Julius Vogel

The Right Honourable Sir Julius Vogel
8th Premier of New Zealand
In office 8 April 1873 – 6 July 1875 15 February 1876 – 1 September 1876
Monarch	Victoria
Governor	James Fergusson George Phipps
Preceded by	William Fox (1873) Daniel Pollen (1876)
Succeeded by	Daniel Pollen (1875) Harry Atkinson (1876)
Constituency	Dunedin Suburbs
Personal details
Born	24 February 1835(1835-02-24) London, England
Died	12 March 1899(1899-03-12) (aged 64) London, England
Political party	None
Religion	Judaism

Sir Julius Vogel, KCMG (24 February 1835 – 12 March 1899) was the eighth Premier of New Zealand. His administration is best remembered for the issuing of bonds to fund railway construction and other public works. He remains the only practising Jewish prime minister of New Zealand (although two others including current Prime Minister John Key and former Prime Minister Francis Bell are of Jewish extraction, both from the mothers' side).

Early life

Born in London, Vogel received his early education at University College School in Hampstead, London. He later studied chemistry and metallurgy at the Royal School of Mines (later part of Imperial College London). He emigrated to Victoria, Australia in 1852, being editor of several newspapers on the goldfields, including the Inglewood Advertiser. He then moved to Otago in 1861, where he become a journalist for the Otago Witness. In November 1861 he founded the Otago Daily Times and became its first editor.

Political career

Vogel first became involved in politics in 1862, winning election to the provincial council of Otago. Four years later became the head^{[citation needed]} of the provincial government, a post which he held until 1869.

Member of Parliament

Parliament of New Zealand
Years	Term	Electorate		Party
1863–1866	3rd	Dunedin and Suburbs North		Independent
1866–1870	4th	Goldfields		Independent
1871–1875	5th	Auckland East		Independent
1876	6th	Wanganui		Independent
1884–1887	9th	Christchurch North		Independent
1887–1889	10th	Christchurch North		Independent

In 1863 he was elected a member of the New Zealand House of Representatives, and on retiring from the provincial government in 1869 he joined the Fox ministry as colonial treasurer, afterward becoming successively postmaster-general, commissioner of customs, and telegraph commissioner. The Fox ministry having been forced to resign, Vogel carried a vote of no confidence in their successors, and in October 1872, returned to power as leader in the Lower House, colonial treasurer and postmaster-general. He represented several electorates throughout the colony: Dunedin and Suburbs North 1863–1866, Goldfields in Otago 1866–1870, Auckland East 1871–1875, Wanganui 1876 (resigned) and Christchurch North 1884–1889 (resigned).

Vogel successfully contested the 1884 election in Christchurch North against John Crewes.

Premier of New Zealand

He was premier from 1873 to 1875 and again in 1876. From 1876 to 1881 he was agent-general for New Zealand in London, and in 1884 was again a member of the government of the colony. During his political career, Vogel worked for reconciliation with Māori, an effort generally regarded to be successful. In 1887, he introduced the first Women's Suffrage Bill to Parliament, although suffrage was not granted until 1893. He was knighted in 1875. He finally gave up colonial office in 1887, from which date he lived in England.

He is best remembered for is his "Great Public Works" scheme of the 1870s. Before 1870, New Zealand was a country largely dominated by provincial interests and pork-barrel politics. After Vogel, as colonial treasurer, proposed borrowing the massive sum of 10 million pounds, New Zealand developed significant infrastructure of roads, railways and communication, all administered by central government. This ultimately led to the end of provincial government in 1876.

He is also noteworthy as one of the few practicing Jewish prime-ministers outside Israel. Since Vogel, two other New Zealanders of Jewish descent have held the premiership: Francis Bell, an Anglican who briefly became prime minister in May 1925; and John Key, New Zealand's current prime minister who took office in 2008 and who is not religious. Benjamin Disraeli, who was also of Jewish descent, though he too was an Anglican, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom contemporary to Vogel's premiership.

Life after politics

Vogel is reputed to be the first New Zealander to write a science fiction novel, Anno Domini 2000 – A Woman's Destiny, published in 1889. It anticipated a utopian world where women held many positions of authority, and in fact New Zealand became the first country to give women the vote, and from 1998 to 2008 continuously had a female Prime Minister, while for a short period (2005–2006) all five highest government offices (Queen, Governor-General, Prime Minister, Speaker of the House and Chief Justice) were simultaneously held by women.

In honour of this book, the Sir Julius Vogel Awards for New Zealand speculative fiction were named after him.

On his death in 1899, Julius Vogel was interred in Willesden Jewish Cemetery in London.

Namesakes

Several things bear his name today:

• The Sir Julius Vogel Awards for science fiction writing.
• Suburbs named Vogeltown in Wellington and New Plymouth.
• Vogel House, the former official residence of New Zealand Prime Ministers for most of the 20th century.
• Vogel Building in Wellington built for the Ministry of Works, now housing much of the Ministry of Justice.
• Vogel Street, in his former constituency of Dunedin, is named for Sir Julius.

See also

• New Zealand literature
• Anno Domini 2000 – A Woman's Destiny

External links

• Prime Minister's Office biography
• Biographic entry in the Jewish Encyclopedia
• History of Jews in New Zealand – Wellington Jewish Community Website
• Biography in the 1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand
• Sir Julius Vogel: Anno Domini 2000 Or A Woman's Destiny: New Zealand Electronic Text Centre. Full text freely available online
•  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Vogel, Sir Julius". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 
•  "Vogel, Julius". Encyclopedia Americana. 1920. 

Parliament of New Zealand
New constituency	Member of Parliament for Dunedin and Suburbs North 1863–1866 Served alongside: John Larkins Cheese Richardson	Electorate abolished
Preceded by John Bryce	Member of Parliament for Whanganui 1876 Served alongside: John Bryce	Succeeded by William Fox
Preceded by Henry Thomson	Member of Parliament for Christchurch North 1884–1889	Succeeded by Edward Wingfield Humphreys

 

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•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain:  Jewish Encyclopedia. 1901–1906.