Robert Reid (New Zealand politician)

Robert Caldwell Reid (4 February 1839 – 18 March 1897) was a 19th-century Member of Parliament from the West Coast, New Zealand. Born in Scotland and attracted by the gold rushes in Victoria and the West Coast, he was later the proprietor of a series of newspapers.

Robert Caldwell Reid
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Hokitika
In office
5 September 1879 – 8 November 1881
Preceded byEdmund Barff
Seymour Thorne George
Succeeded byGerard George Fitzgerald
Personal details
Born4 February 1839
Wick, Caithness, Scotland
Died18 March 1897(1897-03-18) (aged 58)
Westport, New Zealand
Resting placeMiddle Orowaiti Cemetery
OccupationNewspaper proprietor

Early life

Reid was born in Wick, Caithness, Scotland, in 1839.[1] His parents were Peter and Mariah Reid (née Caldwell). His family had owned The John O'Groat Journal for two or three generations.[2][3] Back home, he learned the trade of a banker.[3]

Professional career

Reid emigrated to Victoria, Australia in the early 1850s.[2] From there, he joined the West Coast Gold Rush as a gold buyer for the Bank of New Zealand near Okarito; experiences which he documented in his book Golden Coast.[2][3] He speculated with land in the Greymouth area.[2] He then went into business with Mr Loutit, trading under the banner of Loutit and Reid.[3]

Reid was the proprietor of several newspapers. He was a strong supporter of Sir George Grey and when he joined parliament in 1879, he bought the Wellington pro-Grey publication New Zealander, but the newspaper was unprofitable.[3] He had bought the West Coast Times in 1874,[4] which he sold in late 1883 or early 1884. He then joined George McCullagh Reed in business in London, and they published a newspaper, the Anglo-New Zealander, aimed at colonists.[3][5] That venture failed, and Reid returned to New Zealand, where he owned The Dunedin Herald, the Greymouth Star, and from April 1889 until his death, the Westport News.[2][6]

Political career
New Zealand Parliament
Years Term Electorate Party
1879–1881 7th Hokitika Independent

For six months during 1869 (20 March – 22 September), Reid represented the Buller electorate in the Nelson Provincial Council.[7]

Reid sought election to the House of Representatives in the 1876 election, standing for the Hokitika electorate. In the two-member electorate, he came third out of five candidates; the later Premier Richard Seddon came fourth.[8]

He represented the Hokitika electorate from 1879 to 1881,[9] when he was defeated by Gerard George Fitzgerald.[10]

Family and death

In 1869, he married Emily Manning, the daughter of James Manning of Dunedin.[2] While in London, he had an attack of paralysis, which disabled him for the rest of his life, with much of the running of his newspapers conducted by his wife. He died at Westport on 18 March 1897,[3] and was buried at Middle Orowaiti Cemetery.[11] He was survived by his wife.[3]

Bibliography
  • Reid, Robert Caldwell (1884). Golden Coast. Reid & Company.

References
  1. "Scotland, select births and baptisms, 1564–1950". Ancestry.com Operations. 2014. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  2. Scholefield, Guy, ed. (1940). A Dictionary of New Zealand Biography : M–Addenda (PDF). II. Wellington: Department of Internal Affairs. p. 221. Retrieved 6 October 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  3. "Robert Caldwell Reid". West Coast Times (10514). 20 March 1897. p. 2. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  4. "West Coast Times". National Library of New Zealand. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  5. "The Anglo-New Zealander and Australian Times". The Oamaru Mail. IV (1322). 27 September 1884. p. 3. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  6. Cyclopedia Company Limited (1906). "Westport". The Cyclopedia of New Zealand : Nelson, Marlborough & Westland Provincial Districts. Christchurch: The Cyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  7. Scholefield, Guy (1950) [First published in 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1949 (3rd ed.). Wellington: Govt. Printer. p. 214.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  8. "Declaration of the Poll". West Coast Times (3219). 19 January 1876. p. 2. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
  9. Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. p. 229. OCLC 154283103.
  10. "Westland". Tuapeka Times. XIV (797). 14 December 1881. p. 5. Retrieved 23 December 2010.
  11. "Cemetery record". Buller District Council. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
New Zealand Parliament
Preceded by
Seymour Thorne George
Edmund Barff		 Member of Parliament for Hokitika
1879–1881
Served alongside: Richard Seddon		 Succeeded by
Gerard George Fitzgerald
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