James Gunson
{{Short description|New Zealand businessman and Mayor of Auckland City}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2016}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=November 2016}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Sir James Gunson
| honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|country=NZL|CMG|CBE|size=100%}}
| image = James Gunson 1920 (cropped).jpg
| alt =
| caption = Gunson in 1920
| order = 24th Mayor of Auckland City
| deputy = Andrew Entrican (1915–20)
Harold D. Heather (1920–22)
George Baildon (1922–25)
| predecessor = James Parr
| successor = George Baildon
| term_start = 5 May 1915
| term_end = 6 May 1925
| birth_date = 26 October 1877
| birth_place = Auckland, New Zealand
| death_date = {{death date and age|1963|05|12|1877|10|26|df=y}}
| death_place =
| spouse = Jessie Helen Wiseman
| children = 3
| party = Reform
|
}}
Sir James Henry Gunson {{post-nominals|country=NZL|CMG|CBE}} (26 October 1877 – 12 May 1963) was a New Zealand businessman and Mayor of Auckland City from 1915 to 1925. He was knighted in 1924.
W Gunson & Co
Born and educated in Auckland, in his mid-twenties he took over W Gunson & Co, the seed-grain and produce business his father founded in 1881. William Gunson died in 1902. In October 1916, now mayor of Auckland, James sold his father's stock and station agency to Wright Stephenson.{{DNZB|last=Stacpoole |first=John |id=3g25 |title=Gunson, James Henry |access-date=8 February 2022 |author-link=John Stacpoole}}Business Changes Hands. Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 268, 9 November 1916, Page 8
Public life
James Gunson stood for Parliament several times without success; (Roskill in 1919, Eden in 1926 and then Auckland Suburbs in 1928).
Auckland
Mayor from 1915 to 1925 he undertook the building of the war memorials Auckland Museum and Cenotaph, the Wintergardens in Auckland Domain and the construction of Tamaki Drive. In later public life, he was responsible for the monument on One Tree Hill (Maungakiekie) and the treeplanting of Cornwall Park fulfilling Sir John Logan Campbell's vision. Gunson was Chairman of the Auckland Harbour Board 1911–15, and was a member of the Government Railways Board 1931–35.
The Auckland War Memorial Museum's architects commissioned Kohn's Jewellers of Queen Street to create a finely detailed silver model of the museum. This was presented to Gunson upon completion of the museum, in recognition of his extensive work in leading the project. After the death of Sir James, the model was presented to the museum by his son Wallace Gunson, where it remains on display to this day.
Several parts of the city bear his name or were his gift. His farming property to the South of Auckland in Manukau, called Totara Park, was later given to the city of Auckland. His main town residence, in St Andrew's Road, Epsom, became the Tongan royal residence, which it remains. A further Auckland property (named Rydal Mount after the residence of the English poet William Wordsworth) was by the same architect, Draffin, that Gunson had chosen to design Auckland Museum. Gunson Street, in Freemans Bay, Auckland, is named after him.
Honours and awards
Gunson was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in March 1918, for services in connection with the war,{{London Gazette |issue=30576 |supp=5 |page=3284 |date=15 March 1918}} and promoted to Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1919 King's Birthday Honours, for services in connection with patriotic undertakings.{{London Gazette |issue=31422 |page=8088 |date=27 June 1919 |nolink=y}} He was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in the 1922 New Year Honours.{{London Gazette |issue=32563 |supp=2 |page=10714 |date=31 December 1921 |nolink=y}} In the 1924 King's Birthday Honours, Gunson was appointed a Knight Bachelor, in recognition of his public services.{{London Gazette |issue=32941 |date=3 June 1924 |page=4408 |supp=y |nolink=y}} In 1935, he was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal.{{cite news | url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=EP19350506.2.12 | title=Official jubilee medals | date=6 May 1935 | work=The Evening Post | access-date=14 August 2013 | page=4 }}
Family
He married Jessie Helen Wiseman (later Lady Gunson {{post-nominals|post-noms=OBE}}) in 1905. They had three children; William, Geoffrey and Margaret, the last of whom married British barrister Sir Rawden Temple. His brother Edward Burton Gunson {{post-nominals|post-noms=MD FRCP}} (1883–1950) practised as a cardiologist in Auckland 1919–37. During World War One while in the RAMC EB Gunson assisted Thomas Lewis, the noted clinical scientist, in achieving an improved understanding of the Effort Syndrome.The Soldier’s Heart and the Effort Syndrome. Thomas Lewis. London 1918. During World War Two Gunson worked for the Ministry of Supply in London publishing studies of women war workers' health.EB Gunson. British Medical Journal 1942 ii 753-5. Communal feeding.
References
{{Reflist}}
- Who’s Who in New Zealand, 4th edition 1941
- Who's Who (UK/World edition), 1954
{{S-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{S-bef | before = James Parr}}
{{s-ttl | title = Mayor of Auckland City | years=1915–1925}}
{{s-aft | after = George Baildon}}
{{S-end}}
{{Mayors of Auckland}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gunson, James}}
Category:New Zealand stock and station agents
Category:New Zealand businesspeople
Category:Reform Party (New Zealand) politicians
Category:Unsuccessful candidates in the 1919 New Zealand general election
Category:Unsuccessful candidates in the 1928 New Zealand general election
Category:New Zealand Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George
Category:New Zealand Commanders of the Order of the British Empire