Ted Cullen

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Ted Cullen
18th Minister of Agriculture
In office
19 December 1946 – 13 December 1949
Prime MinisterPeter Fraser
Preceded byBen Roberts
Succeeded byKeith Holyoake
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Hawkes Bay
In office
27 November 1935 – 27 November 1946
Preceded byHugh Campbell
Succeeded byCyril Harker
Personal details
Born(1895-09-05)5 September 1895
Havelock North, New Zealand
Died18 February 1963(1963-02-18) (aged 67)
Hastings, New Zealand
Political partyLabour
AwardsMilitary Medal
Military service
AllegianceNew Zealand Army
Rank Sergeant
Battles/warsWorld War I

Edward Luttrell Cullen MM (5 September 1895 – 18 February 1963) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party, and a cabinet minister in the First Labour Government.

Biography[edit]

Early life[edit]

Cullen was born in Havelock North, and educated at Nuhaka Native School and Napier Boys' High School. He joined the NZEF as a Rifleman then Sergeant (No 12356) in World War I, and was awarded the Military Medal for bravery.[1]

He farmed at Wairoa and became Director of the Wairoa Co-operative Dairy Company. In this position he actively assisted returned servicemen and local Māori in becoming farmers.[1]

Political career[edit]

New Zealand Parliament
Years Term Electorate Party
1935–1938 25th Hawkes Bay Labour
1938–1943 26th Hawkes Bay Labour
1943–1946 27th Hawkes Bay Labour
1946–1949 28th Hastings Labour

He represented the Hawkes Bay electorate from 1935 to 1946, having stood there unsuccessfully in 1931.[2] In 1946, following an electoral redistribution, he won the Hastings electorate, but was defeated in 1949.[3]

He was Minister of Agriculture from 1946 to 1949 and also Minister of Marketing from 1947 to 1949.[4] He was a self described militarist and supported compulsory military training, an issue to which most Labour members were opposed.[5]

Later life and death[edit]

After leaving Parliament he resumed farming and became a business partner of Sir James Wattie, producing many of the fruit and vegetables that were processed at the Wattie's cannery. He was approached several times to return to politics, but he declined.[6]

Cullen died in Hastings on 18 February 1963, aged 67.[6]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ a b Gustafson 1986, p. 279.
  2. ^ "A Coalition Certainty". The Evening Post. Vol. CXII, no. 120. 17 November 1931. p. 10. Retrieved 29 June 2014.
  3. ^ Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. p. 191. OCLC 154283103.
  4. ^ Scholefield, G. H. (1951) [1908]. Who's Who in New Zealand (5 ed.). Wellington: Reed. p. 55.
  5. ^ Bassett & King 2000, p. 338.
  6. ^ a b "Obituary - Mr. E. L. Cullen". The Evening Post. 19 February 1963. p. 15.

References[edit]

Political offices
Preceded by Minister of Agriculture
1946–1949
Succeeded by
New Zealand Parliament
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Hawkes Bay
1935–1946
Succeeded by
New constituency Member of Parliament for Hastings
1946–1949
Succeeded by