Robert Sheriff Black (1868 – 4 January 1939) was Mayor of Dunedin from 1929 to 1933.

Robert Black
45th Mayor of Dunedin
In office
1929–1933
Preceded byWilliam Taverner
Succeeded byEdwin Cox
Personal details
Born1868
Liverpool, England
Died4 January 1939
Dunedin, New Zealand
Political partyUnited
SpouseHelen Black

Biography

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Black was born in Liverpool in 1868 and migrated to Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. He came to New Zealand in 1897, where he entered the trade of exporting rabbit skins.[1] In 1924, he married Helen Black, who was 30 years his junior.[2] Black already had adult sons who were his wife's age, and together they had a further two sons and two daughters.[2]

He first stood for the Dunedin mayoralty in 1919, but was beaten by William Begg. He won election in 1929 and served for two terms until the 1933 election, when he was beaten by Edwin Thomas Cox.[1][2] He stood in the 1931 election in the Dunedin North electorate as an independent candidate in support of the United Party, but withdrew shortly before the election, too late for his name to be removed from the ballot.[3][4]

He died in Dunedin on 4 January 1939.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Obituary". The Evening Post. Vol. CXXVII, no. 3. 5 January 1939. p. 11. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  2. ^ a b c Tennant, Margaret. "Black, Helen McKenzie". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
  3. ^ The General Election, 1931. Government Printer. 1932. p. 2. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
  4. ^ "Outlook in Otago". The New Zealand Herald. Vol. LXVIII, no. 21043. 30 November 1931. p. 11. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
Political offices
Preceded by Mayor of Dunedin
1929–1933
Succeeded by