Joseph Ivess

Joseph Ivess was born in Askeaton, County Limerick, Ireland in 1844. His parents were John Pope Ivess and Anne Southwell. The family emigrated to Melbourne, Australia on the barque, Alcyone, leaving Liverpool in September 1852.{{Cite news|date=1856-10-03|title=THE BIGAMY CASE.|pages=5|work=Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957)|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article7137671|access-date=2021-08-22}} Four of his obituaries said he attended Barnett's Grammar School{{Cite web|date=6 Sep 1919|title=OBITUARY. ASHBURTON GUARDIAN|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AG19190906.2.4|access-date=2021-08-22|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}} in Emerald Hill,{{DNZB|Harvey|Ross|2i3|Ivess, Joseph|14 April 2012}} but no other sources mention such a school. His father became a police sergeant.{{Cite news|date=1855-11-02|title=MELBOURNE.|pages=1|work=Portland Guardian and Normanby General Advertiser (Vic. : 1842 - 1843; 1854 - 1876)|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71573066|access-date=2021-08-21}} In 1864, he married Sarah Ann Reddin at Castlemaine, Victoria. In 1865 a Joseph Ivess, printer, was owed £38 in Maldon.{{Cite news|date=1865-11-23|title=INSOLVENT COURT.|pages=7|work=Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954)|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article155038299|access-date=2021-08-22}} In 1866, he worked on the staff of the Bendigo Independent. A photograph of Ivess with his family shows nine children.{{citation needed|date=April 2012}} His obituaries listed 8 surviving children, Mrs Helena Lister, Mrs Barrett, Florence and Elizabeth Ivess, all living in Christchurch, John Ivess (Palmerston North), Joseph Ivess{{Cite web|date=5 Sep 1919|title=OBITUARY. STAR (CHRISTCHURCH)|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TS19190905.2.73|access-date=2021-08-21|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}} and Charles Ivess, a billiard saloon owner in Gisborne.{{Cite web|date=7 Feb 1946|title=OBITUARY. GISBORNE HERALD|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/GISH19460207.2.104|access-date=2021-08-21|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}}

On his arrival in New Zealand in 1868 he began work as the manager, and perhaps printer, of the New Zealand Celt at Hokitika. It is hardly surprising that an Irishman emigrating from Melbourne to New Zealand would land at Hokitika. The West Coast gold fields were at that time full of fellow countrymen and shipping routes made that coast a natural landfall. Ivess probably found employment rapidly as the manager of the New Zealand Celt, the Irish Catholic Party's newspaper whose proprietor John Manning was charged with seditious libel for erecting a memorial to the Fenian martyrs of Manchester in the Hokitika Cemetery. It may have been in this heady political atmosphere that the seeds of Ivess's political ambitions were planted and nurtured. By 1870 Ivess had definitely established a printing business at Hokitika in partnership with George Tilbrook, as shown by advertisements in the first issue of the Tomahawk (5 March 1870) and subsequent issues. This heavily satirical weekly and its successor, the Lantern, must also have encouraged Ivess in his political aspirations, for they relied on criticism of local and national political events for their effect. Even at this early stage in his career Ivess demonstrated a propensity for attracting legal action, being named as a defendant in a libel action in the Tomahawk (16 and 30 April 1870). To be fair, Ivess was not alone among newspapermen in being sued frequently. Conservative libel laws were retained in New Zealand long after they had been redrafted in England and resulted in frequent lawsuits of which Ivess attracted his fair share.{{citation needed|date=April 2012}}

He remained in and about the West Coast for the next eight years, but after 1875 his base became the Canterbury region, and particularly Ashburton. He started 45 newspapers in New South Wales and New Zealand.{{Cite web|date=12 Sep 1919|title=OBITUARY. OTAGO WITNESS|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OW19190912.2.36|access-date=2021-08-22|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}}

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|start = {{By-election link year|Wakanui|1882}}

|end = 1884

|term = 8th

|electorate = {{NZ electorate link|Wakanui}}

|party = Independent politician

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{{NZ parlbox

|start = {{By-election link year|Wakanui|1885}}

|end = 1887

|term = 9th

|electorate = Wakanui

|party = Independent politician

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Ivess represented the Inangahua electorate on the Nelson Provincial Council from 21 January 1873 until the abolition of the Provinces on 31 October 1876.{{cite book |last= Scholefield |first= Guy |title= New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1949 |edition=3rd |origyear= First ed. published 1913 |year= 1950 |publisher=Govt. Printer |location= Wellington |page=212}}

He used his various newspaper interests to increase his name recognition for election purposes. In September 1875, the first hint appeared that he would challenge Harry Atkinson in the {{NZ electorate link|Egmont}} electorate at the next general election, although it was clear that he would not stand a chance against the Colonial Treasurer. The election was held on 3 January 1876{{cite book |last= Wilson |first= James Oakley |title= New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 |edition= 4th |origyear= First ed. published 1913 |year= 1985 |publisher=V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer |location= Wellington |oclc= 154283103 |page=181}} and Atkinson defeated Ivess by 225 votes to 73.{{cite news |title=Telegrams |url= http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=TC18760106.2.13 |accessdate=13 April 2012 |work=Colonist |volume=XVIII |issue=2016 |date=6 January 1876|page=3}}

Ivess was one of the original nine councillors of the Ashburton Borough Council in September 1878.{{cite news |title=Ashburton borough elections |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP18780905.2.16 |accessdate=3 December 2019 |work=The Press |volume=XXX |issue=4090 |date=5 September 1878 |page=2}} He was beaten by Hugo Friedlander for the Ashburton mayoralty in November 1879.{{cite news |title=The Ashburton mayoral election |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ASHH18791127.2.12 |accessdate=3 December 2019 |work=Ashburton Herald |volume=II |issue=511 |date=27 November 1879 |page=3}} Ivess contested the {{NZ electorate link|Wakanui}} electorate in South Canterbury in the {{NZ election link|1881}} against Cathcart Wason and Charles Purnell.{{cite news|title=The General Elections |url= http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=TS18811202.2.14 |accessdate=31 July 2010 |work=The Star |date=2 December 1881|issue=4248|page=3}} Ivess petitioned against Wason's election win on numerous grounds. The election petitions court started hearing the case in February 1882.{{cite news|title=Election Petition Court |url= http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=TS18820222.2.30 |accessdate=31 July 2010 |work=The Star |date=22 February 1882|issue=4316 |page=4}} Members were sworn in on 18 May 1882 for the first session of the 8th Parliament. Wason was not present.{{cite news|title=Thursday, May 18 |url= http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=CL18820526.2.7.1 |accessdate=31 July 2010 |work=Clutha Leader |volume=VIII |issue=450 |date=26 May 1882 |page=3}} On the following day, the results of the various election petitions were read out, and the 1881 Wakanui election was declared void. Wason lost his seat in Parliament without having ever taken it.{{cite news|title=Friday, 19 May |url= http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=CL18820526.2.7.2 |accessdate=31 July 2010 |work=Clutha Leader |volume=VIII |issue=450 |date=26 May 1882 |page=3}} A 16 June 1882 by-election was held, which was contested by Alfred Saunders and Ivess.{{cite news|title=Local & General |url= http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=TS18820612.2.10 |accessdate=31 July 2010 |work=The Star |date=12 June 1882|issue=4409 |page=2}} Ivess and Saunders received 604 and 541 votes, and Ivess was thus declared elected.{{cite news|title=Wakanui Election |url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=TS18820617.2.15 |accessdate=31 July 2010 |work=The Star |date=17 June 1882|issue=4414 |page=3}}

In the {{NZ election link|1884}}, Ivess was beaten by John Grigg.{{cite web |title=The General Election, 1884 |url= https://atojs.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/atojs?a=d&cl=search&d=AJHR1884-II.2.2.3.5 |publisher=National Library |accessdate=17 March 2012 |pages=1–3 |year=1884}} Grigg resigned in mid-1885, and this caused the {{By-election link|Wakanui|1885}}, at which Ivess was re-elected.{{cite book |last= Scholefield |first= Guy |title= New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1949 |authorlink=Guy Scholefield |edition=3rd |origyear= First ed. published 1913 |year= 1950 |publisher=Govt. Printer |location= Wellington |page=116}}

Having moved to the North Island, Ivess contested the {{NZ electorate link|Napier}} electorate in the {{NZ election link|1887}} against the incumbent John Davies Ormond, but was beaten.{{cite web |title=The General Election, 1887 |url= https://atojs.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/atojs?a=d&cl=search&d=AJHR1887-II.2.1.9.13 |publisher=National Library |accessdate=25 February 2012 |pages=1–4 |year=1887}} After that, he lived in New South Wales for some years.

Back in New Zealand from 1893, he concentrated his activities in the North Island, especially in the Taranaki and Rangitikei areas. He returned for some years to Ashburton around the turn of the century, and from 1903 based himself in the central North Island. A description of Ivess in late 1875 portrayed him as a "fine plump man with a well-groomed appearance. He wore a moustache and a little bunch of hair on his under lip, as was customary in some professional men of those days. . . . Always an optimist, it was hard for others to compete with him."

Ivess stood in several more elections, including {{NZ electorate link|Ashburton}} in {{NZ election link year|1896}},{{cite news |title=Public Notices |url= http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=AG18961207.2.26.4 |accessdate=17 January 2014 |work=Ashburton Guardian |date=7 December 1896 |volume=XVII |issue=4061 |page=3}} and {{NZ electorate link|Selwyn}} in {{NZ election link year|1902}}, {{NZ election link year|1905}} and {{NZ election link year|1908}} (every time beaten by Charles Hardy).{{cite web|title=The General Election, 1902 |url= https://atojs.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/atojs?a=d&cl=search&d=AJHR1903-I.2.3.2.48 |publisher=National Library|accessdate=8 February 2012|page=2|year=1903}}{{cite web|title=The General Election, 1905 |url= https://atojs.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/atojs?a=d&cl=search&d=AJHR1906-I.2.1.5.7 |publisher=National Library|accessdate=8 February 2012|page=3|year=1906}}{{cite web |title=The General Election, 1908 |url= https://atojs.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/atojs?a=d&d=AJHR1909-II.2.5.2.12 |publisher=National Library|accessdate=14 April 2012|page=19 |date=June 1906}} He contested the {{NZ election link|1911}} in the {{NZ electorate link|Waimarino}} electorate as an Independent Liberal, but was eliminated in the first ballot.{{cite news |title=Wellington Province |url= http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=PBH19111208.2.35.2.1 |accessdate=15 November 2013 |work=Poverty Bay Herald |date=8 December 1911 |volume=XXXVIII |issue=12632 |page=5}}

Ivess died on 4 September 1919 in Christchurch, New Zealand and was buried at Linwood Cemetery two days later.{{cite web|title=Christchurch City Council Cemeteries Database|url= http://librarydata.christchurch.org.nz/Cemeteries/interment.asp?id=91251 |publisher=Christchurch City Libraries |accessdate=3 May 2011}}

In 1994 Ivess Peak was officially named after Joseph Ivess. At {{Convert|1749|m|abbr=on}}, it is the tallest peak in the Victoria Ranges, between Reefton, Springs Junction and Maruia, in the South Island.{{Cite web|title=Ivess Peak|url=https://gazetteer.linz.govt.nz/place/2217|access-date=2021-08-21|website=gazetteer.linz.govt.nz}} Inangahua Herald, Reefton's first newspaper, was founded by Ivess in 1872.

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Category:1844 births

Category:1919 deaths

Category:Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives

Category:Irish emigrants to New Zealand

Category:People from Ashburton, New Zealand

Category:Unsuccessful candidates in the 1875–1876 New Zealand general election

Category:Unsuccessful candidates in the 1881 New Zealand general election

Category:Unsuccessful candidates in the 1884 New Zealand general election

Category:Unsuccessful candidates in the 1887 New Zealand general election

Category:Unsuccessful candidates in the 1896 New Zealand general election

Category:Unsuccessful candidates in the 1902 New Zealand general election

Category:Unsuccessful candidates in the 1905 New Zealand general election

Category:Unsuccessful candidates in the 1908 New Zealand general election

Category:Unsuccessful candidates in the 1911 New Zealand general election

Category:New Zealand MPs for South Island electorates

Category:19th-century New Zealand politicians

Category:Burials at Linwood Cemetery, Christchurch