Sir John George Findlay (21 October 1862 – 7 December 1929) was a New Zealand politician of the Liberal Party, and was a Cabinet minister from 1906 to 1911.
Early life and family
Born in Dunedin in 1862, Findlay graduated from the University of Otago with a Bachelor of Laws in 1886 and LLD in 1893. He was admitted to the Bar in 1887 and practised as a lawyer first in Palmerston North and later in Wellington. He was appointed King's Counsel in 1907.
He and his wife Josephine had three sons: Wilfred, James and Ian.
Political career
Findlay was one of nine candidates who contested the three-member electorate in the ; he came sixth with 33.7% of the vote. He was active with the Liberal Party and wrote much of its election manifesto for the .
When the Attorney-General, Albert Pitt, died in November 1906, there were no suitable members of the legal profession in Parliament. Hence, Joseph Ward appointed Findlay to the Legislative Council on 23 November 1906, and appointed him Attorney-General and Colonial Secretary on the same day. During his tenure of the latter post, which he held until 6 January 1909, it was renamed to Minister of Internal Affairs.
In the 1911 Coronation Honours, Findlay was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George.
He resigned from the Legislative Council on 20 November 1911 in preparation for the . Hamer says that he was sent to Auckland and contested the Parnell seat, in an attempt of the Liberals who were facing defeat in 1911 to show that they took Auckland seriously. He lost in the second ballot, with Labour, which had been eliminated on the first ballot split over whether to support Findlay or the Reform candidate James Samuel Dickson.
He represented the Hawkes Bay electorate from 1917 to 1919, when he retired.
He died in Horsted Keynes, East Sussex, England, in 1929.