William Tanner (politician)
| William Tanner | |
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| Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Avon |
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In office 1893 – 1908 |
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| Preceded by | Edwin Blake |
| Succeeded by | George Warren Russell |
| Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Heathcote |
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In office 1890 – 1893 |
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| Preceded by | Frederic Jones |
| Succeeded by | electorate abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1851 Northamptonshire, England |
| Died | 1938 (aged 86–87) |
| Political party | Liberal (1905 onward) |
| Children | Walter Tanner |
William Wilcox Tanner (1851–1938) was a New Zealand politician of the Liberal Party. In 1905 he was associated with the New Liberal Party group.
William Tanner was born in Moulton, Northamptonshire, England in 1851. In 1877 he married a daughter of Mr. J. Browett of London. They came to New Zealand in 1879 on the Waitara. He worked as a boot maker in both England and New Zealand.
William Tanner represented the Christchurch seats of Heathcote from 1890 to 1893 and then Avon from 1893 to 1908, when he was defeated.
Among the radical policies that Tanner approved of were-the nationalisation of land, periodic revaluation of Crown leaseholds, and the establishment of a state bank (Lyttelton Times, 11 November 1902, p. 3).
He was a member of the Woolston Municipal Council (1893–1900), Canterbury Hospital Board (1911–14), and Secretary to the Bootmakers' Union of Christchurch. Tanner was considered to be "the first Labour candidate" to be elected to the New Zealand House of Representatives in 1890 when he was successful in the Heathcote electorate.
Tanner was described by the Lyttelton Times in 1902 as: "Methodical, studious, always ready to refer to statistics, records and a terror for detail" (Lyttelton Times, 18 October 1902, p. 4). The Christchurch Press said of him: "Nice voice, speaks slowly with a precision almost painful...Hard-working, intelligent, industrious and no reason to doubt his honesty".
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