John Haddrick Darwin (17 December 1923 – 29 October 2008) was a New Zealand statistician, he rose to Government Statistician of New Zealand from 1980 to 1984 and a member of the 1985–1986

Royal Commission on the Electoral System The Royal Commission on the Electoral System was formed in New Zealand in 1985 and reported in 1986. The decision to form the Royal Commission was taken by the Fourth Labour government, after the Labour Party had received more votes, yet it won ...

which recommended

mixed-member proportional Mixed-member proportional representation (MMP or MMPR) is a mixed electoral system in which votes cast are considered in local elections and also to determine overall party vote tallies, which are used to allocate additional members to produce ...

(MMP) representation. He was awarded Honorary Life Membership of the New Zealand Statistical Association in 2005.

Early life

He was born in Christchurch, and died in Wellington. He attended

Christ's College, Christchurch Christ's College, Canterbury is an independent Anglican secondary Day school, day and boarding school for boys, located in the Christchurch Central City, city centre of Christchurch, New Zealand. Founded in 1850 by Reverend Henry Jacobs (priest) ...

, where he was dux, and graduated from the

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury ( mi, Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was ...

with a Masters of Science degree with first class honours. He worked for the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research from 1944 to 1947, when he left to study overseas at the

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

and the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The university owns and operates majo ...

; he had double doctorates in English and Mathematics. He rejoined the DSIR on his return to New Zealand, working in the Applied Mathematics Division. He took charge of its mathematical statistics section in 1963.Obituary notice – Dr John Darwin (1923–2008)
, Tribute, New Zealand Statistical Association. Retrieved 11 January 2009.

Career in Department of Statistics

Darwin joined the Department of Statistics (later to become

Statistics New Zealand Statistics New Zealand ( mi, Tatauranga Aotearoa), branded as Stats NZ, is the public service department of New Zealand charged with the collection of statistics related to the economy, population and society of New Zealand. To this end, Stats ...

) as Deputy Government Statistician in 1978. He was appointed Government Statistician and head of the Department of Statistics in 1980. He retired in 1984.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Darwin, John 1923 births 2008 deaths Government Statisticians of New Zealand New Zealand statisticians People from Christchurch People educated at Christ's College, Christchurch University of Canterbury alumni 20th-century New Zealand public servants