Sir James Lawrence Hay (17 May 1888 – 26 March 1971) was a

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

businessman, local politician and philanthropist.

Early life and family

James Hay was born in

Lawrence Lawrence may refer to: Education Colleges and universities * Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States * Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States Preparator ...

South Otago South Otago lies in the south east of the South Island of New Zealand. As the name suggests, it forms the southernmost part of the geographical region of Otago. The exact definition of the area designated as South Otago is imprecise, as the area ...

, New Zealand, on 17 May 1888 to Scottish parents, Isabella McLean and her blacksmith husband, William Hay. William Hay was killed in an accident when James was aged 7. He received his education at Lawrence District High School, until age 13 when he left school to support his family. He worked for drapers in rural Otago and South Canterbury and eventually joined J. Ballantyne and Co, Christchurch's leading department store then moved to management in Beath's. His brother was judge and

Lower Hutt Lower Hutt () is a list of cities in New Zealand, city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand. Administered by the Hutt City Council, it is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington#Wellington metropolitan area, Wellington metropoli ...

mayor

Ernst Peterson Hay Ernst Peterson Hay (7 July 1886 – 31 December 1955) was a New Zealand lawyer, judge and local politician. He was the mayor of Lower Hutt from 1947 to 1949. Biography Hay was born in Lawrence in 1886 to William Hay. He was educated at Lawrence ...

. Hay married Davidina Mertel Gunn, a New Zealand Nurse, in England in 1917 while running YMCA support services for 20,000 New Zealand Division troops in the Middle East and Europe. He stayed with YMCA after the war as their general secretary then took his organising ability to Ballantyne's in 1925.

Hay's department store

Hay joined an Auckland manufacturer and wholesaler to create an entirely new Christchurch retail outlet. They built a new store at the remote end of Gloucester Street and opened it in 1929. Hay's organising skills and flair for publicity, elephants were hired to advertise a sale, helped the new store become profitable but in 1933 in the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

the Auckland parent company collapsed. He managed to find enough financial support to buy out the former parent and raise the capital to pay for it by public subscription. Branches were opened in Otago and the West Coast. Hay's built Christchurch's first shopping centre in Upper Riccarton in 1960 and Northlands in 1970.

Haywrights Haywrights was a New Zealand department store chain that was founded in 1929 and eventually grew to be one of the largest department store chains in New Zealand. History The store opened on 13 December 1929 as Hay's. It was founded by business ...

, the nation's second largest department store chain, was the result of a merger with stock and station agents Wright Stephenson & Co. Haywrights is now

Farmers A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer mi ...

Local politics and community activities

Hay was first elected onto

Christchurch City Council The Christchurch City Council (CCC) is the local government authority for Christchurch in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority elected to represent the people of Christchurch. Since October 2022, the Mayor of Christchurch is Phil Ma ...

in the 1944 local election. He served until 1953, when he unsuccessfully challenged the incumbent

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 ...

, Robert Macfarlane, for the mayoralty. When an incorporated society, Town Hall Promotion Inc., was formed for the promotion of a

Christchurch Town Hall The Christchurch Town Hall, since 2007 formally known as the Christchurch Town Hall of the Performing Arts, opened in 1972, is Christchurch, New Zealand's premier performing arts centre. It is located in the Christchurch Central City, central ...

, he became its first president.

Death and legacy

Hay died on 26 March 1971 at his home in Christchurch, and was buried in Waimairi Cemetery. The town hall was opened some 18 months after his death, and the second largest performance space was named the James Hay Theatre in his honour. His son,

Hamish Hay Sir Hamish Grenfell Hay (8 December 1927 – 7 September 2008) was a New Zealand politician, who served as Mayor of Christchurch for fifteen years, from 1974 to 1989. He is Christchurch's longest-serving mayor. Early life and family Hay was one ...

, was later the Christchurch mayor for 15 years.

Honours

Hay was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

as of 1 January

1918 The ceasefire that effectively ended the World War I, First World War took place on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of this year. Also in this year, the Spanish flu pandemic killed 50–100 million people wor ...

for services as

Young Men's Christian Association 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 ...

secretary to the New Zealand Division in Egypt and France, and was promoted to Officer of the same order in the 1918 King's Birthday Honours only a few months later in connection with the same work. In 1935, he was awarded the

King George V Silver Jubilee Medal The King George V Silver Jubilee Medal is a commemorative medal, instituted to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the accession of King George V. Issue This medal was awarded as a personal souvenir by King George V to commemorate his Silver Ju ...

, and in the 1961 Queen's Birthday Honours he was appointed a

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised Order of chivalry, orders of chivalry; it is a part of the Orders, decorations, and medals ...

for civic and charitable services. In 2000, Hay was posthumously inducted into the

New Zealand Business Hall of Fame The New Zealand Business Hall of Fame is a figurative hall of fame dedicated to New Zealanders who have made a significant contribution to the economic and social development of New Zealand. The hall was established in 1994 by the Young Enterpri ...

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hay, James Lawrence 1888 births 1971 deaths 20th-century New Zealand businesspeople New Zealand social workers New Zealand Presbyterians People from Lawrence, New Zealand Christchurch City Councillors New Zealand people of World War I New Zealand Officers of the Order of the British Empire New Zealand merchants New Zealand Knights Bachelor Burials at Waimairi Cemetery 20th-century New Zealand philanthropists YMCA leaders