South Canterbury, New Zealand
Electoral Rolls 

At least once every three years New Zealand holds a general election to choose its Parliament. Electoral boundaries changed through the years based on population. The rolls are alphabetical. The electoral roll is a publicly available publication listing everyone in the electorate who is enrolled. A new roll comes out every year, and in Parliamentary election years there are two rolls printed. The first roll is produced for registered electors to check they're listed correctly. The second roll is used on Election Day. Genealogists will be delighted with the amount of information which exists about those who made it onto the rolls.  Only those with 'a stake in the country' were granted the franchise. Such people would be at least 21, male and householders, leaseholders and freeholders of real estate worth a certain amount of money.

South Canterbury early rolls: 1857   1861   1862  

The first New Zealand-wide Electoral Rolls are for 1865 although Provincial Rolls are available from the mid 1850s

• Before 1857 any elector who chose to register appeared on the Christchurch Country roll.
• The first electoral roll for South Canterbury appeared in the Provincial Gazette of 1857 under the 'Timaru Electoral District'.
• 1860 the electorate of Timaru was created
• Gillespie, Oliver A. South Canterbury A Record of Settlement. page 453 includes first S.C. electoral rolls for 1857, 1861 and 1862. 
• Between 1866 - 1875 South Canterbury only had two electorates.  
  Timaru (included the townships of Geraldine, Pleasant Point and Temuka)
  The vastly under populated Gladstone area surrounding Timaru and included all the way to the Southern Alps.
• NZSG- South Canterbury branch will do look ups in electoral rolls for 1893, 1914, 1925
• The Roll of Electors for the Province of Otago is found online in the Otago Witness Saturday 26th May 1855 pages 2 &3.
• 1869  8 May posted in the Timaru Herald. Persons objected to as not being entitled to have their names retained on the Electoral District of Timaru
• 1873  7 May Persons are objected to as not being entitled to have their names retained on the Electoral District of Timaru
• Elections - results - candidates

Gladstone District 1876-77   A to L         M to Z

1876-1877 Electoral Districts were Gladstone, Geraldine and Timaru. Aotearoa New Zealand Centre located at the Central City Library Christchurch has all the electoral rolls on microfilm up to 1972 there after in book form. and Alan McRobie's New Zealand Electoral Atlas. Check the atlas first to see which electoral district to look for. The spelling of the names conforms with that on the rolls. There are variations for spelling of both localities and Christian names e.g.:
Fairleigh creek
Waitui
Waihi Bush is Woodbury
Wallingford is Temuka
River Eyre. Probably River Hare, an early name for Hae Hae Te Moana

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Timaru District 1876-1877 Returning Officer: Belfield Woollcombe (images large)

A - Barry Beavan - Brosnahan Brosbahan - Cliff Clough - Devine Dillon - Fussell Fyfe - Hall Hall - Holmes

Hope - Knight Lake - Mathews Mathews - Newton Newton - Power Prentice - Sams Sanderson - Storey Strachan -Wallis Ward -Younghusband

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House of Representatives.
____________________
Electoral District of Geraldine.

Roll of Persons Qualified to Vote at the Election of Members for the House of Representatives between the Last Day of August, 1876, and the First Day of September 1877.

Geraldine District 1876-77  

  1. A -Beattie
  2. Beetham - Cain
  3. Cain - Curran
  4. Currie - Farquarson
  136 Farquarson, David Temuka household Part town section 42, Temuka
  137 Farquarson, Daniel Arowhenua household George town Arowhenua  Geraldine
  5. Fergusson - Grigg
  181- Griffiths, Charles Orari freehold Section 8202, 80 acres, Orari
  181 Grigg, John Ashburton leasehold Section 5487, 50 acres, Orari
  6. Grilish - Hullen
  7. Hullen - Leary
  258 Leary, John Kakahu freehold Section 17279 Kakahu, Geraldine
  8. LeCren - McKenzie
  9. McKenzie - Ormsby
10. Padget - Raine
11. Rawlings - Smith
12. Smith - Uprichard
13. Velvin - Wright
494 Wright, William Temuka freehold Waitohi Downs 108 acres, section 13587
14. Wyatt - Young

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List of
Persons Qualified to Vote
at the
Election of Members
of
The House of Representatives
for the
Electoral District
of
TIMARU
Province of Canterbury, New Zealand
1865 -1866.
Timaru:
Printed by A.G. Horton, South Road
1865

TIMARU 1865 - 1866 (326 electors) (Alfred Cox elected) (images large)
1866 (opens in a new window)

3. Akroyd - Cullman
4. Dean - Goldsmith
5. Gosling - Jones
6. Kalagher - Meyer
7. Mills - Simpson
8. Simpson - Wilds
9. Wilkin - Young

GLADSTONE 1865 - 1866 (202 electors) (Francis Jollie elected) (images large)

3. Abbemseth - Fraser  
4. Fraser - Maude
5. Maude - Studholme
6.Taylor - Young

Grey River Argus, 19 May 1866, Page 3
ELECTORAL DISTRICT OF PROVINCE OF CANTERBURY. In Pursuance of the Provisions of The following places are Polling Places for the Electoral District of Province of Canterbury :
Geraldine — Resident Magistrate's Office, Arowhenua.
Geraldine — Mr A. Cox's woolshed.
Town of Timaru.-— Resident Magistrate's Office, Timaru.
Waitangi - Mr Sheath's woolshed, River Te Ngawai and Mr F. Jollie's woolshed.
Mount Cook. — Mr Teschmaker's woolshed.
Waimate.- Mr Studholme's woolshed.
Seadown.— The Levels woolshed.

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Qualifications:

• Male over 21. Women received the vote on on 19 Sept. 1893. 110,508 women enrolled to become electors. Suffrage Petition 23,853 signatures. It was signed by close to one quarter of the female adult population and was, at that time, the largest petition of its kind signed in NZ and other western countries.  South Taranaki women who signed (247 names). When Governor Glasgow signed the Electoral Bill on 19 September 1893 New Zealand became the first self-governing nation in the world where women had won the right to vote.
  
  Prior to WWI, only four nations in the world granted Women's Suffrage - NZ in 1893, followed by Australia in 1902, Finland in 1906 and Norway in 1913. 
  
  In 1993 the St Johns Branch NZSG released 1893 Women on First NZ Electoral Roll for the celebration of NZ being the first country in the world to grant women the right to vote. The roll contained 110,508 women in the 1893. Petition  The New Zealand Collection in Christchurch Library has has a microfiche, 'Index of first women electors', which names individuals on the roll and gives occupations and the electorate in which the ladies were entitled to vote. The researcher can go from this to the relevant roll and extract information on male members of a family. At ArchivesNZ in Christchurch, there are transcripts of the Women's Suffrage Petition. Women gained the right to stand for Parliament in 1919 though none was elected till 1933.
  
• Owners of freehold land with a value > £50
• Tenure of leasehold property for a term at least three years to run with an annual rental > £10
• Householder occupying a tenement for at least 6 months previously having an annual rental value > £10 in town or >£5 in the country
• Aliens and felons were denied the vote.
• St Johns Branch NZSG released in Nov. 2001 on microfiche an alpha Index to the 1881 Electoral Roll for New Zealand. This was the first time that all men aged 21 and over who either owned property or had lived in New Zealand for at least one year and in an electorate for at least six months before registering as an elector, had the right to vote. Maori who owned property on individual title were also eligible to enroll as electors in any European Electorate where they were so qualified. So the 1881 election was the first to be held in New Zealand using Universal Male Suffrage. The fiche are available for sale as $20 per set posted. The index gives surname, given names, occupation whether a freeholder or residential, address and electorate for 121356 men.

Hints

• Make note of the years you have checked whether or not or found anything
• There are not zillions of electorates, it is quite feasible to look for your name in every electorate.
• Check supplementary rolls. When looking at a particular electorate, always look also at the "supplemental" roll for that electorate - sometimes there are two supplements, plus the main roll.
• Check subsequent rolls to determine when someone first appears in the roll and last appears in roll to try and determine arrival in NZ and death dates.  
• The rolls are useful for tracing people's movements. 
• For current Electoral Roll searching -  do a search on the Telecom whitepages site first - this gives initials and an address, which gives a better idea of what area Electoral Rolls to look at in the local library.
• There have never been master electoral rolls compiled, but the Post Office Directories (Wise's) act as an unofficial master list. They do tend to be a bit out of date.

• Parliamentary Electoral Rolls record full names of adult males in the district.
• Refer to Alan McRobie's New Zealand Electoral Atlas to give you an idea of electoral expansion. Covers the years 1853-1987.
• Denis Hampton's Locality guide to Canterbury electorates, 1865-1925 will pinpoint the roll in which an elusive local antecedent should be found.
• NZ electoral rolls are on microfiche at the State Library in Sydney
• At the start of each roll, there is a table showing what towns etc. fall into what electorates. This can change over time due to population growth.
• Ancestors may appear on more than one roll up to 1893.
• Many did not enroll.
• Electors who did not live in the district were entitled to vote because they held property there.
• From 1879 occupations were listed
• People could have died or moved before roll was published
• Electoral boundaries changed frequently in the early years due to population increases even though person might have had the same address
• History
• Election Days
• From 1853 to 1879 general elections took place over a period of weeks or months.
• Gold miners, who were entitled to vote without registration
• The right to vote  

Electorates today: 

• NZ Electoral Roll:  Check your own entries by entering your full name and birth date. 
• Aoraki- electorate
• maps

Rolls Online 

• Auckland 1881
• Peter's Stuff: Wairarapa, Wellington, Napier, Nelson, Akaroa
• Hawke's Bay, East Coast & Wairarapa
• Town of Nelson for the Year 1853-54  , 1853 , JURORS 1852-53, 1860
• 1870 Nelson Electoral Roll - City A to J - City K to Z - Suburbs
• Waimea East, Nelson 1853-1856
• Kaiapoi 1857 Electoral Roll
• NZ Rolls links
• Hocken Library's Otago Nominal Index to 1876  ONI is an index to names in documents held by the Hocken Library relating to Otago/Southland covering the period up to 1876. Documents indexed
• NZ Helplist Lookups
• Genealogy HelpList

1881 Electoral Roll covering all New Zealand

Conservative Premier Sir John Hall passed the legislation which, in 1881, gave the parliamentary franchise to adult males irrespective of whether they held property. He advised Kate Sheppard to gather support for women's suffrage through the circulation of mass petitions and on how these might best be presented to Parliament. Genealogists should honour Hall who twice boosted the number of ancestral names on the electoral roll.

1881 was the first year in NZ when men went on the roll without having to have a property qualification. This CD is an alphabetical list of over 121,000 names and addresses and occupations of all the men enrolled to vote in 1881. This is the first time that all men aged 21 and over, who either owned property, or had lived in New Zealand for at least one year, and in an electorate for at least six months before registering as an elector, had the right to vote. Maori who owned property on individual titles were also eligible to enrol as electors in any European Electorate where they were so qualified. So the 1881 election was the first to be held using Universal Male Suffrage. The 1881 Roll is alphabetically indexed for the whole country.  Set of Fiche, at the cost of $20.00 posted, available from:

St Johns Branch NZSG
PO Box 74212
Market Road
Auckland

Library Holdings

• Canterbury University

Hint: If you can't find someone check the Maori electoral rolls even if his surname is very European

Otago Witness March 14 1868 page 10 column 1
The population of the Timaru district is as follows:
Electoral district of Timaru, males 1662; females 1312.
Gladstone males 1170; females 512. The total population is 4656.

Timaru Herald 19 May 1881:
The census returns for the district of South Canterbury show the total population to be 21,803 as against 17,489 in 1878.

Bay of Plenty Times 12 March 1881:
The New Zealand census was to be held on the 3 April 1881 and "similar information will be collected in all parts of the United Kingdom so that when the census returns are made known, a very close approximation will be made of the number reigned over by the Queen.

Timaru Herald Tuesday 5 July 1887 page 3
The New Electorates, Wellington, July 4
There have been many changes in the electoral boundaries in adjusting districts to the quota of the population, resulting in the number of the electorates in the North Island being increased by three, and those of the Middle Island decreased by the same number. The numbers now are respectively 39 and 52 or in all 91 for the Colony.
Waimate: From the old electorate all the country south of the Waihoa river as well as the Hakateramea Riding has been cut off and added to the new Waitaki electorate....
Timaru
The Timaru old electorate is increased by the extension south to Otipua or Saltwater Creek by the assertion of land at Washdyke. The boundaries of the new electorate are as follows:...[ see image to right.]
Rangitata electorate Timaru Herald July 6 pg3

The following is the population of the various electorates:
Timaru, 6983
Gladstone, 6203
Waimate, 6512
Waitaki, 5979

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Timaru Herald Thursday 12 October 1899 pg2
The roll for the coming election in the Timaru electorate is now published and available for inspection at the Courthouse. So far 3878 names appear upon it against 4808 names on the lat roll at the last General Election in 1896, and 3850 at the Licensing Election in March 1897; but we learn that the registrar has a few hundred additional names, which will appear on a supplementary roll. The adjoining districts of Geraldine and Waitaki have respectively 3931 and 4120 voters enrolled.

Timaru Herald Thursday 7 December 1899
The General Election
The weather yesterday being beautifully fine, was a great factor towards the success of the polling, and the poll was heavier than at the last election - 4190 voters going to the poll, as compared with 3721 in 1896. Vehicles of almost every description were pressed into service, and the ladies especially took full advantage of them. The offices were most of them closed in the afternoon, while the shops and factories remained open. Messrs J. Ballantyne and Co., closed both their shop and factory between 12 and 2 to enable their employees to go to the poll. Mr Hall-Jones majority was so great as to completely overcome his opponents. His secretary is Mr Horneman. Mr Hickson, the Returning Officer.

Geraldine - Mr Flatman's supporters worked like Trojans from the opening of the booth, and fairly swamped Mr Macintosh's chances.

The 1899 General Election 

Timaru Herald Friday 8 December 1899 page 3 General Election
Mr Alfred Richard Barclay, B.A., LLB, (Dunedin City) is the eldest son of the Rev. George Barclay, whose name is a household word in South Canterbury as the pioneer Presbyterian minister in that district, and who has probably done more in educational matters there than any other resident. Mr Barclay came to New Zealand with his parents in 1865, he being five years old. He was educated at the Timaru Public school, Christ's College and Otago University. he obtained his B.A. degree in 1878, being the third in New Zealand to achieve that distinction. Later he obtained the LLB degree, and having passed the additional examination was admitted a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of New Zealand, and in 1885 commenced practice in Dunedin. ...Mr Barclay is an out and out supporter of Mr Seddon....

Mr C.A. C. Hardy (Selwyn) is the son of Mr Robert Boyd Hardy, of Cooley Hill, Co. Armagh, Ireland. He was born on September 23rd 1843, and was trained to business in Portasown. He arrived in Dunedin on July 4 1863, and his first employment was driving sheep from Oamaru to Invercargill for Douglas, Alderson and CO. He was afterwards bookeeper for the late H. Kirkpatrick. In 1868 he went to the Charlestown on the Nelson south-west goldfields. and there to Greymouth and for nine years employed by Thompson, Smith and Barkley. He went to Rakaia in 1879 and since then has been engaged as an importer and general merchant....

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1881 England census - 12,527 - keyword New Zealand.
1881 England census
Name: John H. Pomgdoore
Age: 16
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1865
Relation: Son
Mother's Name: Selina J.H.
Gender: Male
Where born: Timaru, New Zealand
Civil Parish: West Ham
County/Island: Essex
Country: England
Street address: 4 Olley Villas Forest Rd
Occupation: Shipping Clerk
Registration district: West Ham
Sub-registration district: West Ham
Christinas H. Cattermole 25
Selina J.H. Pomgdoore ? 38

Census for England and Wales: From 1851 onwards the birthplace was added to the information on the census sheet.
1891 England Census search with keywords = New Zealand, discovered 2,429 people in the UK Census with a birthplace of New Zealand. e.g.
Robert G Bovey, b. abt 1871 at Timaru, New Zealand,  Devon
Henry D Acland b. abt 1868 in New Zealand,  Sussex 

1881 Scotland Census - keyword Timaru
Donald McLennan abt 1841 Ross and Cromarty
Jane McLennan abt 1841 Ross and Cromarty
Elsie McLennan abt 1866 Ross and Cromarty
Johanna McLennan abt 1878 Ross and Cromarty
William T McLennan abt 1875 Ross and Cromarty
Donald McLennan abt 1880 Ross and Cromarty
Annie McKenzie abt 1849 Ross and Cromarty

1901: England census - 14,76 keyword New Zealand
1881 England Census 3,186 keyword New Zealand
1891 England Census 2,502 keyword New Zealand
1871 England Census 1,185 keyword New Zealand
1861 England Census - 829 keyword New Zealand
1901 Scotland Census 583  "                "        "
1891 Scotland Census 465
1881 Scotland Census 361
1871 Scotland Census 180 
1901 Wales Census 95
1911 Census of Canada 964
1901 Census of Canada 264
1930 United States Federal Census shows 2,041
1900 United States Federal Census shows 1,603
1910 United States Federal Census shows 1,247
1920 US Federal Census of shows 1,682 with a birthplace of New Zealand
1880 United States Federal Census  shows 511
1870 US Federal Census shows 232.
1860 US Federal Census shows 55.
New York passenger lists show 434 with an origin or destination of New Zealand.
Los Angeles and San Francisco in California; Portland, Oregon; and Leadville, Colorado all have mentionable totals of former New Zealanders. Spokane, Washington and Birmingham, Alabama have a couple each. There are 5 Thompson [Timaru/Napier] and 1 DeBlots [Motucka]
NZ wills probated in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA, 1898-1909, 1 NZ will probated in Worcester County, Massachusetts [Dwyer 1881]. Many appear to have been farmers, or sheep ranchers.

Parliament was inept at keeping records of voters. Many pioneers did not make it onto electoral rolls. Rolls appeared in the the central government's newspaper, the New Zealand Gazette. The early rolls contain so few names that both North Island and South Island rolls are to be found on one reel of film. Christchurch City Libraries has, on microfiche, most 1853-64 electoral rolls. The New Zealand Collection at the Christchurch Library holds bound volumes of 1850s-70s Canterbury Provincial Council electoral rolls, and 1865-1957 parliamentary electoral rolls on microfilm, including the roll for the 1941 election which was deferred for two years because of World War II and oddments. There are microfiche of the 1943, 1960, 1963, 1966 and 1969 rolls. As well, there  for The Christchurch-and-environs area from 1949-57 are in bound volumes. Nation-wide volumes for the period from 1972 to the present. Rolls are not an A to Z list of those entitled to vote in each election but an A to Z list of people in each electorate. At the end of each roll there is a supplementary roll and an 'errata' page of names which have been incorrectly spelt. From 1875 - 1928 the North Island rolls have been filmed in alphabetical sequence. South Island rolls have been filmed. From 1931 rolls have been filmed in alphabetical order; thus Avon in Christchurch is beside Auckland Central.

The New Zealand Constitution Act was passed in 1852. Power gradually slipped from the hands of an autocratic governor into that section of society to whom the franchise was granted. A quasi-federal system of government was established. The provinces were led by superintendents. These territorial authorities were in charge of, or associated with, immigration, public works, hospitals, policing, primary schooling, museum establishment and the sale of Crown land. The provinces set up, within their boundaries, smaller entities, road boards and city councils. A disgruntled outlying district could easily break away from its parent should it use the provisions of the New Provinces Act; Hawkes Bay, Marlborough, Southland and Westland were to become separate entities through the 1858 act. In 1870, central government politician Sir Julius Vogel sought to shock new life into the ailing national economy. Associated with his policy of bold borrowing was the take-over of provincial duties, immigration and public works. In 1876 the provinces were abolished. To replace the provinces, central government established a large number of counties and there came into existence special purpose local authorities – hospital, drainage and harbour boards. In 1950, Sidney Holland's conservative government had taken the radical step of abolishing Parliament's Upper House. MLCs (Members of the Legislative Council) followed MPCs (Members of the Provincial Council) into oblivion and M HRs (Members of the House of Representatives) re-invented themselves as MPs.

Polling Places Appointed Under the Electoral Act 1993  Aoraki

The electoral rolls are helpful in tracking people through the decades.

South Canterbury NZGenWeb Project