Harrison, Honourable Sir John Richard Biography 1991

HARRISON, Hon Sir (John) Richard
Knight 1980, ED 1956; Former Speaker of the House of Representatives; Farmer
Born Hastings, 23 May 1921, son of William Harrison and Jean (née Bell); married Margaret Kelly, daughter of Eric J Kelly, 1948; three sons one daughter.
Education: Hereworth School; Wanganui Collegiate School; Canterbury University, Bachelor of Arts 1941.
Second World War: Company Commander, 23rd Battalion 1943-1945 (Maj), NZ Military Liaison Officer, Bombay, India 1945-1946; Territorial: Commanding Officer, Hawke’s Bay Regiment 1956-1959 (Lieutenant-Colonel), Honorary Colonel, 7th Battalion (Wellington, HB) RNZIR 1972-1977, Honorary Colonel, NZ Army 1981. MP (National) Hawke’s Bay, 1963-1984; Junior Government Whip, 1970-1971; Chairman of Committees, 1972; Senior Opposition Whip, 1974-1975; Chairman of Committees, 1976-1977; Acting Speaker, House of Representatives 1977, Speaker 1978-1984; Vice President, Commonwealth Parliamentary Association 1977-1978, President 1978-1979 (as President, visited parliaments in Australia, PNG, Nauru, Niue, Cook Islands, Western Samoa, Tonga, Singapore, Hong Kong, India, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Cyprus, UK, Isle of Man, Canada); served on Parliamentary Committees: Public Expenditure, Statutes Revision; as Chairman: Defence, Human Rights, Road Safety, Library, Standing Orders; Member, Parliamentary Delegation to SE Asia, 1965; Foreign Leader Study Grant to USA, 1969; Central Office of Information Study Visit to UK, 1974; attended: South Pacific Presiding Officers conferences, Rarotonga 1976, Tasmania 1980, Commonwealth Parliamentary conferences, Ottawa 1977, Jamaica 1978, Commonwealth Speakers conferences, Canberra 1978, Ottawa 1981; Leader, Parliamentary delegation to Japan, China, Hong Kong, 1981; Committee Meeting of Commonwealth Speakers, Banjul, The Gambia, 1982; Chairman, Commonwealth Speakers conference, Wellington, 1984.  Lay Reader, Anglican Church, 1951-1991; Board Member, National Society on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence 1968 -, President 1986-1989; Member, Social Policy Group of International Council on Alcoholism and Addictions, 1974-1975; Trustee, National Library, 1978-1984; Member Advisory Council, Trustee, Patron 1989, Prison Fellowship of NZ.
Recreations: classical music, opera, gardening, farm forestry, tree crops.
Address: Springfield, RD 2 Takapau, Hawke’s Bay.