Jesse Piper (1836 – 21 April 1920) was a

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

, New Zealand city councillor and

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Early life

Piper was born in 1836 at

Hastings Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...

, Sussex, England. He went to sea as a youth. On the outbreak of the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

joined the storeship and sailed to

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

. Once there he was transferred to the express boat ''Banshee'', and then to , the

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...

of Admiral Dundas. Later Piper served on the paddle steamer ''Cyclops'', which took the 28th Regiment from Malta to

Gallipoli The Gallipoli Peninsula (; ; ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles strait to the east. Gallipoli is the Italian form of the Greek name (), meaning ' ...

. Piper was injured and discharged from the navy. He joined the merchant service until 1860. He then became a storekeeper in Hastings until he migrated to New Zealand from

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

on 24 July 1872 on the ship ''Asterope'' arriving at Nelson on 19 October 1872. Piper settled in Nelson, and ran the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

hostel on the corner or Bridge and Collingwood Street until 1883, when he retired from business.

Politics

Local body

In 1890 Piper was elected to the City Council and in April 1904 was elected mayor. He lost the mayoralty in April 1905 to Henry Baigent. He stood again in 1906 and was re-elected until 1910. In the 1910 election he was defeated by Thomas Pettit.

Parliament

Joseph Shephard resigned on 15 April 1885 from the Waimea electorate when he was appointed to the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

. The resulting 1885 by-election, which was held on 3 June, was contested by six candidates: John Kerr (253 votes), W. N. Franklyn (250 votes), William White (94 votes), Christian Dencker (91 votes), W. Wastney (59 votes) and Jesse Piper (32 votes). Kerr was thus elected. Piper unsuccessfully stood for Parliament in the City of Nelson electorate on several occasions. In the , he came second against Henry Levestam. In the , the electorate was contested by Henry Levestam, Piper and WB Gibbs (a son of William Gibbs), and he came second. In the , he came second against John Graham. Piper was noted as a man of firm convictions.

Community service

Piper was a member of the Hospital Board for a time, a prominent member of the Recabite Order and interested in the temperance movement. He was a trustee of the local YMCA. Piper was a Justice of the Peace (JP). He became a member of the Nelson Charitable Aid Board in 1890. In May 1890, members of the Nelson Charitable Aid Board, including Piper, made a surprise visit to the Stoke Industrial School. The school, also called St. Mary's Orphanage, was a privately run, Roman Catholic, reform school. The inspectors found two boys locked in solitary confinement cells. This discovery and other matters lead to the tabling o
The Royal Commission Report on Stoke Industrial School
Nelson. Piper testified under oath to the Royal Commission.

Death

Piper died at his Waimea Road residence in Nelson on 21 April 1920, aged 83, and was buried at

Wakapuaka Cemetery Wakapuaka Cemetery is a cemetery located in Brooklands, Nelson, New Zealand. "Wakapuaka" is Māori for "heaps of aka leaves". Location Wakapuaka Cemetery is located at the southern end of Atawhai Drive in Nelson. The cemetery is located on a h ...

. He was survived by his second wife.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Piper, Jesse 1836 births 1920 deaths People from Hastings Royal Navy personnel of the Crimean War English emigrants to New Zealand Mayors of Nelson, New Zealand Unsuccessful candidates in the 1884 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 1887 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 1896 New Zealand general election Burials at Wakapuaka Cemetery 19th-century New Zealand politicians