John Robertson (New Zealand politician, born 1875)

John Robertson MP
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Otaki
In office 20 November 1911 – 10 December 1914
Preceded by	William Hughes Field
Succeeded by	William Hughes Field
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Masterton
In office 27 November 1935 – 25 September 1943
Preceded by	George Sykes
Succeeded by	Garnet Mackley
Personal details
Born	1875 Scotland
Died	1952 New Zealand
Political party	Labour Party

John Robertson (1875–1952) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party.

Robertson was born in Scotland, and was a watchmaker. He was a founder member in 1892 and later Secretary of the Independent Labour Party in Britain. He emigrated to New Zealand in 1902.

He represented the Otaki electorate from 1911, when he was elected on the second ballot with Reform Party support, having been nominated by the flax-workers union. He stood Labour Party. though was also endorsed by the New Zealand Socialist Party.

Robertson was the only sitting Labour MP who supported the formation of the Social Democratic Party in 1913 and joined the party. He ran for re-election in Otaki in 1914, but he was defeated by William Hughes Field of the Reform Party. During the 1914 election, Robertson was the Social Democrat's representative in distributing servicemen's votes as he was their most senior MP at the time.

Robertson was the candidate for the Labour Party in the Riccarton electorate in the 1919 election, but came last of the three candidates.

Later he represented the Masterton electorate for the Labour Party from 1935 to 1943, when he was again defeated. He was appointed to the Legislative Council on 31 January 1946 and served until its abolition on 31 December 1950.

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