Westby Perceval

Sir Westby Brook Perceval KCMG (11 May 1854 – 23 January 1928) was a New Zealand politician of the Liberal Party.

Sir Westby Perceval KCMG
Westby Perceval, c. 1890
6th Chairman of Committees
In office 23 June 1891 – 15 September 1891
Preceded by	Ebenezer Hamlin
Succeeded by	William Lee Rees
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Christchurch South
In office 26 September 1887 – 4 December 1890
Preceded by	John Holmes
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for City of Christchurch
In office 5 December 1890 – September 1891
Preceded by	Samuel Paull Andrews Edward Richardson Edward Cephas John Stevens
Succeeded by	William Pember Reeves Richard Molesworth Taylor Ebenezer Sandford
Personal details
Born	Westby Brook Perceval 11 May 1854 Launceston, Tasmania, Australia
Died	23 January 1928 (aged 73) Surrey, England

Biography

New Zealand Parliament
Years	Term	Electorate		Party
1887–1890	10th	Christchurch South		Independent
1890–1891	11th	City of Christchurch		Liberal

Perceval was born in Launceston, Tasmania in 1854. His mother was Sarah Brook (née Bailey) and his father was her husband, Westby Hawkshaw Percival, an Irish member of the mounted police in Melbourne. In the early 1860s, the family moved to Rangiora in New Zealand, a township 29 kilometres (18 mi) north of Christchurch. He received his early education at Merton's school, where he became friends with William Pember Reeves. In 1867 he won a junior Somes scholarship to Christ's College, Christchurch. At the age of 16, in May 1870, he was received into the Catholic church. He completed his secondary education at Stonyhurst College in England. In 1872, he inherited sufficient land upon his father's death that he had a secure income.[1]

Perceval was a lawyer in Christchurch.[1] He represented the Christchurch South electorate from the 1887 general election[2] to the end of the parliamentary term in 1890, and then the City of Christchurch electorate from the 1890 general election to September 1891, when he resigned.[3][4] For the last three months in Parliament, he was Chairman of Committees.[5]

He was made Agent-General to the United Kingdom from 1891[3] to 1896, and then Agent-General for Tasmania from 1896 to 1898.

Perceval was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in the 1894 New Year Honours.[6] He died in Surrey, England, in 1928.[4]

Family

Perceval married Jessie Johnston, daughter of John Johnston, in 1880.[1] They had two sons:[7]

• Francis Westby Perceval (born 1882), barrister. He married in 1912 Dorothy Anne Cecilia Thornton.
• Christopher Peter Westby Perceval (born 1890), Royal Artillery.

Notes

1. Rice, Geoffrey W. "Perceval, Westby Brook". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
2. "Christchurch South". The Star (6043). 27 September 1887. p. 4. Retrieved 5 November 2011.
3. "The Agent-General". The Star (7270). 16 September 1891. p. 3. Retrieved 14 March 2010.
4. Wilson 1985, p. 226.
5. Wilson 1985, p. 251.
6. "No. 26472". The London Gazette. 2 January 1894. p. 2.
7. Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles (1929–30). Armorial Families. 2 (7th ed.). London: Hurst & Blackett. p. 1537.

References

• Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.
• Scholefield, Guy; Schwabe, Emil, eds. (1908). Who's who in New Zealand and the western Pacific (1st ed.). Wellington: Gordon & Gotch.
• "Agent-General (1897 article)". NZETC. 5 July 2014.