1. George Hamish Ormond Wilson was a New Zealand Member of Parliament representing the Labour Party, farmer, author and Chairman of the Historic Places Trust.
23 Facts About Ormond Wilson
1. 2.
Ormond Wilson donated 30 acres of bush and his homestead to the Crown, which is administered by the Manawatu District Council.
3.
Ormond Wilson was born in Bulls in 1907, the son of Hamish Wilson and Ada Mary Ormond.
4.
The MPs Sir James Wilson and John Davies Ormond were his grandfathers.
5.
Ormond Wilson had severe hay fever and as a child, he spent his summers in a hostel on Mount Egmont in order to be less exposed to pollen.
6.
Ormond Wilson was unprepared for life as a farmer, but he grew into the role.
7.
Ormond Wilson sent his impressions to Christchurch for publication in the journal Tomorrow.
8.
Ormond Wilson visited the House of Commons, met with Labour leaders and was invited to their 1939 party conference in Southport as a guest.
9.
Ormond Wilson then spent four days in Berlin in August 1939, but with war coming, he returned to the UK.
10.
Ormond Wilson prepared a broadcast covering his travels for the BBC and this led to a job with the BBC Overseas Service in London.
11.
Ormond Wilson married Margery Wace on 29 September 1940 in Ardingly, Sussex; she was his superior at the Overseas Service.
12.
Ormond Wilson's wife died during labour with their second child in 1944.
13.
Ormond Wilson met Labour Party MPs at a luncheon at Government House hosted by the Governor-General Lord Bledisloe.
14.
Ormond Wilson was nominated for the Rangitikei electorate and contested the 1935 election against the incumbent Alexander Stuart of the Reform Party.
15.
Ormond Wilson won the conservative electorate with a majority of 907 votes.
16.
Ormond Wilson returned from overseas and was nominated in the Palmerston North electorate for the 1946 election by Labour.
17.
Ormond Wilson's opponent was Gus Mansford, who had been Mayor of Palmerston North since 1931.
18.
Ormond Wilson obtained a majority of 928 votes in this two-person contest.
19.
Ormond Wilson lost the subsequent election in 1949 against Blair Tennent of the National Party.
20.
Ormond Wilson's wife had already published a biography on her paternal grandparents.
21.
Rosamond Ormond Wilson was killed in a car crash in late 1980.
22.
Ormond Wilson was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in the 1979 Queen's Birthday Honours, for services as chairman of the Historic Places Trust and the board of trustees of the National Art Gallery and Museum.
23.
Ormond Wilson died in Bowen Hospital on 17 April 1988, following an earlier stroke.