Joseph Dransfield

Joseph Dransfield (1827–21 September 1906) was the first Mayor of Wellington City, New Zealand from 1870 to 1872. He was the also first Mayor since William Guyton was Mayor of Wellington Borough in 1843.

Background

Dransfield was born Huddersfield, Yorkshire in 1827 where his father, also Joseph, was the owner of the Rookery Woollen Mills. He was educated in Huddersfield and migrated to Australia in 1852 on the Falcon when he was 25 years old before coming to Wellington in 1857. His mother and father also settled in New Zealand living for a time in Lyttelton. He was married and had several sons and daughters.^[1][2]

Dransfield's brother, C. E. Dransfield, was already in Wellington when he arrived and had established a general merchant business, which Dransfield eventually took over. They were major coal merchant into the 1860s, with supply contracts for the New Zealand Steam Navigation Company, and McMechan and Blackwood's fleets. From 1878 to 1879 he was President of the Chamber of Commerce having been a member for a number of years.^[3] Dransfield carried on in business until ill health forced his retirement in 1888. He sold out the goodwill and business to the United Importers Company.

Civic roles

In 1842 Wellington had been declared a Borough and elected its own Mayor. In 1843, while William Guyton was Mayor, the British Government declared the legislation that founded the Borough invalid. For the period from 1843 to 1863 Wellington had no local authority. In 1863 legislation under the Provincial Government allowed a Town Board to be set up. This was followed by legislation that allowed the establishment of the Wellington City Council in 1870.

Dransfield became Mayor in 1870 after Wellington was declared a city. He was Mayor again in 1878, but resigned on 9 May 1879. He had previously been Chairman of the Town Board from 1865 to 1870, and represented Wellington City in the Wellington Provincial Council from 1863 to 1867. He was noted as securing one of Wellington's more important reclamations.

Dransfield Street in Vogeltown is named after him. Dransfield died at Wellington on 21 September 1906.^[4]

References

No Mean City by Stuart Perry (1969, Wellington City Council) includes a paragraph and a portrait or photo for each mayor.

Mayors of Wellington City
Mayors	elected by councillors George Hunter William Guyton Joseph Dransfield Charles Borlase William Sefton Moorhouse elected at large William Hutchison Joseph Dransfield George Allen William Hutchison George Fisher Arthur Winton Brown Samuel Brown John Duthie Charles Johnston Arthur Winton Brown Francis Bell Alfred Brandon Charles Luke George Fisher Francis Bell John Blair John Aitken Thomas William Hislop Alfred Newman Thomas Wilford David McLaren John Luke Robert Wright Charles Norwood George Troup Thomas Hislop Will Appleton Rob Macalister Frank Kitts Michael Fowler Ian Lawrence James Belich Fran Wilde Mark Blumsky Kerry Prendergast Celia Wade-Brown Justin Lester
Mayoral elections	Annual term 1875 1876† 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 Biennial term 1899 1901 1903† 1905 1907 1909 1910‡ 1911† 1912‡ 1913 1915 1917† 1919 1921 1923 1925 1927 1929 1931 1933† Triennial term 1935 1938 1941 1944 1947 1950 1953 1956 1959 1962 1965 1968 1971 1974 1977 1980 1983 1986 1989 1992 1995 1998 2001 2004 2007 2010 2013 2016
† Elected unopposed · ‡ By-election