{{Short description|New Zealand politician}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2014}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=July 2014}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Honourable | name = Sir Walter Broadfoot | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=NZL|KBE|size=100%}} | image = Walter Broadfoot.jpg | alt = | caption = | birth_date = {{birth date|1881|4|6|df=yes}} | birth_place = Lower Hutt, New Zealand | death_date = {{death date and age|1965|09|10|1881|04|6|df=yes}} | death_place = | spouse = | relations = | order = 34th Postmaster-General of New Zealand | prime_minister = Sidney Holland | term_start = 13 December 1949 | term_end = 26 November 1954 | predecessor = Fred Hackett | successor = Tom Shand | constituency_MP4 = Waitomo | parliament4 = New Zealand | term_start4 = 14 November {{NZ election link year|1928}} | term_end4 = 5 October 1954 | predecessor4 = John Rolleston | successor4 = David Seath | party = United<br>National | profession = Solicitor }} '''Sir Walter James Broadfoot''' {{post-nominals|country=NZL|KBE}} (6 April 1881 – 10 September 1965) was a New Zealand politician of the United Party, and from 1936, the National Party. He was a cabinet minister from 1949 to 1954 in the First National Government.
==Biography==
===Early life=== Broadfoot was born in 1881 at Lower Hutt. He received his education at Wellesley Street Public School and Kihikihi School. His first employment was with the Auckland Post Office as a messenger, and this was followed by work as a journalist for the ''New Zealand Observer''. At night, he studied towards a law degree, which led to employment as a clerk in Hamilton in 1907, followed by setting up his own practice in rural Waikato's Te Kūiti in the following year. He specialised in native affairs and land problems.{{sfn|Gustafson|1986|p=301}} He married Dorothy Caroline Metcalfe (1884–1945), daughter of Henry Hulbert Metcalfe at St. Mary's Cathedral, Parnell, on 20 December 1910.<ref>The New Zealand Observer, 24 December 1910, page 8.</ref> They had two daughters, Beverley and Merron.<ref>Auckland Star 31 May 1945, page 1.</ref>
===Political career=== {{NZ parlbox header|nolist=true|align=left}} {{NZ parlbox |start = {{NZ election link year|1928}} |end = 1931 |term = 23rd |electorate = {{NZ electorate link|Waitomo}} |party = United Party (New Zealand) }} {{NZ parlbox |start = {{NZ election link year|1931}} |end = 1935 |term = 24th |electorate = Waitomo |party = United Party (New Zealand) }} {{NZ parlbox |start = {{NZ election link year|1935}} |end = 1936 |term = 25th |electorate = Waitomo |party = United Party (New Zealand) }} {{NZ parlbox allegiance |start = 1936 |end = 1938 |party = New Zealand National Party }} {{NZ parlbox |start = {{NZ election link year|1938}} |end = 1943 |term = 26th |electorate = Waitomo |party = New Zealand National Party }} {{NZ parlbox |start = {{NZ election link year|1943}} |end = 1946 |term = 27th |electorate = Waitomo |party = New Zealand National Party }} {{NZ parlbox |start = {{NZ election link year|1943}} |end = 1946 |term = 27th |electorate = Waitomo |party = New Zealand National Party }} {{NZ parlbox |start = {{NZ election link year|1946}} |end = 1949 |term = 28th |electorate = Waitomo |party = New Zealand National Party }} {{NZ parlbox |start = {{NZ election link year|1949}} |end = 1951 |term = 29th |electorate = Waitomo |party = New Zealand National Party }} {{NZ parlbox |start = {{NZ election link year|1951}} |end = 1954 |term = 30th |electorate = Waitomo |party = New Zealand National Party }} {{End}} From 1923 to 1935, he was first deputy mayor and then mayor of Te Kuiti.{{sfn|Gustafson|1986|p=301}} He was first elected to Parliament in the {{NZ election link|1928}} as a member of the United Party, when he defeated Reform's John Rolleston in the {{NZ electorate link|Waitomo}} electorate.{{sfn|Wilson|1985|pp=185, 231}} On 23 April 1936, he became junior party whip during the United/Reform Coalition, just prior to the formation of the National Party resulting from the merger of the Reform and United Parties in mid-May. He became senior whip in 1941, and held that position until 1949, when he became Postmaster-General.{{sfn|Gustafson|1986|p=301}}{{sfn|Wilson|1985|p=280}}
In 1942, he was Minister of National Service in the short-lived War Administration.{{sfn|Wilson|1985|p=85}} In the First National Government, he was Postmaster-General and Minister of Telegraphs (1949–1954).{{sfn|Wilson|1985|p=86}} He retired from Parliament in 1954.{{sfn|Wilson|1985|p=185}}
In 1935, he was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal.<ref name="EP">{{cite news | url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=EP19350506.2.12 | title=Official jubilee medals | date=6 May 1935 | work=The Evening Post | access-date=2 July 2013 | page=4}}</ref> In 1953, he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.nzlii.org/nz/other/nz_gazette/1953/37.pdf |title=Coronation Medal |work=Supplement to the New Zealand Gazette |issue=37 |date=3 July 1953 |access-date=17 April 2021 |pages=1021–1035}}</ref> In 1955, Broadfoot was granted the use of the title of "Honourable" for life, having served more than three years as a member of the Executive Council.<ref>{{London Gazette | issue=40421 | date=1 March 1955 | page=1269}}</ref> He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1955 Queen's Birthday Honours,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=40499 |date=9 June 1955 |page=3302 |supp=3}}</ref> and died in 1965.{{sfn|Wilson|1985|p=185}}
==Notes== {{Reflist}}
==References== *{{cite book |last = Gustafson |first = Barry |author-link = Barry Gustafson |title = The First 50 Years : A History of the New Zealand National Party |year = 1986 |publisher = Reed Methuen |location = Auckland |isbn = 0-474-00177-6 }} *{{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}}
{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{s-bef | before = Fred Hackett}} {{s-ttl | title = Postmaster-General<br>and Minister of Telegraphs | years=1949–1954}} {{s-aft | after = Tom Shand}} |- {{s-par | nz}} {{s-bef | before = John Rolleston}} {{s-ttl | title = Member of Parliament for Waitomo|years=1928–1954}} {{s-aft | after = David Seath}} {{end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Broadfoot, Walter}} Category:1881 births Category:1965 deaths Category:New Zealand National Party MPs Category:Members of the Cabinet of New Zealand Category:New Zealand Liberal Party MPs Category:People from Te Kūiti Category:Mayors of places in Waikato Category:Deputy mayors of places in New Zealand Category:New Zealand Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Category:Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives Category:New Zealand MPs for North Island electorates Category:Unsuccessful candidates in the 1925 New Zealand general election