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Sir James GunsonCMG CBE
Gunson in 1920
24th Mayor of Auckland City
In office 5 May 1915 – 6 May 1925
Deputy	Andrew Entrican (1915–20) Harold D. Heather (1920–22) George Baildon (1922–25)
Preceded by	James Parr
Succeeded by	George Baildon
Personal details
Born	26 October 1877 Auckland, New Zealand
Died	12 May 1963(1963-05-12) (aged 85)
Political party	Reform
Spouse	Jessie Helen Wiseman
Children	3

Sir James Henry Gunson CMG CBE (26 October 1877 – 12 May 1963) was a New Zealand businessman and Mayor of Auckland City from 1915 to 1925. He was knighted in 1924.

W Gunson & Co

Born and educated in Auckland, in his mid-twenties he took over W Gunson & Co, the seed-grain and produce business his father founded in 1881. William Gunson died in 1902. In October 1916, now mayor of Auckland, James sold his father's stock and station agency to Wright Stephenson.

Public life

James Gunson stood for Parliament several times without success; (Roskill in 1919, Eden in 1926 and then Auckland Suburbs in 1928).

Auckland

Mayor from 1915 to 1925 he undertook the building of the war memorials Auckland Museum and Cenotaph, the Wintergardens in Auckland Domain and the construction of Tamaki Drive. In later public life, he was responsible for the monument on One Tree Hill (Maungakiekie) and the treeplanting of Cornwall Park fulfilling Sir John Logan Campbell's vision. Gunson was Chairman of the Auckland Harbour Board 1911–15, and was a member of the Government Railways Board 1931–35.

The Auckland War Memorial Museum's architects commissioned Kohn's Jewellers of Queen Street to create a finely detailed silver model of the museum. This was presented to Gunson upon completion of the museum, in recognition of his extensive work in leading the project. After the death of Sir James, the model was presented to the museum by his son Wallace Gunson, where it remains on display to this day.

Several parts of the city bear his name or were his gift. His farming property to the South of Auckland in Manukau, called Totara Park, was later given to the city of Auckland. His main town residence, in St Andrew's Road, Epsom, became the Tongan royal residence, which it remains. A further Auckland property (named Rydal Mount after the residence of the English poet William Wordsworth) was by the same architect, Draffin, that Gunson had chosen to design Auckland Museum. Gunson Street, in Freemans Bay, Auckland, is named after him.

Honours and awards

Gunson was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in March 1918, for services in connection with the war, and promoted to Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1919 King's Birthday Honours, for services in connection with patriotic undertakings. He was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in the 1922 New Year Honours. In the 1924 King's Birthday Honours, Gunson was appointed a Knight Bachelor, in recognition of his public services. In 1935, he was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal.

Family

He married Jessie Helen Wiseman (later Lady Gunson OBE) in 1905. They had three children; William, Geoffrey and Margaret, the last of whom married British barrister Sir Rawden Temple. His brother Edward Burton Gunson MD FRCP (1883–1950) practised as a cardiologist in Auckland 1919–37. During World War One while in the RAMC EB Gunson assisted Thomas Lewis, the noted clinical scientist, in achieving an improved understanding of the Effort Syndrome. During World War Two Gunson worked for the Ministry of Supply in London publishing studies of women war workers' health.

References

1. Stacpoole, John. "Gunson, James Henry". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
2. Business Changes Hands. Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 268, 9 November 1916, Page 8
3. "No. 30576". The London Gazette (5th supplement). 15 March 1918. p. 3284.
4. "No. 31422". The London Gazette. 27 June 1919. p. 8088.
5. "No. 32563". The London Gazette (2nd supplement). 31 December 1921. p. 10714.
6. "No. 32941". The London Gazette (Supplement). 3 June 1924. p. 4408.
7. "Official jubilee medals". The Evening Post. 6 May 1935. p. 4. Retrieved 14 August 2013.
8. The Soldier’s Heart and the Effort Syndrome. Thomas Lewis. London 1918.
9. EB Gunson. British Medical Journal 1942 ii 753-5. Communal feeding.

• Who’s Who in New Zealand, 4th edition 1941
• Who's Who (UK/World edition), 1954

v t e Mayors of Auckland City
Mayors	Philip Philips Henry Isaacs Frederick Prime Benjamin Tonks William Hurst Henry Brett Thomas Peacock James Clark William Waddel Albert Devore John Upton William Crowther James Job Holland Abraham Boardman Peter Dignan David Goldie John Logan Campbell Alfred Kidd Edwin Mitchelson Arthur Myers Charles Grey Lemuel Bagnall James Parr James Gunson George Baildon George Hutchison Ernest Davis John Allum John Luxford Tom Ashby Keith Buttle Dove-Myer Robinson Roy McElroy Dove-Myer Robinson Colin Kay Catherine Tizard Les Mills Christine Fletcher John Banks Dick Hubbard John Banks
Mayoral elections	Annual term 1871† 1872† 1873† 1874† 1875 1876 1877† 1878 1879† 1880† 1881† 1882† 1883† 1884† 1885† 1886† 1887† 1888† 1889† 1890† 1891† 1892† 1893† 1894† 1895† 1896† 1897† 1898 1899† 1900† 1901 1902† 1903 1904† 1905 1906 1907 1908† 1909† 1910 1911† 1912 1913† 1914† Biennial term 1915 1917 1919† 1921† 1923† 1925 1927 1929 1931 1933 1935 Triennial term 1938 1941 1944 1947 1950 1953 1956 1957‡ 1959 1962 1965 1968 1971 1974 1977 1980 1983 1986 1989 1990‡ 1992 1995 1998 2001 2004 2007
Local elections	1986 1989 1992 1995 1998 2001 2004 2007 by-elections
† Elected unopposed ‡ By-election

• 1877 births
• 1963 deaths
• New Zealand stock and station agents
• Mayors of Auckland
• New Zealand businesspeople
• Reform Party (New Zealand) politicians
• Unsuccessful candidates in the 1919 New Zealand general election
• Unsuccessful candidates in the 1928 New Zealand general election
• New Zealand Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George
• New Zealand Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
• New Zealand Knights Bachelor
• Auckland Harbour Board members