Willie Stowers

William Frederick Stowers (25 September 1887 – 15 May 1971) was a Western Samoan politician. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly from 1948 to 1951.

Willie Stowers
Stowers in 1912
Member of the Legislative Assembly
In office
1948–1951
Personal details
Born25 September 1887
Lano, Samoa
Died15 May 1971(1971-05-15) (aged 83)
Tokoroa, New Zealand

Biography

Stowers was born in Lano on Savaii in September 1887, the son of Eugene James Simi Stowers and Mary Tereisea Fa'aletea Pa'u.[1] He was educated at the Marist Brothers School in Apia,[2] and later moved to Auckland in New Zealand, where he worked for John Burns & Co.[3]

He signed up for the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in March 1916, and after three months training with the Mounted Rifles, departed for Europe in June.[3] He served in France alongside two of his brothers and was involved in the Battle of the Somme and the Battle of Messines,[3] during which he was shot in the neck. He subsequently recovered in a hospital in England.[4] After a short trip to see family in Samoa in 1918,[5] he returned to New Zealand.[3] However, he later came back to Samoa and became involved in horse racing during the 1920s.[6]

Following the introduction of the Legislative Assembly in 1948, he contested the European seats in the first elections as a member of the United Citizens Party, and was elected in fifth place.[7] His wife Bella died in April 1951,[8] and he did not contest the elections shortly afterwards. He died in Tokoroa in New Zealand in 1971.[9]

References
  1. William Frederick Stowers Auckland War Memorial
  2. Marist Brother's Commercial School Samoa Weekly Herald, 8 August 1896
  3. Samoa-born Soldier Returns to His Home Samoanische Zeitung, 22 June 1918
  4. Private William Stowers Wounded Samoanische Zeitung, 8 September 1917
  5. Local and General News Samoanische Zeitung, 15 June 1918
  6. Turf Notes Samoanische Zeitung, 10 September 1926
  7. Samoa's new Assembly Pacific Islands Monthly, May 1948, p7
  8. Death of a W. Samoan resident Pacific Islands Monthly, June 1951, p38
  9. William F. Stowers – A Samoan in the Great War The Museum of Samoa
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