J. W. Ridley

John Wallace (Jack) Ridley (1919 - 2006) was a New Zealand Member of Parliament for Taupo in the North Island, a Rhodes Scholar and a civil engineer. He was awarded the QSO and the NZ 1990 Medal for services to New Zealand.

Early Years

Ridley was born in Invercargill in 1919. He attended Timaru Boys' High School and then studied engineering at Canterbury University in Christchurch. After the Second World War (in which he served as an engineering officer) he spent two years, 1946-1947, as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, graduating with an MA(Hons) in engineering science (NZ Herald, 16 September 2006).

Jack Ridley was an engineer of dams for power schemes like Benmore in the South Island and Wairakei in the North Island.

Member of Parliament

Jack Ridley was the MP for Taupo for six years from 1972 to 1975, and from 1978 to 1981 (see Wilson & Wood)

Independent

In 1984 Ridley stood in the new Tongariro electorate as an Independent but was not successful. A large proportion of the Tongariro electorate had been part of Taupo (McRobie & Levine, p.117 and Ridley's letter to Mel Courtney, 22 July 1984).

Jack Ridley died in 2006.

References

*"New Zealand Parliamentary Record 1840-1984" by J. O. Wilson (1985, Government Printer, Wellington)
*"Ministers and Members in the New Zealand Parliament" Edited by G A. Wood (1996, University of Otago Press, Dunedin)
*"From Muldoon to Lange: New Zealand Elections in the 1980s" by Alan McRobie and Steven Levine (2002, MC Enterprises, Rangiora)

External links

* [http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=37&objectid=10401471 Obituary NZ Herald, 16 September 2006]