Edward Kellett (New Zealand politician)

Kellett c. 1919

Edward Kellett (7 November 1864 – 15 May 1922) was a New Zealand Independent Member of Parliament for a Dunedin electorate.

Biography

Parliament of New Zealand
Years	Term	Electorate		Party
1919–1922	20th	Dunedin North		Independent Labour

Kellett was born in Dunedin and served on the West Harbour Borough Council until 1919.^[1][2] He served on the Dunedin City Council from 1917 to 1919.^[3] During WWI Kellett supported conscription and resigned from the Labour Party in 1916. He was an executive member of the Welfare League organised by former Labour Leader David McLaren.^[4]

At the 1919 election, Kellett stood as an Independent Labour candidate in the Dunedin North electorate and defeated sitting Labour MP, Andrew Walker, in a straight contest.^[5][6] Kellett represented the electorate until his death on 15 May 1922.^[7][8]

Twelve months prior to his death, Kellett formed a parliamentary alliance with another Dunedin Independent MP, Charles Statham, the so-called "New Party", which was moving towards fusion with the Liberals when Kellett died several months before the general election in 1922.^[4]

Notes

1. Otago Daily Times. 16 May 1922. Missing or empty |title= (help)
2. "Obituary". Evening Post CIII (113). 16 May 1922. p. 7. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
3. Dunedin City Council website list of previous members
4. Gustafson 1980, p. 159.
5. Wilson 1985, pp. 210, 243.
6. See Bassett (1982) on the significance of the result (page 25)
7. Wood 1996, p. 94.
8. Wilson 1985, p. 210.

References

• Three Party Politics in New Zealand, 1911-1931 by Michael Bassett (1982, Historical Publications, Auckland)
• Gustafson, Barry (1980). Labour's path to political independence: the origins and establishment of the NZ Labour Party 1900–1919. Auckland, New Zealand: Auckland University Press. ISBN 0-19-647986-X.
• Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.
• Wood, G. Anthony, ed. (1996). Ministers and Members: In the New Zealand Parliament. Dunedin: Otago University Press.