Cyril Croker
{{Short description|New Zealand politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2014}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=October 2014}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix = The Honourable
|name = Cyril Croker
|honorific-suffix =
|image =
|alt =
|caption =
|office7 = Member of the New Zealand Legislative Council
|term_start7 = 27 July 1950
|term_end7 = 31 December 1950
|birth_date = {{birth date|1888|03|27|df=y}}
|birth_place = Christchurch, New Zealand
|death_date = {{death date and age|1958|10|16|1888|03|27|df=y}}
|death_place = New Plymouth, New Zealand
|restingplace = Te Henui Cemetery
|restingplacecoordinates =
|birthname = Cyril Hendry Croker
|nationality =
|party = National
|spouse = {{marriage|Doris McCormick|1921}}
|relations =
|children =
|residence = New Plymouth (1919–1958)
|alma_mater =
|occupation = Solicitor
|profession =
|signature =
}}
Cyril Hendry Croker (27 March 1888 – 16 October 1958) was a New Zealand solicitor and member of the Legislative Council. He was a leading sportsman in his youth. He went to World War I in France in 1918 and returned to England sick within days. Active in the National Party, he was an electorate chairman for many years. In 1950, when the first First National Government wanted to disestablish the Legislative Council, Croker was appointed to that body as part of the suicide squad.
Early life
Croker was born in Christchurch on 27 March 1888. His parents were Diana Valentine and James Taylor Croker.{{sfn|Original Paper Personnel File|2012|p=35}}{{Citation |title=Birth certificate 1888/14721 |publisher= Department of Internal Affairs}} His father spent his entire working life with the Loan and Mercantile Company and until 1899, he was based in Blenheim.{{cite news |title=Obituary |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19230615.2.79 |access-date=17 January 2022 |work=The Press |volume=LIX |issue=17790 |date=15 June 1923 |page=11}}{{cite news |title=The drowning accident |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WH18990131.2.8 |access-date=17 January 2022 |work=The Wanganui Herald |volume=XXXIII |issue=9656 |date=31 January 1899 |page=2}} Croker Jr attended Blenheim Borough School.{{cite news |title=Presentation of prizes |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MEX18951218.2.25 |access-date=17 January 2022 |work=Marlborough Express |volume=XXXI |issue=295 |date=18 December 1895 |page=2}}{{cite news |title=Borough schools |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MEX18981126.2.2 |access-date=17 January 2022 |work=Marlborough Express |volume=XXXIII |issue=276 |date=26 November 1898 |page=1}} When the family moved to Dunedin, Croker Jr attended Otago Boys' High School.{{sfn|Scholefield|1951|p=55}} He then attended law school at the University of Otago and sat his examinations in 1908.{{cite news |title=Untitled |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19080513.2.16 |access-date=17 January 2022 |work=Evening Star |issue=12950 |date=13 May 1908 |page=4}}{{cite news |title=Law examinations |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19081221.2.47 |access-date=17 January 2022 |work=Evening Star |issue=13139 |date=21 December 1908 |page=5}}
Croker was a sportsmen in his younger years and won the cross-country running championships of Otago in 1907.{{cite news |title=Dominion Harrier Team |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19350625.2.104 |access-date=16 January 2022 |work=Evening Star |issue=22064 |date=25 June 1935 |page=12}}{{cite news |title=Amateur athletics |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19230723.2.100 |access-date=17 January 2022 |work=Otago Daily Times |issue=18921 |date=23 July 1923 |page=9}} He later broke the Otago 3-mile record. At Otago University, he won blues in 1-mile and 3-mile running.{{sfn|Scholefield|1951|p=55}} Croker also took up golf.{{cite news |title=Fixtures to-morrow : golf |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19101202.2.6 |access-date=17 January 2022 |work=Evening Star |issue=14528 |date=2 December 1910 |page=1}}{{cite news |title=To-morrow's fixtures |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19110804.2.126 |access-date=17 January 2022 |work=Otago Daily Times |issue=15213 |date=4 August 1911 |page=12}} He last appears in the golf results in Dunedin in December 1911{{cite news |title=Fixtures to-morrow : golf |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19111201.2.5 |access-date=17 January 2022 |work=Evening Star |issue=14737 |date=1 December 1911 |page=1}} and left the city on 6 December 1911 for Stratford.{{cite news |title=Shipping |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19111206.2.18 |access-date=17 January 2022 |work=Otago Daily Times |issue=15319 |date=6 December 1911 |page=4}} From early 1912, he played in Stratford in Taranaki.{{cite news |title=Stratford Golf Club |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TDN19120528.2.10 |access-date=17 January 2022 |work=Taranaki Daily News |volume =LIV |issue=284 |date=28 May 1912 |page=3}}{{cite news |title=Golf |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/STEP19120531.2.55 |access-date=17 January 2022 |work=Stratford Evening Post |volume=XXXIII |issue=29 |date=31 May 1912 |page=8}}
Military career
In December 1911, Croker's commission as a lieutenant with the Otago Rifles was gazetted. He resigned this commission in October 1913.{{sfn|Original Paper Personnel File|2012|pp=6–8}} He tried to enlist in early 1916 but was told that he was medically unfit.{{cite news |title=Personal |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HAST19160117.2.20 |access-date=17 January 2022 |work=Hastings Standard |volume=IV |issue=770 |date=17 January 1916 |page=4}} A year later, he was accepted, though.{{cite news |title=Local and general |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HAST19170223.2.28 |access-date=17 January 2022 |work=Hastings Standard |volume=VI |issue=362 |date=23 February 1917 |page=4}} In 1918, he applied to be reappointed to his commission and engaged the services of Charles Skerrett KC to assist him, but the military refused to reappoint him.{{sfn|Original Paper Personnel File|2012|p=12}} His elder brother, Eric Robert Irving Croker, was killed in action on 16 April 1918 and his death was advertised on 10 May.{{cite web |title=Eric Robert Irving Croker |url= https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C3432 |publisher=Auckland War Memorial Museum |access-date=16 January 2022}}{{cite news |title=Roll of honour |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19180510.2.3 |access-date=17 January 2022 |work=Otago Daily Times |issue=17311 |date=10 May 1918 |page=2}} Croker sailed to London on the SS Ionic from Wellington on 16 May 1918 as a corporal and transferred to France but within days, he was returned to England with bronchitis; he remained there until after the end of the war.{{sfn|Original Paper Personnel File|2012|p=35}}
Professional and political career
Croker received his legal training from Hosking and Cooke (John Hosking and David Cooke) in Dunedin, where he worked as clerk for Hosking. He was admitted to the bar while he was still in Dunedin.{{sfn|Scholefield|1951|p=55}}{{cite news |title=Personal |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TH19190814.2.7 |access-date=17 January 2022 |work=Taranaki Herald |volume =LXVII |issue=16513 |date=14 August 1919 |page=2}} In December 1911, he moved to Stratford where he was clerk for the solicitor William George Malone until May 1913, when he moved to Hastings. Croker worked in Hastings on his own account.{{cite news |title=Personal |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/STEP19130513.2.15 |access-date=17 January 2022 |work=Stratford Evening Post |volume=XXXVI |issue=7 |date=13 May 1913 |page=5}} With a view of war service, Croker took on Cecil Duff as a legal partner in February 1917, with Duff providing ongoing service while Croker was either in camp or in active service.{{cite news |title=Notice of partnership |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HAST19170223.2.2.4 |access-date=17 January 2022 |work=Hastings Standard |volume =VI |issue=362 |date=23 February 1917 |page=1}} In August 1917, Croker was granted one month's leave from military camp as Duff had fallen ill.{{cite news |title=Military service appeal board |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HAST19170814.2.29.9 |access-date=17 January 2022 |work=Hastings Standard |volume=VII |issue=25 |date= 14 August 1917 |page=5}}{{cite news |title=Personal |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HAST19170917.2.41 |access-date=17 January 2022 |work=Hastings Standard |volume =VII |issue=277 |date=17 September 1917 |page=6}}
Returning to New Zealand from England in May 1919, Croker bought the practice of Alexander Johnstone in New Plymouth in August 1919, as Johnstone moved to Auckland in October 1919.{{cite news |title=Personal |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TDN19190814.2.40 |access-date=17 January 2022 |work=Taranaki Daily News |date=14 August 1919 |page=5}}{{cite news |title=Personal items |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HNS19191004.2.16 |access-date=17 January 2022 |work=Hawera and Normanby Star |volume=LXXIV |date=4 October 1919 |page=4}} Despite Johnstone's absence, the firm used the name Croker and Johnstone until mid-1921.{{cite news |title=Public notices |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TDN19210511.2.2.3 |access-date=17 January 2022 |work=Taranaki Daily News |date=11 May 1921 |page=1}} From December 1920, Croker had an additional office in Ōpunake open once a week.{{cite news |title=Local and general |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OPUNT19201217.2.5 |access-date=17 January 2022 |work=Opunake Times |date=17 December 1920 |page=2}} Campbell McCormick was his managing clerk and in October 1922, he made McCormick a partner in the firm, which was then known as Croker and McCormick.{{cite news |title=Legal notice |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TDN19221018.2.2.4 |access-date=17 January 2022 |work=Taranaki Daily News |date=18 October 1922 |page=1}} Later on, Ronald Charles Greiner became another partner.{{sfn|Scholefield|1951|p=55}}
From 1919 to 1923, he was a councillor of the Taranaki District Law Society. From 1919 to 1924, he was vice president of the Returned Servicemen's Association (RSA) in New Plymouth. He was president of the Taranaki Racing Owners' and Breeders' Association and an executive member of the New Zealand association. He was appointed to life membership and became a patron of the New Plymouth Harrier Club. From 1928, he owned Waikaraka Station, a sheep farm in Hawke's Bay.{{sfn|Scholefield|1951|p=55}}
Croker was chairman of the National Party of the New Plymouth electorate for many years. He was an executive member of the party's Wellington division from 1940.{{sfn|Scholefield|1951|p=55}} He was appointed to the New Zealand Legislative Council on 27 July 1950{{sfn|Wilson |1985 |p=152}} as a member of the suicide squad{{sfn|McLintock|1966}} by the First National Government in 1950 to vote for the abolition of the Council. Most of the new members were appointed on 22 June 1950, but four more members—including Croker—were appointed on 27 July 1950.{{cite news |title=Four new appointments to Legislative Council |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19500728.2.76 |access-date=17 January 2022 |work=Otago Daily Times |issue=27453 |date=28 July 1950 |page=6}} Legislative councillors voted on 15 August 1950 for the abolition of the upper house.{{cite news |title=Fate decided: abolition of upper house |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19500816.2.46 |access-date=24 January 2022 |work=Otago Daily Times |issue=27469 |date=16 August 1950 |page=6}} The 1950 parliamentary session ended on 1 December, which is when the legislative councillors last met.{{sfn|Wilson |1985 |p=141}} Membership of the legislative councillors ceased on 31 December 1950,{{sfn|Wilson |1985 |pp=148–167}} with the Legislative Council Abolition Bill 1950 coming into force on 1 January 1951.{{cite web |title=Legislative Council Abolition Bill 1950 (14-1) |url= http://www.nzlii.org/nz/legis/hist_bill/lcab1950141299/ |publisher=New Zealand Legal Information Institute |access-date=24 January 2022}}
Personal and family
On 3 June 1921, Croker and Doris McCormick married in Wellington. His wife was from Napier.{{cite news |title=Woman's world |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TDN19210604.2.55 |access-date=17 January 2022 |work=Taranaki Daily News |date=4 June 1921 |page=6}} After the wedding, they visited his birth city of Christchurch.{{cite news |title=Women folk |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TS19210604.2.14 |access-date=17 January 2022 |work=The Star |issue=16444 |date=4 June 1921 |page=6}} He was interested in horse racing and owned several racehorses. He died on 16 October 1958 at New Plymouth aged 70. He was buried at Te Henui Cemetery{{cite web |title=Croker, Cyril Hendry |url= https://www.npdc.govt.nz/services/cemeteries/cemetery-search/deceased-details/?deceasedId=8767 |publisher=New Plymouth District Council |access-date=17 January 2022}} and survived by his wife and three children.{{cite news |title=Obituary |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19581018.2.68 |access-date=16 January 2022 |work=The Press |volume =XCVII |issue=28720 |date=18 October 1958 |page=11}}{{sfn|Original Paper Personnel File|2012|p=3}}
Croker had two brothers. His elder brother Eric was killed in 1918 in World War I. His younger brother Basil, who was also a solicitor, died in 1943 aged 44.{{Citation |title=Death certificate 1943/30231 |publisher= Department of Internal Affairs}}{{cite news |title=Obituary |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19430525.2.24 |access-date=17 January 2022 |work=The Evening Post |volume=CXXXV |issue=122 |date=25 May 1943 |page=3}} Doris Croker died in 1965.{{Citation |title=Death certificate 1965/37071 |publisher= Department of Internal Affairs}}
Notes
{{Reflist}}
References
- {{cite web | ref={{harvid|Original Paper Personnel File|2012}} | date=17 January 2012 |title=Original Paper Personnel File |url= https://ndhadeliver.natlib.govt.nz/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE12495585 |publisher=National Library of New Zealand |access-date=16 January 2022}}
- {{cite book |title=An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand |date=1966 |publisher=Ministry for Culture and Heritage / Te Manatū Taonga |url= https://teara.govt.nz/en/1966/government-parliament/page-4 | editor-first=A. H. |editor-last=McLintock |editor-link=Alexander Hare McLintock |chapter=Abolition of the Legislative Council }}
- {{cite book |title=Who's Who in New Zealand, 1951 |last=Scholefield |first=Guy |authorlink=Guy Scholefield |year=1951 |edition=5th |publisher=A.H. & A.W. Reed |location=Wellington}}
- {{cite book |last= Wilson |first= J.O. |title= New Zealand Parliamentary Record 1840–1984 |edition= 4th |origyear= 1913 |year= 1985 |publisher= V.R. Ward, Government Printer |location= Wellington}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Croker, Cyril Hendry}}
Category:Members of the New Zealand Legislative Council
Category:New Zealand National Party MLCs
Category:20th-century New Zealand lawyers
Category:People from New Plymouth
Category:People educated at Otago Boys' High School
Category:Burials at Te Henui Cemetery
Category:Politicians from Christchurch