John Ormond (farmer)

File:John Davies Wilder Ormond.jpg

Sir John Davies Wilder Ormond {{post-nominals|country=NZL|BEM|JP}} (8 September 1905 – 8 March 1995) was a businessman and farmer from New Zealand.

Early life and family

Born at Waipukurau, New Zealand, Ormond was the son of John Davies Ormond Jr and Emilie Mary Gladys Wilder. He was educated at Christ's College, New Zealand. His sports were tennis and rugby. He married Judith Wall on 26 August 1939.{{DNZB|Bremer|Robert James|5O6|Ormond, John Davies Wilder|9 January 2010}} They had four sons and one daughter.

He was the grandson of John Davies Ormond and brother-in-law of the politician Sir Hugh John Dyke Acland. His great uncle was Edward John Eyre, former governor of Jamaica. His cousin is the headmistress, Ormond Felicity Lusk.

Political career

He started out with a large sheep and cattle run. Later he was elected to the Waipukurau Branch of the New Zealand Farmers' Union (1927–1930).

During the 1930s he "...was a leading proponent of the New Zealand Legion..."{{cite web |last1=Hall |first1=David |title=Producer Control in the New Zealand Meat Industry in the 1940s/1950s |url=https://ojs.victoria.ac.nz/jnzs/article/download/4103/3633/ |website=ojs.victoria.ac.nz |accessdate=3 August 2018}} a radical, right-wing party, but when this proved ineffective he stood in the {{NZ election link|1935}}, in the {{NZ electorate link|Waipawa}} electorate as an Independent Reformer. He split the right vote, taking support from the official United/Reform Coalition candidate, Albert Jull. The Democrats also had a candidate, which further contributed to vote splitting on the right, and the electorate went to the Labour candidate, Max Christie.{{cite news |title=Election Results |url= http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=EP19351206.2.97.11 |accessdate=14 November 2013 |newspaper=The Evening Post |date=6 December 1935 |volume=CXX |issue=137 |page=10}}{{cite news |title=Three for Waipawa |url= http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=EP19350815.2.112.2 |accessdate=15 November 2013 |newspaper=The Evening Post |date=15 August 1935 |volume=CXX |issue=40 |page=10}}

In the {{NZ election link|1938}}, he contested the {{NZ electorate link|Napier}} electorate for the National Party, but was beaten by the incumbent, Labour's Bill Barnard.{{cite web

|title = The General Election, 1938

|url = http://atojs.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/atojs?a=d&d=AJHR1939-I.2.3.2.36

|publisher = National Library

|accessdate = 8 February 2012

|page = 3

|year = 1939

}}

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 | volume=CXIX | issue=105 | newspaper=The Evening Post | accessdate=17 November 2013 | page=4}}

Wartime service

During World War II, he served in Greece, and received the British Empire Medal for diving off a troopship attempting to rescue a drowning man. Wounded in action he was invalided back to New Zealand, where he served as instructor and rose to the rank of army captain.

Postwar career

After the war, he saw the need for New Zealand to ship products abroad. He was the longtime chairman of the New Zealand Meat Producers Board, beginning in 1951. Later in life he organised the Shipping Corporation of New Zealand. He was its chairman until September 1979.

In his later life, Ormond retired to his cattle and sheep run. In the 1964 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was appointed a Knight Bachelor, in recognition of his role as chairman of the Meat Producers Board.{{London Gazette |issue=43345 |date=13 June 1964 |page=4977 |supp=3}} In 1977, he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal.{{cite book |last1=Taylor |first1=Alister |last2=Coddington |first2=Deborah |author-link1=Alister Taylor |author-link2=Deborah Coddington |title=Honoured by the Queen – New Zealand |year=1994 |publisher=New Zealand Who's Who Aotearoa |location=Auckland |isbn=0-908578-34-2 |page=431}} The Sir John Ormond Fellowship is named in his honour.{{Citation needed|date=June 2018}}