John Bevan

John Bevan (1837 – 16 July 1911) was a 19th-century member of the House of Representatives. He was an auctioneer and merchant from Hokitika on the West Coast of New Zealand. Early life and commercial career Bevan was born in Jersey on the Channel Islands in 1837 into a Welsh family. He received his education at Jersey Grammar School and emigrated to Victoria in Australia in 1857 before moving to Hokitika in New Zealand in circa 1865. He entered a partnership with Michael Pollock and they traded as auctioneers and merchants under the banner of Pollock and Bevan in Hokitika's Revell Street. He remained in Hokitika for the rest of his life. Political career Bevan belonged to many organisations. He was a longstanding member of the Westland Board of Education and for some time was the board's chairman. He was a member of the High School Board. He was a member of the Westland Land Board and got voted onto the Hokitika Borough Council. He was president of the Westland Hospital Board of Trustees. He was a Visiting Justice to Hokitika Prison and an official visitor to the local mental hospital.