James Gladstone Edwards

James Gladstone Edwards (24 February 1927 – 5 April 2010) was a member of parliament for Napier, in the North Island of New Zealand.

Biography Early life and career Edwards was born in Sydney in 1927. His family moved to New Zealand when he was a child and settled in Napier. He attended Napier Boys' High School before going to Victoria University College where he graduated with a Master of Arts. He then attended Wellington Teachers' College from 1945 to 1946 before becoming a teacher from 1947 to 1952. He then left teaching to take up a position as a lands and deeds clerk at the Department of Justice from 1953 to 1954.

Political career

Edwards joined the Labour Party in 1949 and became secretary of the Woodville branch of the party and from 1951 to 1952 he was a member of the Labour Representation Committee. He then moved to Napier and was elected vice-president of the Napier branch in 1953 and also a member of the Labour Representation Committee.

Edwards was the MP for for 12 years from to 1966. From 1956 to 1957 he was a member of the Labour Party's national executive. He rejoined the Labour Party and in 1977 he unsuccessfully stood for the Wellington City Council on a Labour Party ticket. Ahead of the he was an aspirant for the Labour nomination in the electorate (which Nordmeyer had previously been the MP for) after the then MP, Gerald O'Brien, faced questions around his re-selection viability. He was not selected with the nomination going instead to Frank O'Flynn, the former MP for .

He was awarded the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal, and the Queen's Service Medal for public services in the 1994 Queen's Birthday Honours.

A former resident of Island Bay, Wellington and Raumati, he then moved to Mandurah, Western Australia. He died at his Mandurah home in 2010 after a period of illness.

Personal life In 1956 Edwards married Alison Nordmeyer, the daughter of senior Labour MP Arnold Nordmeyer, with whom he had one son and one daughter.