{{Short description|New Zealand politician (1844–1919)}} {{about||the English recipient of the Victoria Cross|James Morris Colquhoun Colvin|the American football player|Jim Colvin|the author with the pseudonym James Colvin|Michael Moorcock}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2016}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=November 2016}} {{Infobox officeholder |honorific_prefix = The Honourable |name = James Colvin |honorific_suffix = |image = James Colvin.jpg |caption = |order = 9th Mayor of Westport |term_start = 1898 |term_end = 1900 |predecessor = Hans Larsen |successor = James Scanlon |constituency_MP3 = Buller |parliament3 = New Zealand |majority3 = <!--Can be repeated up to eight times by adding a number--> |term_start3 = 1899 |term_end3 = 1919 |predecessor3 = Patrick O'Regan |successor3 = Harry Holland |birth_date = 1844 |birth_place = County Donegal, Ireland |death_date = {{death date and age | 1919|10|29|1844|df=y}} |death_place = Wellington, New Zealand |party = Liberal |occupation = }}
'''James Colvin''' (1844 – 29 October 1919) was a New Zealand Member of Parliament for {{NZ electorate link|Buller}}, in the South Island.
==Early life== Colvin was born in 1844 in County Donegal, Ireland, where he received his education.<ref name="Press obit">{{cite news|title=Mr J. Colvin, M.P., Killed|url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=CHP19191030.2.43|access-date=7 July 2015|work=The Press |volume=LV |issue=16667|date=30 October 1919|page=6}}</ref> He emigrated to Victoria, Australia in 1861 and went gold mining in Creswick and Daylesford.{{sfn|Scholefield|1940|p=171}} He came to New Zealand in 1862 and joined the Otago gold rush in Dunstan and Wakatipu, from where he went to the gold fields in the Wakamarina Valley in Marlborough; he set up a store in the latter place.{{sfn|Scholefield|1940|p=171}}{{sfn|Hamer |1988 |p=363}} When he was a young man, Colvin was held up by a member of the Burgess-Sullivan gang (also known as the Maungatapu Murderers) near where George Dobson had been murdered a few days previously. Unknown to his interrogator James Colvin was carrying 2,000 pounds worth of gold on his saddle, and managed to pass unmolested.{{sfn|Matthews|1999|p=203}}
==Political career== {{NZ parlbox header|nolist=true|align=left}} {{NZ parlbox |start = {{NZ election link year|1899}} |end = 1902 |term = 14th |electorate = {{NZ electorate link|Buller}} |party = Independent Liberal }} {{NZ parlbox |start = {{NZ election link year|1902}} |end = 1905 |term = 15th |electorate = Buller |party = New Zealand Liberal Party }} {{NZ parlbox |start = {{NZ election link year|1905}} |end = 1908 |term = 16th |electorate = Buller |party = New Zealand Liberal Party }} {{NZ parlbox |start = {{NZ election link year|1908}} |end = 1911 |term = 17th |electorate = Buller |party = New Zealand Liberal Party }} {{NZ parlbox |start = {{NZ election link year|1911}} |end = 1914 |term = 18th |electorate = Buller |party = New Zealand Liberal Party }} {{NZ parlbox |start = {{NZ election link year|1914}} |end = 1919 |term = 19th |electorate = Buller |party = New Zealand Liberal Party }} {{End}} He served on numerous boards and committees: the Buller County Council (1885–89), Westport Harbour Board (Chairman 1890), and was mayor of Westport between 1898 and 1900.{{sfn|Scholefield|1940|p=171}}
Colvin stood in the {{NZ electorate link|Buller}} electorate in the {{NZ election link|1896}} but was defeated by Patrick O'Regan.<ref>{{cite news |title=Buller Electoral District |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=IT18961202.2.14.1 |access-date=13 January 2014 |work=Inangahua Times |date=2 December 1896 |volume=XXI |issue=1092 |page=3}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Nelson |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=AS18961223.2.28.12 |access-date=13 January 2014 |work=Auckland Star |date=23 December 1896 |volume=XXVII |issue=305 |page=6}}</ref> He defeated O'Regan in 1899 as a supporter of Richard Seddon,{{sfn|Scholefield|1940|p=171}} and represented the Buller electorate in the House of Representatives for twenty years until his death in 1919. At the {{NZ election link|1899}}, Colvin stood as an Independent Liberal rather than an official Liberal candidate.{{sfn|Wilson|1985|p=190}}
From 1906 until 1909 he was the Liberal Party's junior whip.{{sfn|Wilson|1985|pp=279}}
Colvin served as the Chairman of Committees from 1910 to 1911.{{sfn|Wilson|1985|p=252}} In the house, he had the nickname 'uncle Colvin', given to him by Thomas Wilford in 1899 when they both entered Parliament.<ref name="Press obit" /> He was Minister of Mines in 1912 in the Mackenzie cabinet.{{sfn|Wood|1996|p=88}}
Colvin was killed at 10 pm on 29 October 1919 by a tram as he left Parliament House.{{sfn|Matthews|1999|p=203}} Parliament was still sitting, and the news reached the debating chamber within 15 minutes, which resulted in the immediate adjournment of proceedings.<ref name="Press obit" />
==Notes== {{reflist}}
==References== *{{Cite book |last=Hamer |first=David A. |author-link=D. A. Hamer |title=The New Zealand Liberals: The Years of Power, 1891–1912 |year=1988 |place=Auckland |publisher=Auckland University Press |isbn=1-86940-014-3 |oclc=18420103 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/newzealandlibera0000hame }} *{{citation |first = Eric A. |last = Leslie |title = The Colvin story (1861-1979) and the Colvin family trees (1877–1979) |place = Westport, [N.Z.] |publisher = E. A. Leslie |year = 1980}} *{{cite book |last=Matthews |first=Ella | year=1999 |title=Yesterdays in Golden Buller |publisher=Cadsonbury Publications}} *{{cite book | editor-last = Scholefield | editor-first = Guy | editor-link = Guy Scholefield | title = A Dictionary of New Zealand Biography : A–L | volume = I | year = 1940 | publisher = Department of Internal Affairs | location = Wellington | url = https://nzhistory.govt.nz/sites/default/files/documents/dnzb-1940/scholefield-dnzb-v1.pdf | access-date = 7 July 2015 | archive-date = 9 March 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120309082939/http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/files/documents/dnzb-1940/scholefield-dnzb-v1.pdf | url-status = live }} *{{cite book |last= Wilson |first= Jim | author-link=Jim Wilson (librarian) |title= New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 |edition= 4th |orig-year= First ed. published 1913 |year= 1985 |publisher=V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer |location= Wellington |oclc=154283103}} *{{citation |editor-first = G. Antony |editor-last = Wood |title = Ministers and Members in the New Zealand Parliament |place = Dunedin, [N.Z.] |publisher = Otago University Press |year = 1996 |isbn = 1-877-13300-0}}
{{S-start}} {{S-off}} {{s-bef | before = Thomas Wilford}} {{s-ttl | title=Chairman of Committees of the House of Representatives | years=1910–1911 }} {{s-aft | after = Frederic Lang }} |- {{S-par | nz}} {{S-bef | before= Patrick O'Regan}} {{S-ttl | title= Member of Parliament for Buller| years=1899–1919}} {{S-aft | after= Harry Holland}} {{End}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Colvin, James}} Category:New Zealand Liberal Party MPs Category:Independent MPs of New Zealand Category:Members of the Cabinet of New Zealand Category:Mayors of Westport, New Zealand Category:New Zealand gold prospectors Category:New Zealand businesspeople Category:New Zealand businesspeople in retailing Category:Irish emigrants to New Zealand Category:Politicians from County Donegal Category:1844 births Category:1919 deaths Category:Unsuccessful candidates in the 1896 New Zealand general election Category:Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives Category:New Zealand MPs for South Island electorates Category:19th-century New Zealand politicians Category:People of the West Coast Gold Rush Category:Accidental deaths in New Zealand