Terry McCombs

Sir Terence Henderson McCombs (5 September 1905 – 6 November 1982) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party, a High Commissioner, and the first principal of Cashmere High School.

Biography Early life McCombs was born in 1905 and received his early education at Fendalton School. He was further educated at Christchurch Boys' High School and Waitaki Boys' High School before graduating from Canterbury University College with MSc(Hons) in chemistry in 1929. He won two research scholarships in chemistry and was hoping to obtain a post in the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) but at the time, due to the Great Depression, the DSIR was not hiring any new staff.

Member of Parliament

Following his mother's death, McCombs was selected as her replacement as the Labour Party candidate for the Lyttelton electorate. In 1957, he again became a member of the University of Canterbury Council (the name of which Canterbury University College had been changed to). He was Chancellor of the University of Canterbury from 1968 to 1971. He was a member of Rotary International and belonged to the Christchurch South club, of which he was the district governor of in 1967. After being recalled early from his posting to London, to ease the retirement of outgoing Deputy Prime Minister Hugh Watt, he was appointed chairman of the Committee on Secondary Schools from 1975 to 1976. He was appointed chairman of the council's town-planning committee. He gained a wealth of knowledge on the subject of planning and the complex laws that governed it and, according to Deputy Mayor Rex Lester, he "...always seemed to have the uncanny ability in coming up with the right decision."

Death He died on 6 November 1982 in Kawakawa hospital, aged 77, while on a holiday in Northland. He was survived by his second wife, four sons and a daughter.

Honours and awards In 1953, McCombs was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, for services to education, in the 1971 Queen's Birthday Honours and a Knight Bachelor in April 1975.

Family His parents, Elizabeth McCombs (née Henderson) and James McCombs, were both socialists. Between them, his parents represented the electorate from to 1935.

In 1935 he married Beryl Lavinia Butterick. Beryl died in 1952, and as a result McCombs became a solo parent with four school-age children. He was later remarried to Christina Mary Tulloch in 1955. She died in Christchurch on 13 August 2016, aged 99 years.