Alfred Cox (politician)

Alfred Cox
Portrait of Alfred Cox
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Heathcote
In office 28 October 1863 – 27 January 1866
Preceded by	William Sefton Moorhouse
Succeeded by	John Hall
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Timaru
In office 20 February 1866 – 14 October 1868
Preceded by	Francis Jollie
Succeeded by	Edward Stafford
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Waipa
In office 11 January 1876 – 13 June 1878
Preceded by	new constituency
Succeeded by	Edward Graham McMinn
Personal details
Born	23 May 1825 Clarendon, New South Wales, Australia
Died	23 May 1911(1911-05-23) (aged 85) St Albans, Christchurch, New Zealand
Spouse(s)	Mary Macpherson (m. 1849; d. 1899)
Relations	William Cox (father) Ernest Gray (brother-in-law) Frederick Alexander Whitaker (son-in-law)
Residence	Raukapuka (1857–1870) Lake House (1873–1879)
Occupation	runholder, politician

Alfred Cox (3 June 1825 – 23 May 1911) was a 19th-century and Member of the New Zealand House of Representatives. Born in New South Wales into an upper middle class military family, he was sent home to England to learn about farming. Upon returning to New South Wales, he heard about the large profits that were possible in South Canterbury and bought licenses for land that he had not seen. He stocked the land, put a manager in charge and made another trip to England with his wife and their, at that time, small family. He moved to New Zealand permanently in 1857 and lived on his large farm, Raukapuka, which stretched from the sea to the foothills, and of which the homestead was located in present-day Geraldine. He sold his South Canterbury interests and moved to the Waikato, where he bought large land holdings in Hamilton and Thames. He tried to drain his swamp land and lost a lot of money with those ventures. He sold up in 1882 and moved to Christchurch, where he retired.

He became politically active in South Canterbury and represented the area first in the Canterbury Provincial Council and then in the House of Representatives. He was the driving force behind the establishment of some of the South Canterbury local bodies. During his time in the Waikato, he represented a local electorate in the House of Representatives. He resigned due to ill health and later tried to re-establish his parliamentary career in a South Canterbury electorate, but was beaten by William Rolleston.

Cox was born in 1825 in Clarendon, New South Wales. His father was William Cox, an English soldier, known as an explorer, road builder and pioneer in the early period of British settlement in Australia. His mother was Anna Blachford, his father's second wife. Cox received his education at The King's School in Parramatta. As a teenager, he attended the funeral of Samuel Marsden in Parramatta.