James Macandrew was a New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 ship-owner and politician. He served as a Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 from 1853 to 1887 and as the last Superintendent of Otago Province

Otago Province

The Otago Province was a province of New Zealand until the abolition of provincial government in 1876.-Area:The capital of the province was Dunedin...

.

Early life

Macandrew was born in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, probably in Aberdeen

Aberdeen

Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....

, where he was baptised on 18 May 1819.

He became active in the Free Church of Scotland

Free Church of Scotland (1843-1900)

The Free Church of Scotland is a Scottish denomination which was formed in 1843 by a large withdrawal from the established Church of Scotland in a schism known as the "Disruption of 1843"...

, and from there, in the proposed colonisation of Otago

Otago

Otago is a region of New Zealand in the south of the South Island. The region covers an area of approximately making it the country's second largest region. The population of Otago is...

 (which was being advocated by the Lay Association of the Free Church of Scotland, later the Otago Association). In partnership with his brother-in-law William Hunter Reynolds

William Hunter Reynolds

William Hunter Reynolds was a 19th century businessman and Member of Parliament in Dunedin, Otago Region, New Zealand...

, Macandrew bought a schooner

Schooner

A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....

, loaded it with cargo, and set sail for Otago with his family. He arrived in January 1851.

Still working in partnership with his brother-in-law, Macandrew immediately became a major figure in the business community of Dunedin

Dunedin

Dunedin is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the principal city of the Otago Region. It is considered to be one of the four main urban centres of New Zealand for historic, cultural, and geographic reasons. Dunedin was the largest city by territorial land area until...

. Reynolds, his brother-in-law, began to build up a shipping business, while Macandrew himself established a trading firm in the city. The partners later established a steamer service between Dunedin and Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. The two soon became very wealthy.

Political career

When it was formed, Macandrew was elected to the New Zealand Parliament, representing the Town of Dunedin electorate. In Parliament, he fought what he saw as a bias towards the northern provinces (Auckland

Auckland

The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...

 and Wellington

Wellington

Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...

) at the expense of his own Otago. He also defended the practice of opening Parliament with prayers (describing them as a necessary "acknowledgement of dependence on the Divine Being"), and lobbied that all Parliamentary debates be published. As well as serving in Parliament, Macandrew was also Superintendent

Superintendent (politics)

Superintendent was the elected head of each Provincial Council in New Zealand from 1853 to 1876.-Historical context:Provinces existed in New Zealand from 1841 until 1876 as a form of sub-national government. After the initial provinces pre-1853, new provinces were formed by the New Zealand...

 of Otago Province from 1860 to 1861, and again from 1867 until abolition in 1876.

He remained in Parliament until his death on 24 February 1887, having served in nine separate terms for the electorates. He first served for Town of Dunedin

Dunedin (New Zealand electorate)

Dunedin or the City of Dunedin or the Town of Dunedin was a parliamentary electorate in the city of Dunedin in Otago, New Zealand. It was one of the original electorates created in 1853 and existed, with two breaks, until 1905. Most of the time, it was a multi-member electorate.-History:From 1853...

 1853-58 (he resigned on 2 November 1858). He successfully contested a 14 January 1859 by-election in the same electorate and served until the end of the parliamentary term in 1860. Next, he served in the Bruce

Bruce (New Zealand electorate)

Bruce was a rural parliamentary electorate in the Otago region of New Zealand, from 1861 to 1922. For part of the 1860s with the influx to Otago of gold-miners it was a multi-member constituency with two members.-History:...

 electorate 1865-66, followed by Clutha

Clutha (New Zealand electorate)

Clutha was a New Zealand Parliamentary electorate, from 1866 to 1996.-Population centres:This electorate is in the rural part of Southland.-History:The electorate was established in 1866...

 1866-70, Port Chalmers

Port Chalmers (New Zealand electorate)

Port Chalmers then Chalmers was a parliamentary electorate in the Otago region of New Zealand, from 1866 to 1938. It was centred on the town of Port Chalmers, the main port of Dunedin and Otago.-History:...

 1871-75 and City of Dunedin

Dunedin (New Zealand electorate)

Dunedin or the City of Dunedin or the Town of Dunedin was a parliamentary electorate in the city of Dunedin in Otago, New Zealand. It was one of the original electorates created in 1853 and existed, with two breaks, until 1905. Most of the time, it was a multi-member electorate.-History:From 1853...

 1875-79. His last term was in Port Chalmers again from 1879–87, when he died.

Commemoration

The town of Macandrew Bay on the Otago Peninsula

Otago Peninsula

The Otago Peninsula is a long, hilly indented finger of land that forms the easternmost part of Dunedin, New Zealand. Volcanic in origin, it forms one wall of the eroded valley that now forms Otago Harbour. The peninsula lies south-east of Otago Harbour and runs parallel to the mainland for...

 is named after James Macandrew, and Dunedin's former main sporting venue, Carisbrook is named after his former home in the city. Macandrew is buried at Macandrew Bay.