Westby Perceval
Sir Westby Brook Perceval was a New Zealand politician of the Liberal Party.Biography
Perceval was born in Launceston, Tasmania in 1854. His mother was Sarah Brook and his father was her husband, Westby Hawkshaw Percival, an Irish member of the mounted police in Melbourne. In the early 1860s, the family moved to Rangiora in New Zealand, a township north of Christchurch. He received his early education at Merton's school, where he became friends with William Pember Reeves. In 1867 he won a junior Somes scholarship to Christ's College, Christchurch. At the age of 16, in May 1870, he was received into the Catholic church. He completed his secondary education at Stonyhurst College in England. In 1872, he inherited sufficient land upon his father's death that he had a secure income.
Perceval was a lawyer in Christchurch. He represented the Christchurch South electorate from the 1887 general election to the end of the parliamentary term in 1890, and then the City of Christchurch electorate from the 1890 general election to September 1891, when he resigned. For the last three months in Parliament, he was Chairman of Committees.
He was made Agent-General to the United Kingdom from 1891 to 1896, and then Agent-General for Tasmania from 1896 to 1898.
Perceval was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George in the 1894 New Year Honours. He died in Surrey, England, in 1928.Family
Perceval married Jessie Johnston, daughter of John Johnston, in 1880. They had two sons:
- Francis Westby Perceval, barrister. He married in 1912 Dorothy Anne Cecilia Thornton.
- Christopher Peter Westby Perceval, Royal Artillery.
