Willie Stowers
Willie Stowers | |
|---|---|
 Stowers in 1912 | |
| Member of the Legislative Assembly | |
| In office 1948–1951 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 25 September 1887 Lano, Samoa |
| Died | 15 May 1971 (aged 83) Tokoroa, New Zealand |
William Frederick Stowers (25 September 1887 – 15 May 1971) was a Western Samoan politician. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly from 1948 to 1951.
Biography[edit]
Stowers was born in Lano on Savaii in September 1887, the son of Eugene James Simi Stowers and Mary Tereisea Fa'aletea Pa'u.[1] He was educated at the Marist Brothers School in Apia,[2] and later moved to Auckland in New Zealand, where he worked for John Burns & Co.[3]
He signed up for the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in March 1916, and after three months training with the Mounted Rifles, departed for Europe in June.[3] He served in France alongside two of his brothers and was involved in the Battle of the Somme and the Battle of Messines,[3] during which he was shot in the neck. He subsequently recovered in a hospital in England.[4] After a short trip to see family in Samoa in 1918,[5] he returned to New Zealand.[3] However, he later came back to Samoa and became involved in horse racing during the 1920s.[6]
Following the introduction of the Legislative Assembly in 1948, he contested the European seats in the first elections as a member of the United Citizens Party, and was elected in fifth place.[7] His wife Bella died in April 1951,[8] and he did not contest the elections shortly afterwards. He died in Tokoroa in New Zealand in 1971.[9]
References[edit]
- ^ William Frederick Stowers Auckland War Memorial
- ^ Marist Brother's Commercial School Samoa Weekly Herald, 8 August 1896
- ^ a b c d Samoa-born Soldier Returns to His Home Samoanische Zeitung, 22 June 1918
- ^ Private William Stowers Wounded Samoanische Zeitung, 8 September 1917
- ^ Local and General News Samoanische Zeitung, 15 June 1918
- ^ Turf Notes Samoanische Zeitung, 10 September 1926
- ^ Samoa's new Assembly Pacific Islands Monthly, May 1948, p7
- ^ Death of a W. Samoan resident Pacific Islands Monthly, June 1951, p38
- ^ William F. Stowers – A Samoan in the Great War The Museum of Samoa