Children Five Name Will Appleton | ||
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Born 3 September 1889Alexandra, New Zealand ( 1889-09-03 ) Spouse(s) (1) Mary Helen Munro(2) Rose Hellewell | ||
Sir William Appleton (3 September 1889 – 22 October 1958) was a New Zealand politician. He served as Mayor of Wellington from 1944 to 1950, having been a city councillor from 1931 to 1944. He was knighted in 1950.
Biography
Appleton was born in Alexandra in Central Otago in 1889, the eldest of nine children. His parents were the Yorkshireman Edwin Appleton and his Scottish wife, Margaret Bruce. The family briefly moved to Gisborne in 1904, but was back in Alexandra in the following year. Appleton was left in charge of the local post office as a teenager by an absent postmaster, and did some bookkeeping for local businesses. In October 1906, he was appointed a cadet in the accountancy department of the General Post Office at Wellington.
Appleton was a leader of the commercial community, and founder of an advertising agency. He unsuccessfully stood for Parliament several times. In the 1931 election, he contested the Wellington South electorate for the United Party and was beaten by Robert McKeen. In the 1935 election, he contested the Otaki electorate for the United/Reform Coalition and came third. In the 1938 election standing for the National Party in the Wellington Central electorate, he came second but was beaten by Labour's Peter Fraser. In the 1943 election, Appleton was again unsuccessful but came second and greatly reduced Fraser's majority. He did not contest the 1946 election.
He served 21 years as a member of the Wellington Harbour Board, representing Wellington City, and was its chairman for 3 of those years.
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, in recognition of his service as mayor of Wellington. In 1953 he was made a Knight of Grace of the Order of St John.