Ellesmere (New Zealand electorate)

Ellesmere was a parliamentary electorate in the Canterbury region of New Zealand. It existed for two periods between 1861 and 1928 and was represented by six Members of Parliament.

Ellesmere was a rural electorate. It was created in the 1860 Electoral Redistribution and was used in its initial form for the 1861 election. It was located on Banks Peninsula and included Sumner, Ferrymead, settlements around Lyttelton Harbour excluding Lyttelton itself (which had its own electorate). On the peninsula, its boundary with Akaroa was east of Port Levy. In the south-west, it bordered Lake Ellesmere / Te Waihora but surprisingly, the lake that gave the electorate its name was not included in the electorate, but belonged to Cheviot.

The electorate was abolished between 1866 and 1890. In December 1887, the House of Representatives voted to reduce its membership from general electorates from 91 to 70. The 1890 electoral redistribution used the same 1886 census data used for the 1887 electoral redistribution. In addition, three-member electorates were introduced in the four main centres. This resulted in a major restructuring of electorates, and Ellesmere was one of eight electorates to be re-created for the 1890 election. It covered an entirely different area than before, and it was placed between the Ashburton and Selwyn electorates, thus pushing them apart. In the east, it covered most of Lake Ellesmere, but excluded Kaitorete Spit. In the west, it stopped short of the Ashburton River and did not include Ashburton itself. It went as far inland as the headwaters of the Rakaia River. Southbridge, Rakaia, Leeston, and Methven fell into the electorate.

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