Richard Seddon

Seddon was born in Eccleston, St Helens, Lancashire, England, in 1845. His father Thomas Seddon (born 1817) was a school headmaster, and his mother Jane Lindsay was a teacher. They married on 8 February 1842 at Christ Church, Eccleston. Richard was the third of their eight children.

Despite this background, Seddon did not perform well at school, and was described as unruly. Despite his parents' attempt to give him a classical education, Seddon developed an interest in engineering, but was removed from school at age 12. After working on his grandfather Richard's farm at Barrow Nook Hall for two years,[4] Seddon was an apprentice at Daglish's Foundry in Sutton. He later worked at Vauxhall foundry in Liverpool,[3] where he attained a Board of Trade Certificate as a mechanical engineer.[5]

On 15 June 1862, at the age of 16, Seddon decided to emigrate to Australia, on the SS Great Britain.[6] He later provided his reasoning: "A restlessness to get away to see new, broad lands seized me: My work was irksome. I felt cramped."[7] He entered the railway workshops at Melbourne, Victoria. He was caught by the gold fever and went to Bendigo, where he spent some time in the diggings. He did not meet with any great success. In either 1865 or 1866, he became engaged to Louisa Jane Spotswood, but her family would not permit marriage until Seddon was financially secure.

Seddon moved to New Zealand's West Coast in 1866. Initially, he worked the goldfields in Waimea. He is believed to have prospered here, and he returned briefly to Melbourne to marry Louisa. He established a store, and then expanded his business to include the sale of alcohol, becoming a publican. He was followed to the West Coast by his older sister Phoebe, younger brothers Edward and Jim and younger sister Mary.[8] Phoebe married William Cunliffe on 9 May 1863 at Holy Trinity Church Eccleston. Their son Bill was Labour MP David Cunliffe's grandfather, making Richard Seddon David Cunliffe's great-great-uncle.[9]

Seddon's first real involvement with politics was with various local bodies, such as the Arahura Road Board. In 1874 elected to the council of Westland Province, representing Arahura. He lost this position with the abolition of the provinces in 1876.[10] Gradually, Seddon became known along the West Coast as an advocate for miners' rights and interests, and he was frequently consulted over various political issues.

Kumara became a prominent goldmining town. Seddon was elected its first Mayor in 1877. He had staked a claim in Kumara the previous year, and had shortly afterwards moved his business there. Despite occasional financial troubles (he filed for bankruptcy in 1878[11]), his political career prospered.

Portrait of Richard Seddon in 1882, from a portrait of the 8th New Zealand Parliament.

Seddon first sought election to the New Zealand House of Representatives in the 1876 election, standing for the Hokitika electorate. In the two-member electorate, he came fourth out of five candidates.[12] In the 1879 election, he tried again, and was elected. He represented Hokitika to 1881, then Kumara from 1881 to 1890, then Westland from 1890 to his death in 1906. His son Tom Seddon succeeded him as MP for Westland.

In Parliament, Seddon aligned himself with George Grey, a former Governor turned Premier. Seddon later claimed to be particularly close to Grey, although some historians believe that this was an invention for political purposes. Initially, Seddon was derided by many members of Parliament, who mocked his "provincial" accent (which tended to drop the letter "h") and his lack of formal education. He nevertheless proved quite effective in Parliament, being particularly good at "stonewalling" certain legislation. His political focus was on issues of concern to his West Coast constituents. He specialised on mining issues, became a recognised authority on the topic, and chaired the goldfields committee in 1887 and 1888.[13]

He aggressively proclaimed a populist anti-elitist philosophy in many speeches and toast. "It is the rich and the poor; it is the wealthy people and the landowners against the middle classes and the labouring classes," he explained.[14]

Seddon joined the nascent Liberal Party, led by John Ballance, following the December 1890 general election. Their platform was for reform in the areas of land and labour.[15] They were greatly helped by the abolition of plural voting, which allowed landowners in each district they owned land in to vote in them.[15]

Seddon was sworn into his first ministerial positions when the Liberals came to power in January 1891.[3] He became minister of public works, mines, defence, and marine. He promoted co-operative contract system for road-making and other public works projects.

Unlike Ballance who believed in classical liberalism, Seddon did not have any great commitment to any ideology. Rather, he saw the Liberals as champions of "the common man" against large commercial interests and major landowners.[16] His strong advocacy for what he saw as the interests of ordinary New Zealanders won him considerable popularity. Attacks by the opposition, which generally focused on his lack of education and sophistication (one opponent said that he was only "partially civilised") reinforced his growing reputation as an enemy of elitism.[16]

Seddon quickly became popular across the country. Some of his colleagues, however, were not as happy, accusing him of putting populism ahead of principle, and of being an anti-intellectual. John Ballance, now Premier, had a deep commitment to liberal causes such as women's suffrage and Māori rights, which Seddon was not always as enthusiastic about. Nevertheless, many people in the Liberal Party believed that Seddon's popularity was a huge asset for the party, and Seddon developed a substantial following.

Richard John Seddon and party in Samoa, 1897

James Carroll (second row, far right). Front row from left: Richard Seddon, Mahuta Tāwhiao, Māori King. Second row from left: Tupu Taingakawa Te Waharoa, Māori Kingmaker; Henare Kaihau, MP. Taken at Huntly, New Zealand in 1898

Ballance fell seriously ill in 1892 and made Seddon acting leader of the House. After Ballance's death in April 1893, the Governor David Boyle, 7th Earl of Glasgow asked Seddon, as the acting leader of the house, to form a new ministry. Despite the refusal of William Pember Reeves and Thomas Mackenzie to accept his leadership, Seddon managed to secure the backing of his Liberal Party colleagues as interim leader, with an understanding being reached that a full vote would occur when Parliament resumed sitting.[17] Seddon's most prominent challenger was Robert Stout, a former Premier for two separate terms. Like Ballance, Stout had a strong belief in classical-liberal principles. Ballance himself had preferred Stout as his successor,[18] but had died before being able to secure this aim. Stout was not a member of the House of Representatives at the time of Ballance's death, and only re-entered following the by-election in Inangahua on 8 June 1893.

Despite Seddon's promise, however, there was no vote on the party leadership and therefore the premiership. By convincing his party colleagues that a leadership contest would split the party in two, or at least leave deep divisions, Seddon managed to secure a permanent hold on the leadership.[17] Stout continued to be one of his strongest critics and led the campaign for women's suffrage despite Seddon's opposition. Eventually Stout left the Liberal Party in 1896 and remained in the house as an independent until 1898. In 1899 however, Seddon recommended Stout to the Governor as the next Chief Justice of New Zealand.

Style of government

Seddon (far right) addressing a Liberal rally in Greytown, late 1890s

Seddon caricatured by How for Vanity Fair, 1902

Seddon was a strong premier, and enforced his authority with great vigour. At one point, he even commented that "A president is all we require", and that Cabinet could be abolished. His opponents, both within the Liberal Party and in opposition, accused him of being an autocrat – the label "King Dick" was first applied to him at this point.

Seddon accumulated a large number of portfolios for himself, including that of Minister of Finance (from which he displaced Joseph Ward), Minister of Labour (from which he displaced William Pember Reeves), Minister of Education, Minister of Defence, Minister of Native Affairs, and Minister of Immigration.

Seddon was also accused of cronyism – his friends and allies, particularly those from the West Coast, were given various political positions, while his enemies within the Liberal Party were frequently denied important office. Many of Seddon's appointees were not qualified for the positions that they received – Seddon valued loyalty above ability. One account, possibly apocryphal, claims that he installed an ally as a senior civil servant despite the man being illiterate. He was also accused of nepotism – in 1905, it was claimed that one of his sons had received an unauthorised payment, but this claim was proved false.

Sir Carl Berendsen recalled seeing Seddon in 1906 as a Department of Education junior innocently bearing what was an unwelcome document. A replacement was needed for a small native school. The inspectors had picked out three outstanding candidates, but Seddon picked out the last on the lengthy list; he had no academic qualifications and had just been released from gaol for embezzlement. When the Premier appointed the gentlemen from gaol, Departmental officials returned the papers and called attention to his criminal record. Berendsen cowered in the corner while with a snarl Seddon grasped his pen and wrote once more in very large letters, "Appoint Mr X". Berendsen noted though that when an Editor was required for the new School Journal, Departmental officials had agreed on the best man, but the Massey Government (which had replaced the Liberal Government) was "quite shameless in devotion to the principle of the loaves and fishes ... and the Minister of the day appointed the third choice".[24]

As Minister of Native Affairs, Seddon took a generally "sympathetic" but "paternalistic" approach. As Minister of Immigration, he was well known for his hostility to Chinese immigration – the so-called "Yellow Peril" was an important part of his populist rhetoric, and he compared Chinese people to monkeys. In his first political speech in 1879 he had declared New Zealand did not wish her shores to be "deluged with Asiatic Tartars. I would sooner address white men than these Chinese. You can't talk to them, you can't reason with them. All you can get from them is 'No savvy'."

Successive governments had also shown a lack of firmness in dealing with Māori, he said: "The colony, instead of importing Gatling guns with which to fight Maori, should wage war with locomotives" ... pushing through roads and railways and compulsorily purchasing "the land on both sides".[25]

Richard Seddon's grave in Bolton Street Memorial Park, Wellington.

Seddon became a Freemason in 1868 when he was initiated into Pacific Lodge No 1229 (under the United Grand Lodge of England) in Hokitika.[22][26] The lodge is still extant, but has since relocated to Christchurch.[27] In 1898, while premier, he was elected Grand Master of New Zealand,[28][26] and served in that role for two years.[22]

Seddon attended Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee and received her Jubilee Medal and an appointment in the Privy Council. In 1902 he attended the coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra and received his Coronation Medal.[29] During the same visit, he received the Freedom of the Borough of his home-town St Helens during a visit there in July 1902,[30] and the Freedom of the City of Edinburgh and an honorary degree LL.D. from the University of Edinburgh during a visit to the city later the same month.[31] He was also presented with the Honorary Freedom of the Worshipful Company of Tallow Chandlers on 8 August 1902.[32]

He twice refused a knighthood, wanting to be seen as a man of the people.[17]

Funeral of Richard 'King Dick' Seddon, 21 June 1906[33]

Seddon remained Prime Minister for 13 years, but gradually, calls for him to retire became more frequent. Various attempts to replace him with Joseph Ward met with failure.

In June 1906, while returning from a trip to Australia on the ship Oswestry Grange, Seddon had a massive heart attack and died suddenly 12 days before his 61st birthday, on 10 June.[34] News of his death provoked numerous public gestures of grief, which included black-bordered displays in shop windows and several public monuments, including a memorial lamp post outside the St Helens Hospital in Pitt Street Auckland. Seddon was buried in Wellington's Bolton Street Memorial Park, with his grave being marked by a large monument.[35]

Joseph Ward was away in London at the time of Seddon's death. He succeeded Seddon as Prime Minister nearly two months later, on 6 August 1906.[36]

1907 portrait by Ellen von Meyern

He is considered by academics and historians to be one of New Zealand's greatest and most revered Prime Ministers.[37] Seddon centralised government decision-making around himself—at his peak he exercised "almost one-man, one-party rule"[17]—and, in doing so, he established the premiership as the de facto most important political office in New Zealand.

Seddon's son Thomas replaced him as MP for Westland in the by-election following his death. When Thomas met former US President Theodore Roosevelt in 1918, he expressed admiration for his late father, particularly the labour legislation his government passed.[38]

Seddon's statue stands outside Parliament Buildings in Wellington

A statue of Seddon is located outside Parliament Buildings in Wellington, and another has a prominent position in the West Coast town of Hokitika. A town in New Zealand and a suburb of Melbourne, Australia are named after him. Wellington Zoo was originally created when a young lion was presented to Prime Minister Richard Seddon by the Bostock and Wombwell Circus. Seddon created the Zoo from this single specimen and the lion was later named King Dick in the Prime Minister's honour. The stuffed body of King Dick (the lion) is displayed on the ground floor of the Museum of Wellington City & Sea. St Mary's Church in Addington, Christchurch also has a memorial bell tower to Richard Seddon.[39]

The Duke of Argyll unveiled a memorial to Seddon in St Paul's Cathedral, London, in 1910.[40] It shows a portrait of Seddon with the inscription " To the memory of Richard John Seddon prime minister of New Zealand 1893–1906 imperialist statesman reformer born June 22nd 1845 at St Helens Lancashire buried at Observatory Hill Wellington New Zealand"

• The Life and Work of Richard John Seddon by James Drummond, Whitcombe and Tombs Limited, 1907. Book-length biography, digitised by the New Zealand Electronic Text Centre.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Richard Seddon.

• Sketch of Richard Seddon asleep in Parliament during an all-night sitting, 1898
• The Seddon-Stout struggle
• "Cartoons of Dick Seddon's Royal Progress". Observer. 24 July 1897 – via Papers Past.