Prime ministerial trivia

Explore quick facts and interesting trivia about New Zealand's 38 premiers and prime ministers, and discover the towns, suburbs, mountains and other places that have been named in their honour.

• Total number of premiers and PMs: 38
• Gender balance: 36 men, 2 women
• First female PM: Jenny Shipley (1997-99)
• Oldest PM on gaining office: Walter Nash (1957), 75 years, 10 months
• Youngest PM on gaining office: Edward Stafford (1856), 37 years, 5 weeks
• Longest prime ministerial term: Richard Seddon (1893-1906), 13 years, 5 weeks
• Shortest prime ministerial term: Harry Atkinson (3rd term, 1884), 8 days
• Shortest total time as premier: Henry Sewell (1856), 14 days
• Most frequently premier: William Fox and Harry Atkinson – 4 times each (Atkinson technically 5 times after a ministry was re-sworn in by the governor)
• Longest time between prime ministerships: Sir Joseph Ward – 16 years
• First Freethinking (agnostic) premier: Alfred Domett (1862-3)
• First Catholic premier: Frederick Weld (1864-5)
• First Jewish premier: Julius Vogel (1873-5 and 1876)
• First New Zealand-born PM: Sir Francis Henry Dillon Bell (1925)
• Last overseas-born PM: Walter Nash (1957-60)
• First Maori PM: we are still waiting
• Died in office: John Ballance (1893), Richard Seddon (1906), William Massey (1925), Michael Joseph Savage (1940), Norman Kirk (1974)
• Last PM to lose power after being defeated on a vote in the House: Thomas Mackenzie (1912)
• North/South Island premiers and PMs on first appointment: North Island (22) and South Island (16)
• Premiers and PMs who led from the Legislative Council (the upper house): Frederick Whitaker (1863-4, 1882-3), George Waterhouse (1872-3), Daniel Pollen (1875-6), Sir Francis Henry Dillon Bell (1925)
• Premiers never elected to Parliament: George Waterhouse, Daniel Pollen

PM placenames

A number of New Zealand's premiers and prime ministers, especially the earlier ones, have been commemorated in the names of towns, suburbs, mountain peaks and other places. They include the following:

• John Ballance: Ballance (northern Wairarapa)
• Sir Francis Henry Dillon Bell: Dillon Bell Point (Marlborough)
• Gordon Coates: Coatesville (North Shore), Mount Coates (Mt Cook National Park)
• Alfred Domett: Mount Domett (Canterbury)
• William Fox: Foxton (Manawatu), Fox Glacier (West Coast), Fox Peak (Canterbury)
• Sir George Grey: Greytown (Wairarapa), Greymouth and Grey River (West Coast), Grey Lynn (Auckland), Mount Grey (Kawau Island), Mount Grey (Canterbury)*
• Thomas Mackenzie: Lake Mackenzie and Mackenzie Pass (Fiordland), Mackenzie Stream (Otago), Mount Mackenzie (Otago)**
• William Massey: Massey (West Auckland), Glen Massey (Waikato) – also Massey University
• Daniel Pollen: Pollen Island (Auckland)
• Richard Seddon: Seddon (Marlborough), Seddonville (West Coast)
• Sir Robert Stout: Mount Stout (Canterbury)
• Julius Vogel: Vogeltown (New Plymouth), Vogeltown (Wellington)
• Sir Joseph Ward: Ward (Marlborough), Mount Ward (Fiordland), Wardville (Waikato)
• Frederick Weld: Welds Hill (Marlborough)

* Placenames associated with George Grey generally commemorate his role as governor rather than premier.

** Thomas Mackenzie was an explorer in his younger years.