Jack Watts (politician) explained

Honorific-Prefix:The Honourable
Jack Watts
Order:29th Minister of Finance
Primeminister:Sidney Holland
Keith Holyoake
Term Start:November 1954
Term End:12 December 1957
Predecessor:Sidney Holland
Successor:Arnold Nordmeyer
Order2:15th Minister of Health
Primeminister2:Sidney Holland
Term Start2:13 December 1949
Term End2:19 December 1951
Predecessor2:Mabel Howard
Successor2:Jack Marshall
Constituency Mp3:Riccarton
Parliament3:New Zealand
Term Start3:25 September 1943
Term End3:27 November 1946
Predecessor3:Bert Kyle
Successor3:Angus McLagan
Constituency Mp4:St Albans
Parliament4:New Zealand
Term Start4:27 November 1946
Term End4:30 November 1957
Predecessor4:new constituency
Successor4:Neville Pickering
Constituency Mp5:Fendalton
Parliament5:New Zealand
Term Start5:30 November 1957
Term End5:26 November 1960
Predecessor5:Sidney Holland
Successor5:Harry Lake
Birth Date:1909 4, df=y
Birth Place:Palmerston North, New Zealand
Death Place:Wellington, New Zealand
Party:National
Spouse:Gwendolyn Irene Grange
Children:5

Jack Thomas Watts (15 April 1909 – 10 August 1970) was a New Zealand politician of the National Party and the twenty-ninth Minister of Finance, from November 1954 to 12 December 1957, when he retired.

Biography

Early life and career

Watts was born in Palmerston North in 1909. He was educated at Christchurch Boys High School and Canterbury University where he attained a Master of Laws. In 1932 he won the Butterwoth Prize in Law and the Canterbury Law Society Gold Medal. In 1934 he started his own legal practice. In 1937 he married Gwendolyn Irene Grange with whom he had five children.

During World War II Watts served as an officer in the New Zealand Army but did not serve abroad. He was medically discharged from the army in early 1943 due to high blood pressure.

Political career

He was the Member of Parliament for Riccarton 1943–46, then St Albans 1946–57, then Fendalton 1957–60.

During the First National Government, he was Minister of Health and Minister for Social Security in the first Holland Ministry (1949–54), then Minister of Finance and Minister in Charge of the Census and Statistics Department in the second Holland Ministry (1954–57) and in the first Holyoake Ministry of 1957 (plus Minister in Charge of the Inland Revenue Department).

In 1957 he lost a caucus poll to Jack Marshall for the deputy leadership of the National Party (and consequently the position of Deputy Prime Minister). Watts was bitterly disappointed feeling that he (who held a more prominent portfolio and had been in the House for three years longer) should have been chosen. The result was secret and several cabinet ministers privately speculated that Watts had won, but Holyoake overturned the result. Parliamentary colleagues were concerned with Watts' health which may have counted against him in the ballot. He had been hospitalized after suffering a heart attack shortly before the 1954 election and in 1959 he suffered a thrombosis which blinded him temporarily.

After the Government's defeat in the he became National's spokesperson for finance, trade and marketing and ranked third in caucus while National was in opposition.[1] He decided to retire, however, at the due to poor health.

In 1953, Watts was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal.[2]

Later life and death

After exiting politics he resumed his profession as a legal practitioner and was also a member of the board of directors of several commercial companies.

Watts suffered another heart attack and died in Wellington on 10 August 1970.[3] [4] He was buried at Makara Cemetery.[5]

His son Julian Watts was chairman of the Wellington National Party and stood for National in Western Hutt at the, losing to Henry May.

References

External links

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Notes and References

  1. News: National Party Caucus . 21 March 1958 . . 12 .
  2. News: Coronation Medal . Supplement to the New Zealand Gazette . 37 . 3 July 1953 . 1021–1035 . 20 March 2022.
  3. Book: Representatives, New Zealand Parliament House of. Parliamentary Debates. 1971. en.
  4. Web site: Death search: registration number 1970/48086 . Births, deaths & marriages online . Department of Internal Affairs . 20 March 2022.
  5. Web site: Jack Thomas Watts . Wellington City Council . 20 March 2022.