Reader Wood

{{Infobox officeholder

|honorific-prefix =

|name = Reader Wood

|honorific-suffix =

|image = Reader Wood.jpg

|caption = Wood in his later years

|order = 7th Colonial Treasurer

|term_start = 12 July 1861

|term_end = 6 August 1862

|predecessor =

|successor =

|primeminister = William Fox

|term_start2 = 21 August 1862

|term_end2 = 24 November 1864

|predecessor2 =

|successor2 =

|primeminister2 = Alfred Domett
Frederick Whitaker

|order3 = 1st Minister for Colonial Defence

|term_start3 = 22 July 1862

|term_end3 = 30 October 1863

|predecessor3 =

|successor3 =

|primeminister3 = Alfred Domett

|constituency_MP4 = Parnell

|parliament4 = New Zealand

|majority4 =

|term_start4 = 1861

|term_end4 = 1865

|predecessor4 =

|successor4 =

|term_start5 = 1870

|term_end5 = 1878

|predecessor5 =

|successor5 =

|constituency_MP6 = Waitemata

|parliament6 = New Zealand

|majority6 =

|term_start6 = 1879

|term_end6 = 1881

|predecessor6 =

|successor6 =

|birth_date = 1821

|birth_name = Reader Gillson Wood

|birth_place = Highfields, Leicester, England

|death_date = {{death date and age|1895|08|20|1821|||df=y}}

|death_place = Parnell, New Zealand

|restingplace = St Stephen's Cemetery, Parnell

|restingplacecoordinates =

|nationality =

|party =

|otherparty =

|spouse = Mary Jane Holland

|partner =

|relatives =

|children = One son

|residence =

|alma_mater =

|occupation = Architect, land surveyor, politician

|profession =

|cabinet =

|signature =

}}

Reader Gillson Wood (1821 – 20 August 1895) was a 19th-century New Zealand politician. An architect by trade, he designed the 1854 General Assembly House built as New Zealand's first meeting house for the House of Representatives.

Early life

Wood, the son of Thomas and Sarah Wood, was baptised at the Church of St Mary de Castro, Leicester, Leicestershire, England, on 5 January 1821.{{cite web |url=http://search.ancestry.com.au/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=try&db=FS1EnglandBirthsandChristenings&h=143665990 |title=England, select births and christenings, 1538–1975 |year=2014 |publisher=Ancestry.com Operations |access-date=13 May 2015 |url-access=subscription }} He was educated at the Merchant Taylors' School, London.{{cite Australasia|Wood, Hon. Reader Gilson}} He was brought up as an architect, and shortly after his articles had expired left England for New Zealand, arriving in Auckland in 1844.

Life in Auckland

The Battle of Kororāreka happened in the Bay of Islands in March 1845 and there were fears that the fighting would spread to Auckland, which at the time was the capital of New Zealand.{{cite web |title=The sacking of Kororāreka |url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/war/northern-war/sacking-kororareka |publisher=Ministry for Culture and Heritage |access-date=24 May 2021 |date=2 April 2019}} Wood was made lieutenant of Volunteer Artillery, and was present at the attempted storming of Hōne Heke's pā at Ohaeawai on 1 July 1845. He was mentioned in Colonel Henry Despard's despatch describing that affair. After the war Wood returned to Auckland, where he practised his profession of architect and surveyor. About 1848 he was employed by the Government as Inspector of Roads, afterwards he was appointed Deputy Surveyor-General, which office he retained until 1856. He was tasked with the design of the General Assembly House, which was built in 1854 in Auckland as New Zealand's first meeting house for the House of Representatives.{{sfn|Wilson|1985|p=314}}

Political career

{{NZ parlbox

|start = 1861

|end = 1865

|term = 3rd

|electorate = {{NZ electorate link|Parnell}}

|party = Independent politician

}}

{{NZ parlbox

|start = {{By-election link year|Parnell|1870}}

|end =

|term = 4th

|electorate = Parnell

|party = Independent politician

}}

{{NZ parlbox

|start = {{NZ election link year|1871}}

|end = 1875

|term = 5th

|electorate = Parnell

|party = Independent politician

}}

{{NZ parlbox

|start = 1875

|end = 1878

|term = 6th

|electorate = Parnell

|party = Independent politician

}}

{{NZ parlbox

|start = {{NZ election link year|1879}}

|end = 1881

|term = 7th

|electorate = {{NZ electorate link|Waitemata}}

|party = Independent politician

}}

Wood was elected to the Auckland Provincial Council in the Suburbs of Auckland electorate on 7 October 1857. He served for the duration of the third council until the end of the term on 12 September 1861.{{sfn|Scholefield|1950|p=186}}

Wood was the Member of Parliament for Parnell from January 1861 to 1865 (resigned), then {{By-election link year|Parnell|1870}} to 1878 (resigned); then for Waitemata from {{NZ election link year|1879}} to 1881, when he retired.{{sfn|Wilson|1985|p=247}} He also had a second term on the provincial council, where he represented the Parnell electorate on the seventh council from 29 November 1873 until the abolition of the provincial government system on 31 October 1876.{{sfn|Scholefield|1950|p=186}} From May to October 1875, he was part of the Auckland Executive Council (equivalent to a cabinet).{{sfn|Scholefield|1950|p=181}}

In the House of Representatives, he was a cabinet minister, including the positions of Minister of Finance (then called Colonial Treasurer) twice, and Minister of Defence (then called Minister of Colonial Defence). He was part of the Auckland wing of the Liberal Party, sometimes called the "Auckland Rats".

He stood in the {{NZ election link|1887}} in the {{NZ electorate link|Waitemata}} electorate and was defeated by Richard Monk.{{cite news|title=Waitemata |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=AS18870917.2.48.4 |access-date=17 April 2012|work=Auckland Star|volume=XVIII|issue=218|date=17 September 1887|page=8}}{{sfn|Wilson|1985|p=220}}

Later life

Wood later became chairman of the Auckland Gas Company following his retirement from politics.{{cite web |last1=Jones |first1=Martin|title=Melanesian Mission Building and Stone Garden Walls |url=https://www.heritage.org.nz/list-details/111/Melanesian-Mission-Building-and-Stone-Garden-Walls |website=Heritage New Zealand |date=8 August 2001}}

Private life and death

On 20 May 1850, he married Mary Jane Holland at St Paul's Church, Auckland's oldest Anglican church.{{cite book |title=An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand |orig-year=First published in 1966 |publisher=Ministry for Culture and Heritage / Te Manatū Taonga |url= https://teara.govt.nz/en/1966/wood-reader-gillson | editor-first=A. H. |editor-last=McLintock |editor-link=Alexander Hare McLintock | first=Bernard John | last=Foster |chapter=Wood, Reader Gillson |date=1966}} He died at his home in Parnell, Auckland, on 20 August 1895, leaving his widow and one son, and was buried at St Stephen's Cemetery, Parnell.{{cite news | url= http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=AS18950821.2.7 | title=Death of Mr Reader Wood | date=21 August 1895 | work= Auckland Star | access-date=13 May 2015 | page=2 }} He was survived by one son and his wife, who died in 1898 and is buried in the same grave.{{cite web |title=Mary Jane Holland Wood |url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/196114891/mary-jane-wood |publisher=Find a Grave |access-date=24 May 2021}}

Notes

References

{{cite book |authorlink = Guy Scholefield | last = Scholefield | first= Guy | title = New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1949 | edition = 3rd | origyear=First published in 1913 | year = 1950 |publisher = Govt. Printer |location = Wellington}}
{{Cite book |last= Wilson |first= James Oakley |title= New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 |edition= 4th |orig-year= First ed. published 1913 |year= 1985 |publisher=V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer |location= Wellington |oclc=154283103}}

{{s-ttl | rows = 2 | title= Colonial Treasurer |years=1861–1862
1862–1864}}

{{s-ttl | title = Minister for Colonial Defence | years=1862–1863}}

{{s-ttl | rows=2 | title = Member of Parliament for Parnell| years=1861–1865
1870–1878}}

{{s-ttl | title = Member of Parliament for Waitemata|years=1879–1981}}

Category:1821 births

Category:1895 deaths

Category:Politicians from Leicester

Category:English emigrants to New Zealand

Category:Members of the Auckland Provincial Council

Category:Members of the Cabinet of New Zealand

Category:Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives

Category:Ministers of defence of New Zealand