William John Alexander Montgomery (1821 – 21 December 1914) was a New Zealand politician and merchant from Little River on Banks Peninsula. Born in London, he lived in a number of places and pursued a number of occupations before settling in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Private life
Early life
Montgomery was from an old Scottish family that had settled in Ireland. He was born in London and baptised on 14 January 1821. His father was Josias Montgomery, a saddler, and his mother was Eleanor Martin. His father was killed in a hunting accident in 1825, and William was educated in Belfast at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution, where his uncle Henry Montgomery was head of English.
Montgomery started going to sea when he was 13. At age 18, he was made a captain, having taken control of a ship with a drunken captain and a first mate who was unable to navigate. He later bought this ship.
Australia
Montgomery sailed to Williamstown, Victoria, these days a suburb of Melbourne, Australia, in 1850 or 1851, and joined the gold rush. After a short period of digging, he set himself up as a merchant and earned enough money to be able to buy a sheep station on the Darling Downs. Several years of drought crippled him financially, though, and he decided to emigrate to New Zealand.
New Zealand
He came to New Zealand in 1860 and settled in Canterbury. He bought the wharf in Heathcote and imported timber from the bays on Banks Peninsula for the Christchurch market. This developed into a company as a timber merchant.
On 29 August 1865, he married Jane Todhunter, born in Shenley in Hertfordshire, England. She was a daughter of John Todhunter from London. Montgomery was one of the men from a Victorian era who did not marry until they were in their middle-age, and the eventual bride would be many years their junior.
The Canterbury Club was founded in 1872 to provide an alternative to those businessmen who had less of a rural background, as was common with Christchurch Club members. Montgomery chaired the initial meeting. Both the Canterbury and Christchurch clubs still exist.
Political career
Local politics
Montgomery was elected onto the first Heathcote Road Board in 1864. In 1865, he was elected onto the Canterbury Provincial Council for the Heathcote constituency. He held this seat until 1870. In 1873, he again contested the Heathcote seat on the Provincial Council, to fill the vacancy left by Andrew Duncan. He was elected without opposition. During his time on the Provincial Council, he was on the executive in 1866, was provincial treasurer in 1868, deputy superintendent for a brief period in 1868 and leader of the Executive Council in 1874–75.
Member of Parliament
Following the resignation of Robert Heaton Rhodes from his Akaroa seat in the New Zealand parliament, Montgomery contested the 20 April 1874 by-election against Walter Pilliet. The results were 168 and 76 votes, respectively, i.e., a margin of 92 for Montgomery. He thus entered parliament during the 5th term.
In July 1874, a select committee declared Montgomery's election to be "null and void", as he had a contract for the supply of railway sleepers with the general government in breach of election rules. The select committee accepted that the breach was inadvertent. Montgomery stood for re-election in the 10 August 1874 by-election and was returned unopposed.
Montgomery opened the Little River railway in 1884 and worked on the extension to Akaroa, which did not proceed. He represented Akaroa until the end of the 9th parliament. He announced on 1 July 1887 that he would not stand for re-election because of ill health. Six candidates stood for the 1887 general election in Akaroa; former Akaroa mayor Alexander McGregor won by a large margin.
Ministerial appointments
During the first Stout-Vogel ministry, in August 1884, he was colonial secretary and the 4th Minister of Education. The Stout-Vogel ministry lasted for two weeks from 16 to 28 August 1884. He unselfishly stood aside when Stout needed to give ministries to Auckland members to continue in power.
Young New Zealand Party
Montgomery was recognised as the leader of the Young New Zealand Party, a reformist and left-leaning faction in Parliament which was supported by small businessmen, small farmers, and the Labour movement (particularly miners), and which grew into the Liberal Party.