d=AJHR1900-I.2.3.2.54 |title=The General Election, 1899 |date=19 June 1900 |publisher=Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives |page=2 |access-date=1 November 2012 |location=Wellington}}

"The Member for Geraldine", wrote a brutally frank parliamentary reporter, "has few of the requisites for a public speaker. His manner is singularly awkward. Words do not come readily to his bidding and when they do come they are not always employed in the right place"{{cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/LT18920820.2.42 |title=PARLIAMENTARY PORTRAITS |work=Lyttelton Times |page=5 |date=20 August 1892 |access-date=28 October 2021 |via=Papers Past}} When he died, some obituaries stated that he was the first New Zealand-born member of parliament; this claim appeared, for example, in The New Zealand Herald and The Northern Advocate.{{cite news |title=Obituary |url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=NZH19221227.2.76 |access-date=27 November 2015 |work=The New Zealand Herald | volume=LIX | issue=18283 |date=27 December 1922 |page=6}} However, this was incorrect, as John Sheehan was also a New Zealand-born European, but entered a parliament via an 1872 by-election in the Rodney electorate.{{sfn|Wilson|1985|p=234}} The first New Zealand-born persons to enter parliament were Māori, though, and the first Māori elections were held in April 1868.{{cite web |title=First three Maori MPs elected to Parliament |url=http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/timeline/15/4 |publisher=New Zealand History Online |access-date=31 August 2010}}

;Local body politics

Christchurch mayoral elections had so far been held in the second half of December, but in 1900, that would have clashed with the Canterbury Jubilee celebrations (the First Four Ships first arrived in December 1850). Mayoral elections were postponed until April 1901. The incumbent, William Reece, declared in December 1900 that he could not serve another term due to other commitments, and shortly afterwards Rhodes received a requisition asking him to be nominated as mayoral candidate.{{cite news |title=The City Mayoralty |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=CHP19001204.2.11 |access-date=12 July 2012|work=The Press |date=4 December 1900 |page=5}} At the nomination meeting on 16 April 1901, Rhodes was the only candidate and was thus declared elected unopposed.{{cite news|title=City Council |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=CHP19010417.2.105.1 |access-date=12 July 2012|work=The Press|date=17 April 1901 |volume =LVIII| issue=10941 |page=10}} He was Mayor for one year and was succeeded by Henry Wigram, who was elected unopposed in 1902.{{DNZB|Ogilvie|Gordon |3w14|Wigram, Henry Francis – Biography|12 July 2012}}

Rose Rhodes was President of Victoria League Canterbury between 1910 and 1917. The inaugural meeting of the Canterbury branch was held at Te Koraha.{{cite news|title=Victoria League|url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=CHP19100505.2.36 |access-date=13 July 2012|work=The Press|date=5 May 1910 |volume =LXVI| issue=13725 |page=8}}

Family and death

File:Rose Rhodes.jpg

On 10 February 1892, he married Rose Moorhouse. She was the youngest daughter of James William Moorhouse, who in turn was brother of William Sefton Moorhouse, the second Superintendent of Canterbury Province.{{cite news |title=Marriage |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=CHP18920213.2.13 |access-date=11 July 2012|work=The Press|volume=XLIX |issue=8097 |date=13 February 1892|page=4}}{{cite web|title=Untitled |url=http://www.staugustineswaimate.org.nz/allabout6.html |publisher=St Augustine's Anglican Church |access-date=11 July 2012 |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130206210421/http://staugustineswaimate.org.nz/allabout6.html |archive-date=6 February 2013 }} The Rhodes had two children.

Their son, Arthur Tahu Gravenor (Tahu) Rhodes, was born on 2 August 1893. He served in World War I in Gallipoli and Egypt, before he was released due to ill health.{{cite web |url=https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C53857 |title=Arthur Tahu Gravenor Rhodes |via=Online Cenotaph |publisher=Auckland War Memorial Museum |access-date=9 July 2022}} On 24 January 1916, he married Helen Cecil Olive Plunket, the daughter of The Lord Plunket, who had been Governor of New Zealand in 1904–1910. Tahu Rhodes died in Kent, England, on 11 March 1947.{{cite news |title=Obituary |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19470313.2.82 |access-date=29 January 2024 |work=The Press |volume=LXXXIII |issue=25132 |date=13 March 1947 |page=6}}

Their daughter, Rose Mairehau (Maire) Rhodes, was born on 23 July 1894 at Te Koraha. She married George Frederick Hutton at Christ Church, Down Street, Piccadilly.{{cite news|title=Women in print |url= http://www.paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=EP19160131.2.65 |access-date=11 July 2012|work=The Evening Post|volume=CXI |issue=25 |date=31 January 1916|page=9}} Maire Rhodes died in 1991. The Christchurch suburb of Mairehau is named after her; her father had land holdings in the area.{{cite web|last=Harper |first=Margaret |title=Christchurch Place Names |url=http://library.christchurch.org.nz/Heritage/PlaceNames/ChristchurchPlaceNames.pdf |publisher=Christchurch City Libraries |access-date=11 July 2012 |location=Christchurch |page=108|date=April 2008 |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120222115555/http://library.christchurch.org.nz/Heritage/PlaceNames/ChristchurchPlaceNames.pdf |archive-date=22 February 2012}}{{sfn|Reed|2010|p=229}}

Rhodes died on 26 December 1922. He was buried the following day at Bromley Cemetery.{{cite web|url=http://librarydata.christchurch.org.nz/Cemeteries/interment.asp?id=93326 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121220085555/http://librarydata.christchurch.org.nz/Cemeteries/interment.asp?id=93326 |url-status=dead|archive-date=20 December 2012 |title=Christchurch City Council Cemeteries Database |publisher=Christchurch City Council |access-date=12 July 2012 }} Rose Rhodes died ten years later by falling {{convert|60|ft}} from the window of her son's flat in Chelsea, London.{{cite news|title=Mystery Death |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=AS19321015.2.75 |access-date=13 July 2012|work=Auckland Star|volume=LXIII |issue=245 |date=15 October 1932|page=9}}

Notes

References

{{cite book

|last=Reed

|first=A. W.

|title=Place Names of New Zealand

|year=2010

|publisher=Raupo

|location=Rosedale, North Shore

|isbn=9780143204107

|editor=Peter Dowling

}}

{{Cite book |last= Wilson |first= James Oakley |title= New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 |edition= 4th |orig-year= First ed. published 1913 |year= 1985 |publisher=V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer |location= Wellington |oclc=154283103}}