Harry Barker (mayor)

Mayor Harry Barker with HM Queen Elizabeth II on 6 January 1954

Sir Harry Heaton Barker KBE (18 July 1898 – 18 May 1994) was a New Zealand newspaper journalist and editor, local politician. He was born in Nelson, New Zealand on 18 July 1898. His father, John Heaton Barker, was the founder of the Four Square supermarkets chain.[1]

Barker came to Gisborne in 1920 to work as a reporter for The Gisborne Times (which, after a couple of mergers, became The Gisborne Herald in 1939). He moved to Auckland in 1923 on his father's request, but soon returned to Gisborne, this time for the rest of his life.[1]

He stood in the 1943 and 1946 elections in the Gisborne electorate for the National Party, but could not unseat the incumbent, David William Coleman.[2][3]

From 1950, he was Mayor of Gisborne for nine consecutive three-year terms. When he retired in 1977, he was awarded a KBE. He died on 18 May 1994.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Milton-Tee, Ann. "Harry Heaton Barker". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved December 2011.
  2. ↑ "The General Election, 1943". National Library. 1944. p. 4. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
  3. ↑ "The General Election, 1946". National Library. 1947. p. 3. Retrieved 1 January 2014.


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