Terry McCombs

McCombs was born in 1905.[1] His parents, Elizabeth McCombs (née Henderson) and James McCombs, were both socialists. Between them, his parents represented the Lyttelton electorate from 1913 to 1935.[1][2][3] McCombs was educated at Christchurch Boys' High School and Waitaki Boys' High School and graduated from Canterbury University College with MSc(Hons) in chemistry in 1929.[4][5] He was appointed as a teacher at Seddon Memorial Technical College in Auckland in 1934.[6]

He represented the Lyttelton electorate from 1935, when he won the by-election following his mother's death, until he was defeated in the bitter 1951 election.[1]

He was Minister of Education from 1947 to 1949, near the end of the term of the First Labour Government.[7]

In 1936, McCombs was appointed to the Canterbury University College Council, and he remained a member until 1947, when he became Minister of Education.[8] As Minister of Education, he was involved on behalf of the Government in the purchase of the Ilam campus for the university.[9] In the centennial history of the university, it is stated that "Canterbury has never enjoyed greater ministerial support than it did from McCombs".[10] In 1957, he again became a member of the council; in the meantime, the name of the institution had been changed to University of Canterbury.[11] He was Chancellor of the University of Canterbury from 1968 to 1971.[12]

After his defeat in 1951, McCombs returned to teaching. His wife Beryl died in 1952, and he became a solo parent with four school-age children. He was later remarried to Christina (née Tulloch). In 1956, he became the founding headmaster of Cashmere High School in Christchurch.[13]

From 1973 to 1975 he was New Zealand's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.[14]

McCombs was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, for services to education, in the 1971 Queen's Birthday Honours[15] and a Knight Bachelor in April 1975.[16] He died in 1982 and was buried at Waimairi Cemetery in Christchurch.[17]

McCombs' second wife, Christina, Lady McCombs, was awarded the Queen's Service Medal for community service in the 2007 New Year Honours.[18] She died in Christchurch on 13 August 2016, aged 99 years.[19]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Terry McCombs.

• Gardner, W. J.; Beardsley, E. T.; Carter, T. E. (1973). Phillips, Neville Crompton (ed.). A History of the University of Canterbury, 1873–1973. Christchurch: University of Canterbury.
• Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First published in 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.