Bert Cooksley

Bertie Victor Cooksley OBE MM (13 July 1892 – 26 July 1980), always known as Bert Cooksley, was a New Zealand politician of the National Party.

Cooksley in 1957

Biography
New Zealand Parliament
Years Term Electorate Party
1949–1951 29th Wairarapa National
1951–1954 30th Wairarapa National
1954–1957 31st Wairarapa National
1957–1960 32nd Wairarapa National
1960–1963 33rd Wairarapa National

Cooksley was born in 1892 in Dunsandel, Canterbury. He attended Dunsdale School. He farmed in Taita in the Hutt Valley. He went with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force into World War I and landed at Gallipoli.[1][2] He gave his birth as August 1892 (WWI) and August 1894 (WWII), rather than 13 July 1892.

He was a market gardener (growing vegetables commercially), and in 1944 was President of the New Zealand Council of Commercial Gardeners.[3]

In 1943, he stood unsuccessfully in the 1943 general election for the seat of Otaki, on behalf of the National Party.

He represented the Wairarapa electorate from 1949 and held it to 1963, when he retired.[4]

Cooksley was awarded the Military Medal in World War I.[1] In 1953, he received the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal,[5] and he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for community service in the 1965 New Year Honours.[6]

Cooksley died at Waikanae in 1980,[7] and his ashes were buried in Waikanae Cemetery.[8]

References
  1. Gustafson, Barry (1986). The First 50 Years : A History of the New Zealand National Party. Auckland: Reed Methuen. p. 304. ISBN 0-474-00177-6.
  2. Bertie Victor Cooksley, No 4/1086a WWI NZEF Military Personnel Record (online)
  3. "Boycott Threatened". Papers Past, National Library. 3 April 2014.
  4. Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. p. 190. OCLC 154283103.
  5. Taylor, Alister; Coddington, Deborah (1994). Honoured by the Queen – New Zealand. Auckland: New Zealand Who's Who Aotearoa. p. 105. ISBN 0-908578-34-2.
  6. "No. 43531". The London Gazette (3rd supplement). 1 January 1965. p. 44.
  7. "North West Square Heritage Area" (PDF). Palmerston North CIty Council. 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 February 2013. Retrieved 23 November 2013.
  8. "Cemetery details". Kāpiti Coast District Council. Archived from the original on 20 January 2015. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
New Zealand Parliament
Preceded by
Ben Roberts		 Member of Parliament for Wairarapa
1949–1963		 Succeeded by
Haddon Donald


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