Ernest Toop

Ernest Richard Toop was born in 1895. He became a merchant in Wellington starting his own company, becoming the managing director of the firm of Toop and Neilson, Ltd. He was the president of the Island Bay branch of the Returned Services' Association.{{cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19430727.2.28 |work =Evening Post |page=3 |title=General Election |date=27 July 1943 |access-date=29 October 2016 | volume=CXXXVI | issue=23 }}

Toop stood as the National Party's candidate for the seat of Wellington South in the 1943 general election. He came runner-up to Labour's Robert McKeen.{{cite web |title=The General Election, 1943 |url= http://www.atojs.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/atojs?a=d&cl=search&d=AJHR1944-I.2.2.5.37 |publisher=National Library |access-date=2 January 2014 |pages=1–12 |year=1944}} Toop was first elected to the Wellington City Council in 1944 on the ticket of the right-leaning Citizens' Association.{{cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19440529.2.84.3 |work =Evening Post |page=7 |title=The City Council |date=29 May 1944 |access-date=29 October 2016 | volume=CXXXII | issue=125 }} He would remain a councillor until 1956. He served as the Deputy Mayor from 1953 to 1956 under Robert Macalister. In 1956 Toop was elected to the Wellington Harbour Board. He served on the board for the next 18 years including 5 years as the chair from 1961 to 1966.{{cite book |first=David |last=Johnson |chapter=Members and Officers of the Wellington Harbour Board, Appendix 1 |page=475 |title=Wellington Harbour |publisher=Wellington Maritime Museum Trust |year=1996 |isbn=0958349800}}

In 1953, Toop was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal.{{cite news |url=http://www.nzlii.org/nz/other/nz_gazette/1953/37.pdf |title=Coronation Medal |work=Supplement to the New Zealand Gazette |issue=37 |date=3 July 1953 |pages=1021–1035 |access-date=20 March 2022}}

In 1956 Toop became embroiled in a selection controversy. Under the impression that incumbent mayor Robert Macalister was not intending to seek a third term as mayor, Toop applied to gain nomination as the Citizens' mayoral candidate. As the only applicant he was successful. However, Macalister had intended to run again and thought that he, as the incumbent, held automatic nomination. Undeterred, Macalister ran for mayor again in 1956 as an Independent which split the Citizens' vote enabling Labour's Frank Kitts to win the mayoralty.{{sfn|Betts|1970|pp=157}} Toop ran for mayor again in 1959 in a two-horse race against Kitts, but was again unsuccessful.{{sfn|Betts|1970|pp=161}}

In the 1965 New Year Honours, Toop was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, for services to local government.{{London Gazette |issue=43531 |date=1 January 1965 |page=44 |supp=3}} He died in 1976, and was survived by his second wife.

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{{Commons category|Ernest Toop}}

• {{cite book |last = Betts |first = G.M. |title = Betts on Wellington: A City and its Politics |year = 1970 |publisher = A. H. & A. W. Reed Ltd. |location = Wellington |isbn = 0-589-00469-7 }}

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{{s-bef | before=William Stevens}}

{{s-ttl | title=Deputy Mayor of Wellington|years= 1953–1956}}

{{s-aft | after=Harry Nankervis}}

{{s-bef | before=Brian Edwin Keiller}}

{{s-ttl | title=Chair of Wellington Harbour Board|years= 1961–1966}}

{{s-aft | after=Barry Barton-Ginger}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Toop, Ernest}}

Category:1895 births

Category:1976 deaths

Category:Deputy mayors of Wellington

Category:20th-century New Zealand businesspeople

Category:Wellington City Councillors

Category:Wellington Harbour Board members

Category:New Zealand National Party politicians

Category:Unsuccessful candidates in the 1943 New Zealand general election

Category:New Zealand Commanders of the Order of the British Empire

Category:New Zealand justices of the peace

Category:People from Swinton, Greater Manchester

Category:English emigrants to New Zealand