Peter Fraser (New Zealand politician)

The Right Honourable Peter Fraser CH
Peter Fraser, Prime Minister of New Zealand, circa 1946.
24th Prime Minister of New Zealand
In office 27 March 1940 – 13 December 1949
Monarch	George VI
Governor-General	George Monckton-Arundell Cyril Newall Bernard Freberg
Preceded by	Michael Joseph Savage
Succeeded by	Sidney Holland
15th Leader of the Opposition
In office 13 December 1949 – 12 December 1950
Preceded by	Sidney Holland
Succeeded by	Walter Nash
4th President of the Labour Party
In office 1920–1921
Vice President	Frederick Cooke
Leader	Harry Holland
Preceded by	Tom Paul
Succeeded by	Frederick Cooke
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Wellington Central
In office 1918–1946
Preceded by	Robert Fletcher
Succeeded by	Charles Henry Chapman
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Brooklyn
In office 1946–1951
Preceded by	None, seat created
Succeeded by	Arnold Nordmeyer
Personal details
Born	(1884-08-28)28 August 1884 Hill of Fearn, Scotland
Died	12 December 1950(1950-12-12) (aged 66) Wellington, New Zealand
Political party	Labour (1916-50) Social Democratic (1913-16) Socialist (1910-13)
Spouse(s)	Janet Henderson Munro
Children	None
Profession	Stevedore
Religion	Presbyterian

Peter Fraser CH PC (28 August 1884 – 12 December 1950) was a New Zealand political figure who served as the 24th Prime Minister from 27 March 1940 until 13 December 1949. He assumed the office nearly seven months after the outbreak of World War II and remained as head of government for almost ten years. Considered by historians as a major figure in the history of New Zealand Labour Party, he was in office longer than any other New Zealand Labour Prime Minister and is to date the fourth longest serving Prime Minister.

A native of Scotland, Peter Fraser was born in Hill of Fearn, a small village near the town of Tain in the Highland area of Easter Ross. He received a basic education, but had to leave school due to his family's poor financial state. Though apprenticed to a carpenter, he eventually abandoned this trade due to extremely poor eyesight – later in life, faced with difficulty reading official documents, he would insist on spoken reports rather than written ones. Before the deterioration of his vision, however, he read extensively – with socialist activists such as Keir Hardie and Robert Blatchford among his favourites.

Becoming politically active in his early teens, he was 16 years old upon attaining the post of secretary of the local Liberal Association, and, eight years later, in 1908, joined the Independent Labour Party.