Prime Minister David Lange Nationality New Zealand Preceded by Sir Basil Arthur Political party Labour | Succeeded by Kerry Burke Name Gerard Wall Died 1992 (aged 71–72) | |
Born 24 January 1920
Christchurch, New Zealand ( 1920-01-24 ) | ||
Sir Gerard Aloysius Wall (24 January 1920 – 22 November 1992) was a surgeon and a politician in New Zealand. He was Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives from 1985 to 1987. He was a member of the Labour Party.
Biography
Born in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 1920, he was the son of Edmund Wall. He was educated at St Bede's College, then Canterbury and Otago University graduating with an MBChB. After graduation he worked as a House Surgeon in Christchurch and as a general practitioner in Denniston on the West Coast.
He married Uru Raupo Cameron in 1951, a nurse from Northland. They had two sons and three daughters.
He went to Britain and qualified as a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, specialising in orthopaedic and plastic surgery. On return to New Zealand he became Medical Superintendent of Wairau Hospital, Blenheim from 1960 until 1969.
While in Blenheim, he first stood for Parliament in the 1966 election against the incumbent Tom Shand of the National Party in the Marlborough electorate, but was unsuccessful. The family moved to Porirua, where he successfully contested the Porirua electorate in the 1969 election for the Labour Party. He was elected as Speaker following Sir Basil Arthur's death in 1985 and served in this role until 1987. He was replaced in the Porirua electorate by Graham Kelly.
He retired in 1987 and was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the same year. He died in 1992.