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Election poster, 1853

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Election poster, 1853

English settlers were prominent in the agitation for representative government in New Zealand from the late 1840s, and English Chartism helped shape the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852. Two Wellington settlers, William Fitzherbert and Charles Clifford, stood as Liberal candidates in the first elections for the Wellington Provincial Council in 1853.

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Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: Eph-D-POLITICS-Wellington-1853-01

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Terry Hearn, English – Contribution to government, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/ephemera/1990/election-poster-1853 (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Terry Hearn, published 4 March 2009, updated 1 August 2024.