Cyril Harker
{{Short description|New Zealand soldier, lawyer and politician}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=April 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}}
Cyril Geoffrey Edmund Harker {{post-nominals|country=NZL|OBE|size=85%}} (17 November 1890 – 4 November 1970) was a New Zealand soldier, lawyer and politician of the National Party.
Biography
{{NZ parlbox header|nolist=true|align=right}}
{{NZ parlbox
|start = {{By-election link year|Waipawa|1940}}
|end = 1943
|term = 26th
|electorate = {{NZ electorate link|Waipawa}}
|party = New Zealand National Party
}}
{{NZ parlbox
|start = {{NZ election link year|1943}}
|end = 1946
|term = 27th
|electorate = Waipawa
|party = New Zealand National Party
}}
{{NZ parlbox
|start = {{NZ election link year|1946}}
|end = 1949
|term = 28th
|electorate = {{NZ electorate link|Hawkes Bay}}
|party = New Zealand National Party
}}
{{NZ parlbox
|start = {{NZ election link year|1949}}
|end = 1951
|term = 29th
|electorate = Hawkes Bay
|party = New Zealand National Party
}}
{{NZ parlbox
|start = {{NZ election link year|1951}}
|end = 1954
|term = 30th
|electorate = Hawkes Bay
|party = New Zealand National Party
}}
{{NZ parlbox
|start = {{NZ election link year|1954}}
|end = 1957
|term = 31st
|electorate = Hawkes Bay
|party = New Zealand National Party
}}
{{NZ parlbox
|start = {{NZ election link year|1957}}
|end = 1960
|term = 32nd
|electorate = Hawkes Bay
|party = New Zealand National Party
}}
{{NZ parlbox
|start = {{NZ election link year|1960}}
|end = 1963
|term = 33rd
|electorate = Hawkes Bay
|party = New Zealand National Party
}}
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Harker was born at Havelock North and attended Napier Boys' High School. He graduated in 1915 from the Victoria College (now Victoria University of Wellington) with an LLB.{{sfn|Gustafson|1986|p=319}}{{cite news|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=FS19150604.2.28 |title=Papers Past – Feilding Star – 4 June 1915 – EDUCATIONAL |publisher=Paperspast.natlib.govt.nz |date=4 June 1915 |access-date=15 January 2014}} He served in World War I in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force departing 13 June 1918{{cite web |url=https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C110631 |title=Cyril Geoffrey Edmund Harker |via=Online Cenotaph |publisher=Auckland War Memorial Museum |access-date=7 July 2022}} and rising to the rank of Company Sergeant Major. He returned in August 1919{{cite news|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=WC19190724.2.45 |title=Papers Past – Wanganui Chronicle – 24 July 1919 – RETURNING HOME |publisher=Paperspast.natlib.govt.nz |date=24 July 1919 |access-date=15 January 2014}} and in that year bought a share of the law partnership in Waipawa that is now McKay Mackie.{{cite web |url=http://www.mmlawyers.co.nz/history.html |title=McKay Mackie Lawyers Waipawa History |publisher=Mmlawyers.co.nz |access-date=17 July 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002092248/http://www.mmlawyers.co.nz/history.html |archive-date=2 October 2013 |df=dmy-all }} He was Mayor of Waipawa{{sfn|Gustafson|1986|p=319}} and held offices in both the Returned Services Association and the Chamber of Commerce.{{cite news|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=EP19401118.1.9 |title=Papers Past – Evening Post – 18 November 1940 – Page 9 |publisher=Paperspast.natlib.govt.nz |date=18 November 1940 |access-date=15 January 2014}}
In 1936 and 1937 he represented the abortion care provider Isabel Annie Aves, who was tried four times for 'using an instrument with the intent to procure a miscarriage.' Neither the first trial in Napier in August 1936 nor the retrials in Wellington in October 1936,{{cite news|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=EP19361021.2.163 |title=Papers Past – Evening Post – 21 October 1936 – CASE COMPLETED |publisher=Paperspast.natlib.govt.nz |date=21 October 1936 |access-date=15 January 2014}} December 1936 and February 1937 resulted in the jury reaching a verdict.{{cite news|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=EP19370204.2.133 |title=Papers Past – Evening Post – 4 February 1937 – CROWN CASE ENDS |publisher=Paperspast.natlib.govt.nz |date=4 February 1937 |access-date=15 January 2014}}{{cite news|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=EP19370217.2.54 |title=Papers Past – Evening Post – 17 February 1937 – MRS. AVES FREED |publisher=Paperspast.natlib.govt.nz |date=17 February 1937 |access-date=15 January 2014}}{{DNZB|title=Isabel Annie Aves|first= Barbara|last= Brookes|id=4a25|accessdate=23 April 2017}} Harker's defence rested on lack of direct evidence; none of the women were gave evidence and the crown prosecutor relied on circumstantial evidence. In 1938 he also defended Colin Herbert Hercock who shot Aves after her return to the Hawkes Bay, getting him convicted of the lesser charge of manslaughter rather than murder{{cite news|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=EP19381102.2.105 |title=Papers Past – Evening Post – 2 November 1938 – TWELVE YEARS' GAOL |publisher=Paperspast.natlib.govt.nz |date=2 November 1938 |access-date=15 January 2014}} and subsequently getting his prison term reduced.{{cite news|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=EP19390428.2.150 |title=Papers Past – Evening Post – 28 April 1939 – SENTENCE REDUCED |publisher=Paperspast.natlib.govt.nz |date=28 April 1939 |access-date=15 January 2014}}
He represented the Hawke's Bay electorates of Waipawa from a {{By-election link|Waipawa|1940}} to 1946, and then Hawke's Bay from 1946 to 1963, when he retired.{{sfn|Wilson|1985|p=203}} His maiden speech to the house concerned the Small Farms Amendment Bill which dealt with the settlement and rehabilitation of returned soldiers.{{cite news|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=AS19401127.1.9 |title=Papers Past – Auckland Star – 27 November 1940 – Page 9 |publisher=Paperspast.natlib.govt.nz |date=27 November 1940 |access-date=15 January 2014}} He was Chairman of Committees from 1950 to 1957.{{sfn|Wilson|1985|p=252}}
In the 1964 Queen's Birthday Honours, Harker was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for public services.{{sfn|Wilson|1985|p=203}}{{London Gazette |issue=43345 |date=13 June 1964 |page=4978 |supp=3}} He died on 4 November 1970.{{sfn|Gustafson|1986|p=319}}
Notes
{{Reflist}}
References
- {{Cite book |last = Gustafson |first = Barry |author-link = Barry Gustafson |title = The First 50 Years : A History of the New Zealand National Party |year = 1986 |publisher = Reed Methuen |location = Auckland |isbn = 0-474-00177-6}}
- {{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}}
{{s-start}}
{{S-off}}
{{s-bef | before = Clyde Carr}}
{{s-ttl
| title=Chairman of Committees of the House of Representatives
| years=1950–1957
}}
{{s-aft | after = Reginald Keeling }}
|-
{{s-par | nz}}
{{s-bef | before = Albert Jull}}
{{s-ttl | title= Member of Parliament for Waipawa| years=1940–1946}}
{{s-non | reason = Electorate abolished}}
{{s-bef | before = Ted Cullen}}
{{s-ttl | title= Member of Parliament for Hawkes Bay| years=1946–1963}}
{{s-aft | after = Richard Harrison}}
{{end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harker, Cyril}}
Category:New Zealand National Party MPs
Category:Mayors of places in Hawke's Bay
Category:People educated at Napier Boys' High School
Category:Victoria University of Wellington alumni
Category:20th-century New Zealand lawyers
Category:New Zealand military personnel of World War I
Category:New Zealand Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Category:Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives