Elizabeth Yates (mayor)

Elizabeth Yates (ca. 1845 - 1918) was the mayor of Onehunga borough in Auckland, New Zealand for most of 1894. She was the first female mayor anywhere in the British Empire.

Life

She was born Elizabeth Onan in Caithness, Scotland and came to New Zealand with her family in 1853, and apparently lived in the Onehunga area from 1855 on. She married Michael Yates, master mariner, in 1875. He was on the Onehunga Borough Council, a councillor from 1885 and mayor from 1888 to 1892. Already involved in politics through her strong support of the women's suffrage movement, participation in the debates of the Auckland Union Parliament. [http://www.dnzb.govt.nz/dnzb/ Elizabeth Yates] (from the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Accessed 2008-03-10.)]

In 1893, after her husband stood down from his post due to ill health, she accepted the nomination for the office of mayor and defeated her opponent, F. W. Court, at the polls (also automatically becoming a Justice of the Peace). The election made international news and brought her congratulations from Premier Richard Seddon and Queen Victoria.

However, she met strong opposition from a hard core of local councillors, town clerks and members of the public, who often disrupted meetings and orchestrated opposition to her every proposal. It is noted that she did not help her own cause by being 'tactless' and 'dictatorial' in her manner. Only a year later, she was defeated roundly at the polls. Even her opponents had to concede however, that she had been very effective during her short tenure, having liquidated the borough debt, established a sinking fund, reorganised the fire brigade, upgraded roads, footpaths and sanitation, and having personally lobbied the government to authorise the reopening of the Waikaraka cemetery.

She later returned as a councillor to the Borough Council for two years between 1899 and 1901, before eventually dying in 1918 after a long time in a mental hospital.

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