William Reeve

William Pember Reeves
Image:‎William Pember Reeves.jpg
Minister of Labour
In office 1891 – 1896
Monarch	Queen Victoria
Agent-General
In office 1896 – 1905
High Commissioner
In office 1905 – 1908
Born	10 February 1857-May 16 1932 (aged 75) - New Zealand
Political party	Labour
Spouse	Magdalen Stuart Robison
Occupation	lawyer and journalist

The Hon. William Pember Reeves (10 February 1857 - May 16 1932 (aged 75) was a New Zealand statesman, historian and poet, who promoted social reform.

Biography

Reeves' parents were William Reeves (who was a journalist and politician) and Ellen neé Pember; they had migrated to Canterbury in 1857, arriving three weeks before he was born.

He was educated at a private “prep” school in Christchurch, the local high school, and (1867–74) the Christ's College Grammar School.^[1] Before entering politics, Reeves was a lawyer and journalist. He was editor of the Canterbury Times in 1885 and the Lyttelton Times (1889-1891)^[2].

Political Career

He represented the Christchurch seat of St Albans in Parliament from 1887 to 1890, and then Christchurch from 1890 to 1896, when he resigned. He served as Minister of Labour (1891-1896) during John Ballance's premiership. As Minister he introduced the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1894 and the Immigrants Exclusion Bill which barred immigrants from the country. His anti-foreigner stance earned him the nickname ‘Undesirable Bill’ Reeves.^[3]

London Bound

In 1896 he left New Zealand for London, where he was Agent-General (1896-1905) and High Commissioner (1905-1908). He then became Director of the London School of Economics (1908-1919). While in England, Reeves became a friend of a number of left-wing intellectuals, such as George Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells, and Sidney and Beatrice Webb. He was also a member of the Coefficients dining club of social reformers.

In later life, Reeves served as Chairman of the Board of the National Bank of New Zealand (1917-1931) and President of the Anglo-Hellenic League (1913-1925).

Some of Reeves's more influential writings include his history of New Zealand, The Long White Cloud (1898), and State Experiments in Australia and New Zealand (1902). He also published a number of poems, such as The Passing of the Forest and A Colonist in his Garden.

William Pember Reeves married, in 1885, the feminist Magdalen Stuart Robison, who joined the Fabian Society. They had one son (Fabian Pember Reeves, who died in the First World War) and two daughters, one of whom was the feminist writer Amber Reeves.

References

External links

• Biography in the 1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand
• William Pember Reeves The Long White Cloud, available at Project Gutenberg.

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