Alfred Ludlam
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Alfred Ludlam MP |
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| Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Hutt |
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In office 1853–1855 |
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In office 1855–1856 |
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In office 1866–1870 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born | 1810 Newry Ireland, United Kingdom |
| Died | 8 November 1877 Wellington New Zealand |
| Political party | Independent |
| Spouse(s) | Fanny Ludlam (née Gibbes) |
| Profession | politician, horticulturist and farmer |
Alfred Ludlam (1810 – 8 November 1877) was a leading New Zealand politician, horticulturist and farmer who owned land at Wellington and in the Hutt Valley. A member of three of New Zealand's four earliest parliaments, he was also a philanthropist and a founder of Wellington's Botanic Garden.
Born in or near the town of Newry, County Down, Ireland, Ludlam lived for a while in the West Indies before coming to New Zealand, where he would spend the rest of his life apart from visits to Australia and England. (Little is known about Ludlam's early activities in Ireland or the West Indies but a preserved specimen of the common iguana, collected by him on Tobago, is listed in an 1845 British Museum catalogue of lizards.)
Alfred Ludlam was aged 30 when he arrived at Wellington on New Zealand's North Island on 12 December 1840 from Gravesend in England. He is listed as a "cabin passenger" aboard the 700-ton emigrant vessel London, which sailed under the auspices of the New Zealand Company. (The company had been formed in London the previous year with the purpose of promoting the orderly colonisation of New Zealand by British settlers.) He prospered in his new homeland, proving to be an energetic, intelligent and highly capable settler who proceeded to play an active role in the Wellington region's civic and cultural life. He also assisted the Lower Hutt militia during the New Zealand land wars, which pitted the British colonists against the indigenous Māori tribes. He served in the militia as Captain Ludlam from July 1860 onwards.
In 1853 voters chose Ludlam and Edward Gibbon Wakefield, the former director of the New Zealand Company, to represent the electorate of Hutt in New Zealand's 1st Parliament, which opened in Wellington on 24 May the following year. Ludlam would also be elected as a member of the 2nd Parliament and the 4th Parliament, representing Hutt in 1853–55 (resigned 9 July), 1855–56 (resigned 16 August) and 1866–70 (retired). He resigned his seat before the conclusion of both the 1st and 2nd Parliaments.
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