King Dick Seddon

100 years ago, NZ’s longest serving Prime Minister died.

Richard John Seddon served as Premier and Prime Minister from 27 April 1893 to his death on 10 June 1906. He was a few days short of his 61st birthday and served just over 13 years as PM.

For those interested the next longest serving have been:

William Massey 12 years 10 mths
Keith Holyoake 11 years 4 mths
Peter Fraser 9 years 8 mths
Rob Muldoon 8 years 7 mths
Jim Bolger 7 years 1 mth

When I worked in the PMs Office one of my jobs was to create the content for an official website for the PM. This included researching the histories of the previous 35 Premiers and Prime Ministers.

What struck me reading the newspapers from the turn of the century, was how absolutely hostile the main newspapers were towards Seddon. It made his accomplishments at winning the 1893, 1896, 1899, 1902 and 1905 elections even more impressive.

Nice to see his family are having a family reunion today.