Name Ron Barclay | ||
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Ronald Morrison (Ron) Barclay (2 September 1914 – 29 April 2003) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party.
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Early life
Born in Little River, New Zealand in 1914, he received his education at the Christchurch Technical College. Barclay married Joy Margaret Lusty in 1940 and they had one son and one daughter.
Barclay was on home service during World War II. He was a member of the Auckland Education Board (1949–1954) and the New Plymouth High School board (1958–1960). He was a member of the Taranaki Hospital board from 1960 to 1966. He was a trustee of the TSB Bank from 1958, and was the bank's president in 1963 and 1974.
Barclay's cousin Bruce Barclay represented Christchurch Central for the Labour Party from 1969 until his death in 1979. Ron Barclay's uncle James Gillespie Barclay represented the Marsden electorate from 1935 until his defeat in 1943.
Political career
He represented the Taranaki electorate of New Plymouth in the House of Representatives from 1966 to 1975, having stood unsuccessfully in 1963. He served as Senior Government Whip in Norman Kirk's 1972–1975 Government, and Freer said he was an outstanding whip. When Barclay realised that Arthur Faulkner had the votes to win the first ballot for deputy to Bill Rowling in 1974, he got Warren Freer (who was not interested in the position, but who agreed that Faulkner was not leadership material) nominated to split the first vote. They preferred either Colin Moyle (Barclay) or Bob Tizard (Freer), and Tizard won on the fourth ballot. He was the first Deputy Chairman of Committees (1975). He was defeated in the swing against Labour in the 1975 election .
Subsequently, he served as a New Plymouth city councillor from 1977 to 1989, including three years as deputy mayor.
Later life
Barclay was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire, for services to the community, in the 1978 New Year Honours. In the 1986 New Year Honours, he was made a Companion of the Queen's Service Order for public services.
Barclay died in New Plymouth on 29 April 2003 and his ashes were buried in Awanui Cemetery. He was survived by his wife Joy. Ron Barclay Drive in the New Plymouth coastal suburb of Fitzroy was named in his honour in 2004.