Thomas William McDonald

Biography

McDonald was born in 1869 in Tasmania. From 1905 to 1907, he was Mayor of Lower Hutt.

He was married to Amy Gertrude McDonald and in 1914, they were living in Dunedin's Queen Street. Prior to World War I, he was Lieutenant Colonel and in charge of the Otago Infantry Battalion, which trained at Tahuna Park in Dunedin. During the war, he rose to the rank of colonel, and was sometimes known as Colonel Mac. Having fought in Egypt, he returned to New Zealand before the end of the war due to sickness. He was one of the driving forces behind having a clubhouse established in Dunedin for the Returned Services' Association.

The death of Walter Powdrell triggered a by-election in the Patea electorate. McDonald announced his intention to stand for the Reform Party and travelled to Hawera. The Reform Party chose Edwin Dixon, the Mayor of Hawera, as their official candidate, and it was said that Clutha Mackenzie was the party's second preference. Consequently, McDonald left again without contesting the by-election. During 1922, it became known that McDonald intended to move to Wellington and he received a requisition to stand in the Wellington East electorate in the 1922 election. He was one of four candidates, stood as an independent, and came third with some 18% of the votes. He was unanimously elected by the United Party to contest the Wairarapa electorate in the 1928 election, and he defeated the incumbent Alexander McLeod of the Reform Party. In the 1931 election, McLeod in turn defeated McDonald.In 1935 he stood again for the Wairarapa seat as the newly formed Democrat Party's candidate. He placed third out of four candidates.

McDonald died in 1968.