caption residence relations predecessor parliament successor birth_place constituency_mp death_date death_place birth_date term_start spouse image article_title term_end name occupation
portrait of alfred cox raukapuka 1873 -- 1879 -rrb- -lrb- 1857 -- 1870 -rrb- lake house -lrb- william -rrb- frederick alexander whitaker -lrb- son-in-law -rrb- cox -lrb- father -rrb- ernest gray -lrb- brother-in-law william sefton moorhouse francis jollie new constituency new zealand new zealand new zealand john hall edward stafford edward graham mcminn clarendon , new south wales , australia heathcote timaru waipa 23 may 1911 st albans , christchurch , new zealand 23 may 1825 28 october 1863 20 february 1866 11 january 1876 mary macpherson 26 november 1849 2 august 1899 w alfred cox nzetc.jpg alfred cox -lrb- politician -rrb-
 27 january 1866 14 october 1868 13 june 1878 alfred cox runholder , politician
alfred cox -lrb- politician -rrb-

alfred cox -lrb- 3 june 1825 -- 23 may 1911 -rrb- was a 19th-century runholder and member of the new zealand house of representatives .
born in new south wales into an upper middle class military family , he was sent home to england to learn about farming .
upon returning to new south wales , he heard about the large profits that were possible in south canterbury and bought licenses for land that he had not seen .
he stocked the land , put a manager in charge and made another trip to england with his wife and their , at that time , small family .
he moved to new zealand permanently in 1857 and lived on his large farm , raukapuka , which stretched from the sea to the foothills , and of which the homestead was located in present day geraldine .
he sold his south canterbury interests and moved to the waikato , where he bought large land holdings in hamilton and thames .
he tried to drain his swamp land and lost a lot of money with those ventures .
he sold up in 1882 and moved to christchurch , where he retired .
he became politically active in south canterbury and represented the area first in the canterbury provincial council and then in the house of representatives .
he was the driving force behind the establishment of some of the south canterbury local bodies .
during his time in the waikato , he represented a local electorate in the house of representatives .
he resigned due to ill health and later tried to re-establish his parliamentary career in a south canterbury electorate , but was beaten by william rolleston .
