20 Facts About Claude Weston

Claude Weston's parents were Maria Cracroft Weston and Thomas S Weston, and judge and later a member of the House of Representatives for electorates on the West Coast of the South Island.

Claude Weston received his secondary education at Christ's College and graduated with LL.

Claude Weston became a lieutenant-colonel and was awarded a Distinguished Service Order in the 1918 New Year Honours.

Claude Weston has earned the respect of all ranks for his coolness and leadership in action.

Claude Weston was severely wounded in the war and was eventually discharged as unfit for further service.

Claude Weston wrote a book about his war time experiences, Three Years with the New Zealanders, which was published in 1918.

Claude Weston returned to New Plymouth, where he resumed law practice, but engaged in farming.

Claude Weston was commandant of the New Zealand command of the Legion of Frontiersmen from 1926 to 1933, and was chairman of the New Plymouth repatriation committee.

Claude Weston resigned as crown solicitor in New Plymouth in 1931 before he moved to Auckland.

In 2013, the Crown Law Office published a list of King's and Queen's Counsel appointed since 1907, but Claude Weston is missing from that list, and according to the Law Society, he is the only omission on the official list.

Claude Weston was one of the key figures who organised a conference for 13 and 14 May 1936.

At the conference, Claude Weston proposed Sir George Wilson as the party's president, and the motion was carried.

The presidency thus transferred to Claude Weston, who had the task of overseeing the establishment of the party's Dominion organisation, and he was one of the trustees of the party's periodical, The National News.

The seven-member Dominion publicity committee, of which Claude Weston was a member, engaged three advertising companies to jointly prepare for the 1938 election.

Claude Weston was succeeded as president by Alex Gordon in 1940.

Claude Weston was the first chairman of the Wellington Division of the National Party.

Claude Weston died suddenly on 10 November 1946 in Wellington and was replaced as a candidate by his wife, Agnes Weston.

Claude Weston's wife was later appointed onto the New Zealand Legislative Council as part of the suicide squad.

Claude Weston was New Zealand consul to the Netherlands and was appointed Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau.

The funeral service for Claude Weston was held at St Paul's Cathedral, after which he was cremated.