Sir William Appleton (3 September 1889 – 22 October 1958) was a New Zealand local body politician, advertising agent and leading company director. He was

Mayor of Wellington The Mayor of Wellington is the head of the municipal government of the City of Wellington. The mayor presides over the Wellington City Council. The mayor is directly elected using the Single Transferable Vote method of proportional representat ...

for two terms from 1944 to 1950 after serving as a city councillor from 1931 to 1944. He was knighted in

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 crashes in a snowstorm. All 19 ...

Biography

Early life and career

Appleton was born in Alexandra in

Central Otago Central Otago is located in the inland part of the Otago region in the South Island of New Zealand. The motto for the area is "A World of Difference". The area is dominated by mountain ranges and the upper reaches of the Clutha River and trib ...

in 1889, the eldest of nine children. His parents were Yorkshireman Edwin Appleton and his Scottish wife, Margaret Bruce. The Appleton family briefly moved to Gisborne in 1904 but was back in Alexandra in the following year. Appleton, left by the postmaster in charge of the local post office as a teenager, did some bookkeeping for local businesses. In October 1906, aged 17, he was appointed a cadet in the accountancy department of the General Post Office at

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by m ...

. In 1909 he passed his accountancy exams. He left the Post and Telegraph Department, then still a centre of modern communications technology, and in April 1910 joined advertising agent Charles Haines and Co. Haines had founded his business, the country's first

advertising agency An advertising agency, often referred to as a creative agency or an ad agency, is a business dedicated to creating, planning, and handling advertising and sometimes other forms of promotion and marketing for its clients. An ad agency is generall ...

, in Wellington in 1891. Will married Mary Helen (Nell) Munro in March 1913. They were to have a daughter and two sons. By the time of the

first world war World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

25-year-old Will Appleton was manager of Charles Haines. He was appointed managing director in 1918. Nell died in 1918's influenza epidemic. The following year he married Rose Hellewell and they had a daughter and two sons. Meanwhile, Appleton maintained his local body interests serving on the Wellington Hospital Board from 1923. In 1931 he successfully stood for the Wellington City Council. Then in 1932 he sold his interest in Charles Haines to his former partners, accepted directorships in many major listed companies and devoted himself to politics.

Political career

Local politics

Cecil Wood, Rt Rev H St Barbe Holland and Will Appleton

After moving to Wellington, Appleton was elected to the Onslow Borough Council in 1915 where he led a successful campaign for amalgamation with Wellington in order to gain an integrated water and drainage system. In 1923 he was elected to the Wellington Hospital Board on a Civic League ticket and remained a member until 1929. In

1931 Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...

Appleton was elected to the

Wellington City Council Wellington City Council is a territorial authority in New Zealand, governing the country's capital city Wellington, and ''de facto'' second-largest city (if the commonly considered parts of Wellington, the Upper Hutt, Porirua, Lower Hutt and ...

where he became an effective and popular councillor renowned as being friendly, approachable and possessing a "chuckling" sense of humour. He became chair of the Works Committee and oversaw the introduction of a system of refuse disposal to converted gullies into sports grounds including Appleton Park, which was named after him. In

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in No ...

Appleton challenged Thomas Hislop for the Citizens' nomination to stand for mayor. Appleton claimed he would stand as an independent should he not be granted the candidacy. Declining arbitration, Appleton got his wish when Hislop (albeit reluctantly) agreed to stand aside in the interests of unity. Appleton was elected with a huge majority and was later re-elected for a second term in

1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January– February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the count ...

by a lower margin before retiring in 1950. In a

1955 by-election Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first Nuclear marine propulsion, nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18� ...

Appleton was invited by the Citizens' Association to stand once again for the City Council, though he declined to re-enter local politics. Appleton served for 21 years as a member of the

Wellington Harbour Board (Strong but true) , predecessor = , merged = , successor = , formation = , founder = , founding_location = , dissolved = , merger = , type ...

, representing Wellington City, and was its chairman for 3 of those years (1954–57).

National politics

He unsuccessfully stood for Parliament several times. In the , he contested the electorate for the United Party and was beaten by

Robert McKeen Robert McKeen (12 July 1884 – 5 August 1974) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party. He was Speaker of the House of Representatives. Early life He was born in 1884 in Edinburgh and received his education in West Calder, West Loth ...

. In the , he contested the electorate as an independent candidate and came third. In the standing for the National Party in the electorate, he came second but was beaten by Labour's

Peter Fraser Peter Fraser (; 28 August 1884 – 12 December 1950) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 24th prime minister of New Zealand from 27 March 1940 until 13 December 1949. Considered a major figure in the history of the New Zealand Lab ...

. He was to stand against Fraser again in the cancelled 1941 general election. In the , Appleton was again unsuccessful but came second and greatly reduced Fraser's majority. He did not contest the , but stood for a third time in Wellington Central in against Fraser's successor Charles Chapman, but was again defeated.

Later life and death

Appleton was president of the Wellington Rugby Football League from 1940 to 1958 and presented the Appleton Shield, which is used to this day as the premier club trophy. In the 1950 King's Birthday Honours, Appleton 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 orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are t ...

, in recognition of his service as mayor of Wellington. In 1953 he was made a

Knight of Grace of the Order of St John The Order of St John, short for Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (french: l'ordre très vénérable de l'Hôpital de Saint-Jean de Jérusalem) and also known as St John International, is a British royal order of c ...

, and was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal. Rose Appleton 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 contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

in the 1946 New Zealand Honours, and a Commander of the Order of St John in 1958. Appleton died of cancer in Bowen Hospital, Wellington, on 22 October 1958. Lady Appleton died in 1980. His son, Lloyd James Appleton (1923–1985), was a newspaper editor and was elected mayor of

Dannevirke Dannevirke ( " work of the Danes", a reference to Danevirke; mi, Taniwaka, lit= or ''Tāmaki-nui-a-Rua'', the area where the town is), is a rural service town in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of the North Island, New Zealand. It is the ma ...

in 1965. In the 1971 New Year Honours, he was appointed a

, for services to local government and journalism.

References

External links

Images of Sir William Appleton
at the National Library of New Zealand, many in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired, ...

photo of Sir William Appleton (left) in 1950
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Appleton, William 1889 births 1958 deaths 20th-century New Zealand businesspeople Mayors of Wellington Wellington City Councillors Wellington Hospital Board members New Zealand Knights Bachelor New Zealand rugby league administrators Unsuccessful candidates in the 1931 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 1935 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 1938 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 1943 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 1949 New Zealand general election Candidates in the 1941 New Zealand general election New Zealand Liberal Party politicians New Zealand National Party politicians Knights of Grace of the Order of St John Wellington Harbour Board members