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Jack Lyon

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For the English footballer, see Jack Lyon (footballer). For the Anglican priest, see William John Lyon (priest).

Jack Lyon
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Waitemata
In office
28 November 1935 – 26 May 1941
Preceded byAlexander Harris
Succeeded byMary Dreaver
Personal details
Born(1898-02-15)15 February 1898
London, United Kingdom
Died26 May 1941(1941-05-26) (aged 43)
Crete
Cause of deathKilled in action
Political partyLabour
SpouseAlice Elizabeth (Alison) Lyon
Children2
Military service
Branch/serviceBritish Army
New Zealand Military Forces
Years of service1915–1919
1939–1941
Rank Captain
Battles/wars

William John Lyon (15 February 1898 – 26 May 1941) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party. He was killed in World War II while serving with the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force.

Early life and career

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Lyon was born in London, England, and educated at a Brighton Grammar School. He won a scholarship to the University of Oxford, but did not take it up as he enlisted in the British Army aged 17. During World War I, while serving on the western front, he was twice mentioned in dispatches and his health was damaged by mustard gas. He was promoted to a non-commissioned officer and later was an officer in the Royal Sussex Regiment and military intelligence.[1]

After leaving the military he worked as a linguist and cypher translator at the Foreign Office.[1]

Local politics

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Lyon was active in the UK Labour Party.[2] As a member of the Mitcham branch he was a party organiser in the 1921 local elections and 1924 general election.[1]

Due to his health, still impaired by the mustard gas attack, he emigrated to New Zealand in 1927 where he lived in Hastings gaining work as a rubber vulcaniser. Lyon joined the Labour Party in 1928 and was elected a member of the Hastings Borough Council and Napier Harbour Board in 1929 before moving to Auckland in 1931.[1]

In Auckland he became president of the Auckland Provincial Unemployed Workers' Association and president of the Auckland Association Football Association.[1] In 1935 he stood unsuccessfully for the Auckland City Council on a Labour Party ticket.[3]

Member of Parliament

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New Zealand Parliament
Years Term Electorate Party
1935–1938 25th Waitemata Labour
1938–1941 26th Waitemata Labour

Lyon contested the Hawkes Bay electorate in the 1928 election, but was beaten by the incumbent, Hugh Campbell of the Reform Party.[2][4] As a Labour Party MP, he represented the Waitemata electorate from the 1935 general election to 1941.[5]

Lyon was an ideological ally of John A. Lee and became a leading advocate for credit reform in the Labour Party.[6] His interest in monetary reform led him to become part of a small group of backbenchers that assisted Walter Nash, the Minister of Finance, along with Ormond Wilson and Arnold Nordmeyer.[7] Lyon twice moved in caucus that the Bank of New Zealand be nationalised, but was ignored by Prime Minister Michael Joseph Savage who was opposed to the idea.[8] He was later a member of a caucus committee tasked with drafting the party's social security policies which later became the Social Security Act 1938.[9]

Lyon, one of the few First World War veterans in the Labour caucus, strongly supported New Zealand's participation in World War II and had tabled a minority report at the 1939 party conference calling for a greater recruiting effort.[10]

While initially an ideological ally of Lee, Lyon was disgusted with Lee's 'Psycho-pathology in politics' article which contained vicious personal attacks on Savage (who was dying of cancer). He was so infuriated thar he ripped up the copy he was reading.[11] He wrote to Nash shortly before his death, that while he still shared Lee's views that reforms could have gone further and faster, Lee's conduct had gone too far stating "What a tragedy it was that personal issues were allowed to obscure political ideology and the culminating tragedy, the death of our beloved leader. I realise more than ever how puerile some of our fights in caucus were and how ridiculous it was that most of our discussions took place in an atmosphere of distrust and suspicion and the comradeship of 1935 was allowed to be dissipated."[12]

Death

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With the outbreak of war, Lyon enlisted in the New Zealand Military Forces, and was a Captain with the 18th Battalion when he was killed during the Battle of Crete.[1] He was survived by his wife and two daughters.[2]

Out of respect to Lyon, the National Party decided not to contest the by-election resulting from his death.[13] The by-election resulted in the return of the third woman to the New Zealand House of Representatives, Labour's Mary Dreaver.[14] His widow Alison considered but, after receiving medical advice, opted not to accept nomination to stand for the seat.[15]

Notes

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Gustafson 1986, p. 286.
  2. ^ a b c "Death in Action". The New Zealand Herald. Vol. LXXVIII, no. 23984. 6 June 1941. p. 9. Retrieved 29 June 2014.
  3. ^ "Electoral". The New Zealand Herald. Vol. LXXII, no. 22108. 14 May 1935. p. 16. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
  4. ^ Wilson 1985, p. 187.
  5. ^ Wilson 1985, p. 213.
  6. ^ Sinclair 1976, p. 174.
  7. ^ Sinclair 1976, p. 121.
  8. ^ Sinclair 1976, p. 159.
  9. ^ Gustafson 1986, p. 221.
  10. ^ Sinclair 1976, p. 190.
  11. ^ Gustafson 1986, p. 261.
  12. ^ Sinclair 1976, p. 197.
  13. ^ "Waitemata Seat". The New Zealand Herald. Vol. LXXVIII, no. 23985. 7 June 1941. p. 10. Retrieved 29 June 2014.
  14. ^ Laracy, Hugh. "Dreaver, Mary Manson". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 22 July 2012.
  15. ^ "Mrs. Lyon Will Not Contest Waitemata". Northern Advocate. 20 June 1941. p. 3. Retrieved 25 January 2022.

References

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New Zealand Parliament
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Waitemata
1935–1941 		Succeeded by
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