Hugh Carleton

Hugh Carleton
Hugh Francis Carleton in ca 1870s
2nd Chairman of Committees
In office 1856–1870
Preceded by	Frederick Merriman
Succeeded by	Maurice O'Rorke
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Bay of Islands
In office 1853 – 1870
Preceded by	New constituency
Succeeded by	In abeyance (title next held by Richard Hobbs)
Personal details
Born	3 July 1810 Ireland
Died	14 July 1890(1890-07-14) (aged 80) London
Spouse(s)	Lydia Jane Williams, youngest daughter of the missionary Henry Williams
Relations	Henry Williams (father-in-law)

Hugh Francis Carleton (3 July 1810 – 14 July 1890) was New Zealand's first member of parliament.

Carleton was born in 1810. He was the son of Francis Carleton (1780–1870) and Charlotte Margaretta Molyneux-Montgomerie (d. 1874). Hugh Carleton, 1st Viscount Carleton was the brother of his grandfather, John Carleton. His family was living in Clare, County Tipperary and then Greenfield, County Cork, Ireland. He was educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge. He studied law in London, then art in Italy.

He settled in the Bay of Islands in 1842. On 30 November 1859, he married Lydia Jane Williams, youngest daughter of the missionary Henry Williams and Marianne Williams; they had no children.

He became a journalist in Auckland and edited the New Zealander then established the Anglo-Maori Warder, which followed an editorial policy in opposition to Governor George Grey. In 1856 he became the editor of the Southern Cross.

He was a member of New Zealand's first, second, third, and fourth Parliaments, representing the Bay of Islands electorate from 1853 to 1870, when he was defeated. Due to the system of staggering used in the first general election, Carleton was actually the first MP ever elected in New Zealand (though he was elected unopposed), hence he liked to be called the Father of the House.