page_title: John Gibbs Churchill
section_title: Political career
hierarchical_section_title: John Gibbs Churchill / Biography / Political career
caption_attribution_description: English: Mr I.W. Tollan (left), head of the deputation, prepares to hand the bound petition, protesting against the tactics of the P.N. Hospital Board in not proceeding with stage II of the Horowhenua Hospital, to the Prime Minister, Mr Holyoake (right), Allan McCready (centre-right) &amp; John Gibbs Churchill (centre-left).
context_page_description: John Gibbs Churchill OBE JP was a New Zealand trade unionist and local politician. For six years he was the mayor of Otaki.
context_section_description: In 1950 Churchill won a seat on the Wellington City Council on a Labour ticket which he was to hold until 1964 when he decided not stand for re-election. He had twice stood for the council previously but been unsuccessful. He became leader of the Labour members on the council and was twice nominated for the position of deputy mayor. He lost in a ballot among fellow councillors to Harry Nankervis after the 1959 elections and again in 1962 to Denis McGrath (both from the Citizens' Association which held majorities on the council). He suffered a heart attack in 1963, which contributed to his decision to retire from the city council. The council decided against holding a by-election to fill the vacancy caused by his retirement and his vacated seat remained empty until the 1965 elections.
  He stood for the Wellington Harbour Board unsuccessfully in 1956, polling higher than any other unsuccessful candidate. When a vacancy occurred on the board following the death of Sir Will Appleton, Churchill was expected to be awarded the vacated seat. However, he was defeated in a ballot of councillors eight votes to seven in favour of Nesbit Douglas Binnie (former general manager of Port Line) despite Binnie not having contested the previous election. Later an allegation surfaced that Citizens' Association members had met privately the morning before and had been influenced on nominating Binnie over Churchill. Churchill was later elected to the Harbour Board in 1962, remaining a member until 1971 when he was defeated. Despite leaving Wellington, he was elected to serve on the board in his final three terms as a representative for Wellington, the first person outside the city to represent it on that body.
  He and his wife moved to Ōtaki in 1965 and in 1967 he was elected to the Otaki Borough Council in a by-election. In 1969 he stood for the mayoralty unopposed. He was similarly re-elected in the next two elections unopposed. He served as Mayor of Ōtaki until his death in 1975.
caption: Churchill (centre-left) with Prime Minister Keith Holyoake in 1969
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