William Polson

Sir William John Polson KCMG (6 June 1875 – 8 October 1960) was a New Zealand politician, first as an Independent and then in the National Party. He joined the National Party on its formation in 1936, and "later acted effectively as Holland's deputy".^[1]

Parliament of New Zealand
Years	Term	Electorate		Party
1928–31	23rd	Stratford		Independent
1931–35	24th	Stratford		Independent
1935–38	25th	Stratford		Independent
1936	Changed allegiance to:			National
1938–43	26th	Stratford		National
1943–46	27th	Stratford		National

He represented the electorate of Stratford in Parliament from 1928 to 1946, when he retired.^[2] He was appointed to the Legislative Council on 15 March 1950, as a member of the suicide squad which was to vote the Council out of existence.^[3]

Polson was born in Wanganui, and educated at Wanganui Collegiate School. In 1943 he married Mary Grigg, who had represented the Mid-Canterbury electorate from 1942, after her MP husband Arthur Grigg, then a major in the NZEF, was killed in Libya in 1941.

In 1935, Polson was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal.^[4] In the 1951 King's Birthday Honours he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George for public and political services.^[5]

Notes

1. Gustafson 1986, p. 337.
2. Wilson 1985, p. 227.
3. Wilson 1985, p. 162.
4. "Official jubilee medals". Evening Post CXIX (105). 6 May 1935. p. 4. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
5. The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 39245. p. 3099. 7 June 1951. Retrieved 15 May 2014.

References

• Gustafson, Barry (1986). The First 50 Years : A History of the New Zealand National Party. Auckland: Reed Methuen. ISBN 0-474-00177-6.
• Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First published in 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.