Marsden (New Zealand electorate)

Marsden is a former parliamentary electorate, in the Whangarei District and in the Northland Region of New Zealand.

The initial 24 New Zealand electorates were defined by Governor George Grey in March 1853, based on the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 that had been passed by the British government. The Constitution Act also allowed the House of Representatives to establish new electorates, and this was first done in 1858, when four new electorates were formed by splitting existing electorates. Marsden was one of those four electorates, and it covered the northern area split off from the Northern Division electorate.

The electorate was mixed urban and rural, around the city of Whangarei.

The electorate existed from 1858 to 1972, and the first election was held on 29 November 1859, which was during the term of the 2nd Parliament. James Farmer was the first representative. The second representative was John Munro, who was elected on 27 December 1860, and served the whole term of the 3rd Parliament.

Francis Hull was elected to the 4th Parliament, resigned in 1869 and was succeeded by Munro in the February by-election. Munro served the rest of the term, plus the term of the 5th Parliament.

All subsequent representatives have always served full terms.

The 1887 election was contested by Robert Thompson and Joseph Dargaville, and they received 955 and 550 votes, respectively. Thompson was thus declared elected.

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