William George Malone - Life in New Zealand

Life in New Zealand

Malone emigrated to New Zealand in January 1880. His older brother, Austin, had previously moved to New Zealand and was serving in the New Zealand Armed Constabulary. A month after his arrival, Malone joined his brother in service with the Armed Constabulary. Both brothers were based at Opunake, in the Taranaki region. Malone took part in the storming of the village of Parihaka on 5 November 1881.

Malone left the Armed Constabulary after two years service and became involved in surfboats which unloaded cargo at Opunake. With his brother, who had left the Armed Constabulary in November 1880, he eventually bought a large block of bush country near Stratford and took up farming. Within a few years, his hard work had converted his land from bush into productive farmland. By this time, his mother and two sisters had also emigrated to New Zealand to join them in Stratford. He was also involved in the local militia, the Stratford Rifles.

In 1886, Malone married Elinor Lucy (née Penn). The couple had five children, a daughter and four sons. Malone was very industrious and took an active role in the Stratford community. He was a member of the Hawera County Council as well as the Taranaki Hospital and Charitable Aid Board. From 1890, in addition to his farming, Malone also worked as a land agent. Later, he helped found the Stratford County Council and served as its first clerk and treasurer from 1891 to 1900.

Malone took up the study of law, becoming a solicitor in 1894 and a barrister five years later. In 1903, the same year that he and his family moved to New Plymouth, he formed a partnership dealing mostly with land transactions with James McVeagh and W. D. Anderson. The partners would open several law offices around the Taranaki region.

On 18 June 1904, Malone suffered the loss of his wife Elinor in childbirth. Their baby son also died. The following year, Malone married Ida Katharine Withers, with who he would have three more children. Ida had been a friend of Elinor's and had also tutored the Malone children. He was devoted to his new wife and his children but his business and other interests meant that time with his family was limited. A strict disciplinarian, his household nonetheless was a happy one.

Malone became politically active and unsuccessfully stood as an Independent Liberal in a by-election for the Taranaki electorate in 1907; of the three candidates, he came third. The following year, Joseph Ward, the leader of the Liberal Party, invited Malone to be the party's candidate in the 1908 general election. He declined; Malone had views that in some respects were incompatible with those of the Liberal Party, and he instead stood as an independent. Although unsuccessful, he gained nearly 30% of the electorate vote. In both cases, he was defeated by the conservative politician Henry Okey, who was to hold the Taranaki electorate until his death in 1918.

In 1911, after selling his share of the law practice, Malone returned to Stratford. He started his own law firm in partnership with another practitioner. With a reduced work load, he began focus on his other interests.