Fintan Patrick Walsh
{{Short description|New Zealand seaman, trade unionist, and farmer}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix =
|name = Fintan Patrick Walsh
|honorific-suffix =
|image = Fintan Patrick Walsh.tif
|alt =
|caption = Walsh, {{circa|1950s}}
|order1 = 3rd President of the Federation of Labour
|term_start1 = 17 October 1952
|term_end1 = 16 May 1963
|vicepresident1 = Bill Fox (1952–59)
Tom Skinner (1959–63)
|predecessor1 = Alec Croskery
|successor1 = Tom Skinner
|birth_date = 13 August 1894
|birth_place = Pātūtahi, New Zealand
|death_date = 16 May 1963
|death_place = Wellington, New Zealand
|restingplace =
|restingplacecoordinates =
|birthname = Patrick Tuohy
|nationality =
|party = Labour
|otherparty = Communist (1920–24)
|spouse =
|relations =
|children = 1
|occupation = Seaman
|profession =
|religion =
|signature =
}}
Fintan Patrick Walsh (13 August 1894 – 16 May 1963) was a notable New Zealand seaman, trade unionist and farmer. He was born in Pātūtahi, Poverty Bay, on the East Coast of New Zealand in 1894, and died in Wellington in 1963.{{DNZB|title=Fintan Patrick Walsh|first= Pat|last= Walsh|id=4w4|accessdate=23 April 2017}}
Biography
Fintan Patrick Walsh was born Patrick Tuohy at Pātūtahi, Poverty Bay, on 13 August 1894, one of eleven children of farming parents Andrew Tuohy and his wife, Hannah O'Sullivan, both born in Ireland. He was raised a Catholic but reportedly discarded his faith when he became an adult.
He was a founding member of the Communist Party of New Zealand.{{Cite web|url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/people/fintan-patrick-walsh|title=Fintan Patrick Walsh|website=New Zealand History|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170620075751/https://nzhistory.govt.nz/people/fintan-patrick-walsh|archive-date=20 June 2017|url-status=live|access-date=20 June 2017}} Walsh was president of the New Zealand Federation of Labour between 1953 and 1963.{{cite book |last=Hobbs |first=Leslie |title=The Thirty-Year Wonders |year=1967 |publisher=Whitcombe & Tombs |location=Christchurch |page=168 }}
In 1953, Walsh 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}}
He died in Wellington on 16 May 1963.{{cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19630517.2.84 |title=Fintan Patrick Walsh Dead – Colourful, Controversial Industrial Leader |work=The Press |date=17 May 1963 |volume=CII |issue=30133 |page=10 }} Though he never married he was survived by a daughter.
See also
- Hedwig Ross, co-founder of the Communist Party of New Zealand
References
{{Reflist}}
{{S-start}}
{{s-npo|union}}
{{s-bef|before=Alec Croskery}}
{{s-ttl|title=President of the Federation of Labour|years=1952–1963}}
{{s-aft|after=Tom Skinner}}
{{end}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walsh, Fintan Patrick}}
Category:New Zealand trade unionists
Category:20th-century New Zealand farmers
Category:New Zealand communists
Category:New Zealand people of Irish descent
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