William Alfred Sheat was a New Zealand Member of Parliament for two Taranaki electorates.
13 Facts About William Sheat
1.
2.
William Sheat was the son of Joseph Sheat and his wife Susannah.
3.
William Sheat received his early education at Pihama Primary and Hawera District High School.
4.
William Sheat lectured economics at the Workers' Educational Association from 1923 to 1925.
5.
William Sheat was initially a member of the Labour Party and stood as the Labour candidate for Taranaki in 1925, and for New Plymouth in 1931.
6.
At the 1935 election, William Sheat contested the New Plymouth electorate again, this time as an Independent.
7.
Bill William Sheat represented the Patea electorate between 1943 and 1954 and then the Egmont electorate from 1957 to 1966.
8.
William Sheat did not wish to represent the enlarged, mostly rural, Patea and thought it appropriate that he instead contest Egmont and Corbett contest Stratford.
9.
However Corbett was selected again in Egmont instead of William Sheat, leading William Sheat to accuse the local party electorate organiser of predetermining the candidacy.
10.
William Sheat subsequently did not stand in the 1954 general election.
11.
In 1957 William Sheat returned to Parliament as MP for Egmont after Corbett's retirement until he retired in 1966.
12.
William Sheat was Undersecretary to the Minister of Works between 1949 and 1954.
13.
William Sheat was cremated in the Wellington suburb of Karori four days later.