Joseph Braithwaite (mayor)

Braithwaite was born in Cliburn, near Penrith in the northwest of England, in 1848. The family emigrated to Melbourne, Australia in 1852, but Braithwaite's mother died during the voyage. His father subsequently remarried and the family moved again, in 1860, to Dunedin, New Zealand. Braithwaite's father died about three years later.{{cite news | url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=ODT19170328.2.64 | title=Obituary: Mr Joseph Braithwaite | date=28 March 1917 | work=Otago Daily Times | access-date=26 April 2014 | page=7}} He married Mary Ann Bellett in Dunedin on 2 July 1872,{{cite news | url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=ODT18720803.2.12 | title=Births, marriages, and deaths | date=3 August 1872 | work=Otago Daily Times | access-date=26 April 2014 | page=3}} and they had at least 16,{{DNZB | title=Braithwaite, John | first=Ian | last=McGibbon | id=3b44 | accessdate=26 April 2014}} and as many as 22,{{cite news | url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page10745836 | title=British composer arrives | date=2 April 1947 | work=Northern Star | access-date=8 May 2014 | page=9}} children. Among them, John Braithwaite, was convicted and executed for mutiny during World War I, and was finally pardoned by the New Zealand government in 2000. Other sons included Rewi Braithwaite, who played in New Zealand's first official international soccer match, against Australia in 1922;{{cite web |url=http://www.ultimatenzsoccer.com/NZRepSoccer/id1561.htm |title=1904–59 |website=The ultimate New Zealand soccer website |access-date=26 April 2014}} Warwick Braithwaite, who became a noted orchestral conductor; and Roderick Braithwaite, who served as mayor of Hamilton between 1953 and 1959.

In 1863, Braithwaite established "Braithwaite's Circulating Library" in Farley's Arcade at the corner of High Street and Fleet Street, Dunedin.{{cite web |url=http://tapuhi.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/spydus/FULL/GLOBAL/OPHDR/2065/682104,5 |title=Collection of books with labels from New Zealand bookshops, booksellers, stationers, circulating and lending libraries, 1860s?–1950 |publisher=National Library of New Zealand |access-date=8 May 2014}} By 1867, he was also trading as a newsagent.{{cite news | url= http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=ODT18671105.2.2.6 | title=Wanted | date=5 November 1867 | work=Otago Daily Times | access-date=26 April 2014 | page=1}}

From humble beginnings, the business expanded and moved, eventually becoming "Braithwaite's Book Arcade" at 38–40 Princes Street in 1883.{{cite book |title=Wise's New Zealand Post Office Directory |year=1916 |page=352}}{{cite book |editor1-last=Griffith | editor1-first=Penny | editor2-last=Harvey | editor2-first=Ross | editor3-last=Maslen | editor3-first=Keith |title=Book & print in New Zealand: a guide to print culture in Aotearoa |year=1997 |publisher=Victoria University Press |location=Wellington |isbn=0-86473-331-3 |page=163}}

Braithwaite was first elected to the Dunedin City Council in 1901 and re-elected two years later. He was elected unopposed as mayor of Dunedin in 1905 and retired after serving for a one-year term. His mayoralty was characterised by the practical completion of the Dunedin tramway system.{{cite news | url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=ODT19060503.2.26 | title=The old mayor and the new | date=3 May 1906 | work=Otago Daily Times | access-date=26 April 2014 | page=6}} He also spent three years on the Ocean Beach Domain Board and served as a member of the city's licensing committee.

Braithwaite belonged to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and was a past grand master and life member. He was a member of the Anglican Synod from 1892, and also served on the City Mission committee and the committee of the Bible in State Schools League. He was also vice-president of the Otago Football Association for a time, and chairman of the Empire Pictures Company.

Braithwaite died at his home in the Dunedin suburb of St Clair on 27 March 1917,{{cite news | url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=ODT19170328.2.18 | title=Deaths | date=28 March 1917 | work=Otago Daily Times | access-date=26 April 2014 | page=4}} and was buried at the Southern Cemetery.{{cite web |url=http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries_search?recordid=109675&type=Burial |title=Cemeteries search |publisher=Dunedin City Council |access-date=26 April 2014}}

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{{s-bef | before = Thomas Reid Christie}}

{{s-ttl | title = Mayor of Dunedin | years=1905–1906}}

{{s-aft | after = George Lawrence}}

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Category:1848 births

Category:1917 deaths

Category:People from Penrith, Cumbria

Category:British emigrants

Category:Immigrants to New Zealand

Category:New Zealand booksellers

Category:Mayors of Dunedin

Category:Burials at Dunedin Southern Cemetery

Joseph