Bertie Cooksley

Bertie Victor Cooksley OBE, MM (13 July 1892 – 26 July 1980) was a New Zealand politician of the National Party.

Biography

Parliament of New Zealand
Years	Term	Electorate		Party
1949–1951	29th	Wairarapa		National
1951–1954	30th	Wairarapa		National
1954–1957	31st	Wairarapa		National
1957–1960	32nd	Wairarapa		National
1960–1963	33rd	Wairarapa		National

Cooksley was born in 1892 in Canterbury. He attended Dunsdale School. He farmed in Taitā in the Hutt Valley. He went with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force into World War I and landed at Gallipoli.^[1]

He was a market gardener (growing vegetables commercially), and in 1944 was President of the New Zealand Council of Commercial Gardeners.^[2]

In 1943, he stood unsuccessfully in the 1943 general election for the seat of Otaki, on behalf of the National Party.

He represented the Wairarapa electorate from 1949 and held it to 1963, when he retired.^[3]

He was awarded the Military Medal in World War I,^[1] and was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for community service in the 1965 New Year Honours.^[4]

Cooksley died at Waikanae in 1980,^[5] and his ashes were buried in Waikanae Cemetery.^[6]

References

1. Gustafson, Barry (1986). The First 50 Years : A History of the New Zealand National Party. Auckland: Reed Methuen. p. 304. ISBN 0-474-00177-6.
2. "Boycott Threatened". Papers Past, National Library. 3 April 2014.
3. Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. p. 190. OCLC 154283103.
4. The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 43531. p. 44. 1 January 1965. Retrieved 23 November 2013.
5. "North West Square Heritage Area" (PDF). Palmerston North CIty Council. 2010. Retrieved 23 November 2013. External link in |publisher= (help)
6. "Cemetery details". Kāpiti Coast District Council. Retrieved 20 January 2015.