James McCombs

James McCombs
File:James McCombs 1920s.jpg James McCombs between 1920 and 1925
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Lyttelton
In office 1913–1933
Preceded by	George Laurenson
Succeeded by	Elizabeth McCombs
Deputy Leader of the Labour Party
In office 1919–1923
Leader	Harry Holland
Succeeded by	Michael Joseph Savage
1st President of the Labour Party
In office 1916–1917
Vice President	Andrew Walker
Leader	Alfred Hindmarsh
Succeeded by	Andrew Walker
Personal details
Born	(1873-12-09)9 December 1873 County Leitrim, Ireland
Died	Christchurch
Political party	Social Democrat (1913–1916) Labour (1916–1933)
Spouse(s)	Elizabeth McCombs (married 1903)
Children	Four (two of which were adopted), incl. Terry McCombs

James (Jimmy) McCombs (9 December 1873 – 2 August 1933) was a New Zealand Member of Parliament for Lyttelton.

Early years

McCombs was born in County Leitrim, Ireland and came to New Zealand with his parents in 1876 as a three-year-old. He was educated at Sydenham School and Christchurch East School. A successful businessman, McCombs owned a drapery in Christchurch.

Local political involvement

McCombs was involved in the temperance movement (with Tommy Taylor), the Progressive Liberal Association (with Harry Ell) and was a friend of George Laurenson. McCombs served on the Christchurch City Council between 1913–17 and 1931–1933.

McCombs contested the 1917 Christchurch mayoral election against the incumbent, Henry Holland, along the lines of win-the-war (Holland) and anti-conscription (McCombs). The result was a crushing defeat of McCombs; Holland received 12,177 votes and McCombs received 5,381. Holland retired from the mayoralty in 1919; the election was contested by three candidates: Henry Thacker, John Joseph Dougall (Mayor of Christchurch 1911–1912) and McCombs (who at that time was MP for Lyttelton). Thacker won the contest, and McCombs came last.

Member of Parliament

Parliament of New Zealand
Years	Term	Electorate		Party
1913–1914	18th	Lyttelton		Social Democrat
1914–1916	19th	Lyttelton		Social Democrat
1916	Changed allegiance to:			Labour
1917	Changed allegiance to:			Independent Labour
1918–1919	Changed allegiance to:			Labour
1919–1922	20th	Lyttelton		Labour
1922–1925	21st	Lyttelton		Labour
1926–1928	22nd	Lyttelton		Labour
1928–1931	23rd	Lyttelton		Labour
1931–1933	24th	Lyttelton		Labour

In the 1908 election, McCombs stood in Christchurch East as an Independent Liberal candidate; at the 1911 contest for Avon he was a Liberal-Labour candidate polling 2,817 votes to the official Labour candidate's 798 on the first ballot.

James McCombs represented the Lyttelton electorate for 20 years from the 1913 by-election (following the death of George Laurenson). McCombs found it difficult to support a family and maintain homes in Wellington and Christchurch on a MP’s salary of £8.10.0 a week. Once when rushing to get the ferry home, his suitcase flew open and several rolls of toilet paper fell out. Subsequently Parliament got toilet paper in paper squares instead of rolls.

When Labour's caucus leader Alfred Hindmarsh died during the Influenza epidemic, Labour's leadership was open. McCombs made claim to the title but was opposed by the more militant Harry Holland. The caucus held an election to decide between the two. The result was a tie. After drawing lots, Holland was successful.

McCombs had been the inaugural president of the New Zealand Labour Party in 1916. In the following year, he resigned the presidency and his membership of the Labour Party over the state control of liquor issue. After rejoining the party in 1918, McCombs served as Labour's deputy leader from 1919 until 1923. During the 1920s McCombs with Dan Sullivan led the opposition to Harry Holland within the Parliamentary Labour Party caucus attempting several leadership challenges, all of which were unsuccessful.

After the confusion following the 1922 general election McCombs was nominated by Holland (partly for political reasons) for the role of speaker, though lost to Reform's candidate Charles Statham 61 votes to 17. The 1925 general election was contested by Melville Lyons and the incumbent, McCombs. The original count resulted in a tie of 4,900 votes each. The returning officer gave his casting vote to Lyons and declared him elected. A recount was demanded, and on 3 December 1925, an amended result of 4,890 votes for Lyons and 4,884 votes for McCombs was determined, with the differences in the counts explained by counting informal votes in a different way. Lyons' election was declared void on 13 March 1926, and McCombs was restored as the holder of the electorate.

The 1931 election had a close result, with McCombs just 32 votes ahead of the United/Reform Coalition candidate, Christchurch civil engineer Frederick Willie Freeman.

McCombs held the electorate until 1933, when he died in office. The electorate was then held by his wife Elizabeth McCombs from 1933 to 1935, and his son Terry McCombs from 1935 to 1951.

Death

He died at Christchurch on 2 August 1933 from heart failure, and was buried in Waimairi Cemetery.

References

New Zealand Parliament
Preceded by George Laurenson	Member of Parliament for Lyttelton 1913–1925 1926–1933	Succeeded by Melville Lyons
Preceded by Melville Lyons		Succeeded by Elizabeth McCombs
Party political offices
New political party	President of the Labour Party 1916–1917	Succeeded by Andrew Walker
New title	Deputy-Leader of the Labour Party 1919–1923	Succeeded by Michael Joseph Savage