William Hall-Jones

The Honourable Sir William Hall-Jones KCMG MHR
16th Prime Minister of New Zealand
In office 10 June 1906 – 6 August 1906
Monarch	Edward VII
Governor	William Plunket
Preceded by	Richard Seddon
Succeeded by	Joseph Ward
Constituency	Timaru
Personal details
Born	(1851-01-16)16 January 1851 Folkestone, Kent, England
Died	19 June 1936(1936-06-19) (aged 85) Wellington, New Zealand
Political party	Liberal
Spouse(s)	Fanny Smith[1]
Children	Fred Hall-Jones
Religion	Anglican

Sir William Hall-Jones, KCMG (16 January 1851 – 19 June 1936) was the 16th Prime Minister of New Zealand from June 1906 until August 1906. He was the interim Prime Minister after the death of Richard Seddon and the return from overseas of Joseph Ward.

Early years

Hall-Jones was born in Folkestone, Kent, England, landed at Dunedin in 1873 and became a carpenter and later a builder in Timaru.^[1]

Member of Parliament

The death of Richard Turnbull triggered a by-election in the Timaru electorate, which was won by Hall-Jones on 18 August 1890.^[2] He represented Timaru in the House of Representatives until his resignation in October 1908. He was an Independent but had moderate, progressive views that tended to align him with John Ballance, Sir George Grey and John McKenzie.

Hall-Jones became a cabinet minister in 1896, was acting Prime Minister during the absence from the country of Richard Seddon in 1906 and formed an administration immediately after Seddon's funeral. During his brief period as Prime Minister, he was Colonial Treasurer, Minister of Labour, Minister of Education, Minister for Public Works, and Minister of Marine.^[3]

However he announced that he would only hold power until Sir Joseph Ward's return from abroad. He accepted the Railways and Public Works portfolios in the subsequent Ward administration. He succeeded William Pember Reeves as High Commissioner for New Zealand in London in December 1908, returned to New Zealand at the end of his term in 1912, and was appointed to the Legislative Council by Massey.

Hall-Jones was a mild mannered man with a fully earned reputation as an outstanding administrator.

He died in Wellington.^[4]

See also

• Liberal Government of New Zealand

Notes

References

• Foster, Bernard J. (1966), "HALL-JONES, Hon. Sir William", An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock, retrieved 2008-05-22 
• Hall-Jones, Frederick G. (1969), Sir William Hall-Jones, the last of the old liberals, Invercargill, [N.Z.]: Hall-Jones Family 
• Hamer, David A. (1988), The New Zealand Liberals: the years of power, 1891-1912, Auckland, [N.Z.]: Auckland University Press, ISBN 1-86940-014-3, OCLC 18420103 
• Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103. 
• The Bateman New Zealand Encyclopedia, 1988

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to William Hall-Jones.

• Prime Ministers Office Biography: William Hall-Jones