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Alf Allen (New Zealand politician)

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Alf Allen
17th Speaker of the House of Representatives
In office
7 June 1972 – 26 October 1972
Prime MinisterJack Marshall
Preceded byRoy Jack
Succeeded byStan Whitehead
27th Chairman of Committees
In office
13 March 1970 – 7 June 1972
Preceded byJack George
Succeeded byRichard Harrison
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Franklin
In office
30 November 1957 – 26 October 1972
Preceded byJack Massey
Succeeded byBill Birch
Personal details
Born
Alfred Ernest Allen

(1912-05-20)20 May 1912
Onehunga, New Zealand
Died9 March 1987(1987-03-09) (aged 74)
New Zealand
Political partyNational
Other political
affiliations
Democratic Labour Party

Alfred Ernest Allen CMG (20 May 1912 – 9 March 1987) was a New Zealand politician of the National Party. In 1972, he was the seventeenth Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Biography

[edit]
New Zealand Parliament
Years Term Electorate Party
1957–1960 32nd Franklin National
1960–1963 33rd Franklin National
1963–1966 34th Franklin National
1966–1969 35th Franklin National
1969–1972 36th Franklin National

Allen was born in Onehunga, Auckland, in 1912,[1] and baptised in the Onehunga Presbyterian parish on 28 July of that year.[2] He attended a variety of primary schools in the Bay of Plenty, Franklin and Auckland.[3] After attending Auckland Grammar School, he became a farmer;[1] he would own farms in Port Albert on the Kaipara Harbour, Maramarua in the Waikato, and Clevedon in the Franklin District. He married Nancy Cutfield in 1935. They had one son and three daughters. In World War II he served in the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force from 1940 to 1943; he was a sergeant major.[1]

He unsuccessfully stood as the Hamilton candidate for breakaway Labour MP John A. Lee and his Democratic Labour Party in the 1943 general election.[1] Of four candidates, he came a distant third with less than 6% of the votes.[4]

He was the National Member of Parliament for Franklin from 1957 (when the veteran sitting MP Jack Massey was deselected by the National Party in favour of Allen) to 1972, when he retired.[5] He was Chairman of Committees from 13 March 1970 until 7 June 1972,[6] the first day of the third session of the 36th Parliament,[7] when he was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives.[8] He was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in the 1973 New Year Honours.[5] He died on 9 March 1987.

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d Gustafson 1986, pp. 296–297.
  2. ^ "Onehunga Parish Baptisms 1881 to 1930". Presbyterian Research Centre New Zealand. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  3. ^ "Biographies of Former and Current Speakers of the New Zealand House of Representatives". New Zealand Parliamentary Library. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  4. ^ The General Election, 1943. National Library. 1944. p. 4. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  5. ^ a b Wilson 1985, p. 179.
  6. ^ Wilson 1985, p. 252.
  7. ^ Wilson 1985, p. 142.
  8. ^ Wilson 1985, p. 251.

References

[edit]
  • Gustafson, Barry (1986). The First 50 Years : A History of the New Zealand National Party. Auckland: Reed Methuen. ISBN 0-474-00177-6.
  • Peterson, G. C., ed. (1971), Who's who in New Zealand (10th ed.), Wellington: A.H. & A.W. Reed
  • Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.
New Zealand Parliament
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Franklin
1957–1972
Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Chairman of Committees of the House of Representatives
1970–1972
Succeeded by
Preceded by Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives
1972
Succeeded by