William Crowther (New Zealand politician)

1896 caricature of William Crowther

Parliament of New Zealand
Years	Term	Electorate		Party
1893–1896	12th	City of Auckland		Liberal
1896–1899	13th	City of Auckland		Independent
1899–1900	14th	City of Auckland		Independent

William Crowther (1834 – 15 March 1900) was a Mayor of Auckland and then Member of Parliament for Auckland, New Zealand.

Crowther was Mayor of Auckland from 1891 to 1893, after serving as a city councillor for sixteen years^[1]

Crowther represented the City of Auckland multi-member electorate first as a Liberal Party then independent conservative from 1893 to 1900, when he died.^[2] The resulting by-election on 27 April 1900 was won by Joseph Witheford.^[3]

Businessman and politician

William Crowther was born in Slaithwaite, West Riding of Yorkshire, in 1834. At the early age of nineteen he migrated to Victoria, and was a successful contractor on the goldfields for ten years. He was then attracted to Otago by the gold “rush” to the Dunstan, and brought with him a number of teams of horses and waggons. He later moved to Auckland and founded a 'bus service between Auckland and Remuera, based in the Victoria stables, Wellesley Street East, which he built.

As well as serving on the city council and as Mayor of Auckland, Mr. Crowther was also a member of the governing body of Auckland College and Grammar school, the city schools' committee, Charitable Aid Board, and Sailors' Home. For some years he was a member of the Harbour Board, and was chairman for a term.

Notes

1. "The Cyclopedia of New Zealand". New Zealand Electronic Text Collection. Victoria University of Wellington. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
2. Scholefield 1950, p. 102.
3. Scholefield 1950, p. 148.

References

• Scholefield, Guy (1950) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1949 (3rd ed.). Wellington: Govt. Printer.