Wellington (New Zealand electorate)

Wellington (originally City of Wellington), was a parliamentary electorate in Wellington, New Zealand. It existed from 1853 to 1905 with a break in the 1880s. It was a multi-member electorate. The electorate was represented, over the years, by 24 members of parliament.

Population centres
In December 1887, the House of Representatives voted to reduce its membership from general electorates from 91 to 70. The 1890 electoral redistribution used the same 1886 census data used for the 1887 electoral redistribution. In addition, three-member electorates were introduced in the four main centres. This resulted in a major restructuring of electorates, and Wellington was one of eight electorates to be re-created for the 1890 election.

History
The electorate was one of the original electorates used in the 1853 election for the 1st New Zealand Parliament. During the period until 1871, Wellington was a three-member electorate.

In 1858, Isaac Featherston and William Fitzherbert resigned their seats in Parliament. Featherston apparently wanted to return to England. Instead, he successfully stood for re-election within months. The other person returned in the same by-election was William Barnard Rhodes.

The election for the 3rd Parliament was held on 11 December 1860, with the announcement of the official results on 15 December.

Members of Parliament
Key

Three-member electorate (1890–1905)
From 1881 to 1890, the Wellington electorate was replaced by three separate electorates: and  during the whole nine years, and  (until 1887) then  (1887–1890)

In 1905 the Wellington electorate was again replaced by three electorates:, , and. In the, all three Wellington incumbents stood in the new electorates, with Fisher and Aitken winning in Central and East respectively, while Duthie lost to Charles Izard in Wellington North – ending his parliamentary career.

1902 election
1 Majority is difference between lowest winning poll (Fisher: 6,685) and highest losing poll (O'Regan: 6,304)

1899 election
1 Majority is difference between lowest winning poll (Fisher: 6,442) and highest losing poll (Macdonald: 6,320)

1896 election
1 Majority is difference between lowest winning poll (Fisher: 5,858) and highest losing poll (Atkinson: 5,830)

2 Turnout is total number of voters – as voters had three votes each total votes cast was higher (37,618)

1893 election
1893 was the first election in which women could vote (the electoral act giving women the vote was passed ten weeks prior to the election). Electoral returns quantified female enrolment and turnout, and showed women's turnout was higher than men's while women's enrolment was lower. 1 Majority is difference between lowest winning poll (Duthie – 4,840) and highest losing poll (Mcdonald – 3,863)

2 Turnout is total number of voters – as voters had three votes each total votes cast was higher (36,102 valid, and 147 invalid votes)

1855 election

 * Table footnotes