Arthur Grigg Explained

Arthur Nattle Grigg MC (1896 – 29 November 1941) was a New Zealand politician of the National Party.

Biography

Grigg was born in 1896 to farmer John Charles Nattle Grigg and Alice Montgomerie Hutton, making him a grandson of prominent Canterbury runholder John Grigg. He was educated at Christ's College and was to become a farmer upon completing his education.

During World War I Grigg served in the Royal Field Artillery from 1916 to 1919. After returning home he married Mary Cracroft Wilson in 1920, with whom he had two sons and a daughter. Grigg represented the electorate of Mid-Canterbury in Parliament from the, when he defeated Horace Herring.[1] He was a Major in the NZEF in World War II, and was killed on 29 November 1941[2] when Brigadier Hargest's headquarters in Libya was overrun. He was posthumously awarded the Military Cross.[3]

Prime Minister Peter Fraser described Grigg as "a young member of ability and promise".[4] His widow Mary Grigg succeeded him in the Mid-Canterbury electorate and became the first woman National MP, but retired when she remarried.

References

Notes and References

  1. News: The Mid-Canterbury Seat . 2 December 2011 . Ellesmere Guardian . LIX . 86 . 28 October 1938 . 5.
  2. Book: Scholefield, Guy . Guy Scholefield

    . New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1949 . Guy Scholefield . 3rd . First ed. published 1913 . 1950 . Govt. Printer . Wellington . 110.

  3. Web site: Parliamentarians in two world wars . . 23 April 2012 . 29 December 2019 . 13 June 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200613153547/https://www.parliament.nz/en/get-involved/features-pre-2016/document/00NZPHomeNews210420101/parliamentarians-in-two-world-wars#RelatedAnchor . dead .
  4. News: Killed in Action / Major A. N. Grigg, M.P. . . 1941-12-10 . 22 September 2016 . 9.