Heaton Rhodes

Sir Robert Heaton Rhodes KCVO KBE VD (27 February 1861 – 30 July 1956), usually known as Sir Heaton Rhodes, was a New Zealand politician and lawyer.

Rhodes was born in Purau on Banks Peninsula, the son of sheep farmer and politician Robert Heaton Rhodes. He came to England to attend Brasenose College, Oxford, from which he graduated in 1884. He was called to the bar by the Inner Temple in 1887.

He then returned to New Zealand, joined the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade, and served in the Second Boer War in 1902 with the 8th New Zealand Contingent. He later went on to command the 1st Mounted Rifles in the New Zealand Territorial Force. After retirement he was Honorary Colonel of the 1st Mounted Rifles.

He represented the Ellesmere electorate in the House of Representatives from 1899 to 1925, during which time he joined the Reform Party. He retired in 1925 and was appointed to the Legislative Council, in which he served until 1941, with a short break between 1932 and 1934.

He served as Postmaster-General and Minister for Public Health, Hospitals and Tourist Resorts in the Cabinet from 1912 to 1915, when he was appointed Special Commissioner to Egypt and Galilee to report on the conditions of New Zealand troops serving there. In 1916 he moved to Europe as Commissioner of the New Zealand Red Cross.

In 1920 he returned to New Zealand and was appointed Minister of Defence. In 1922 he was also appointed as Commissioner of State Forests and held both posts until 1926. From 1926 to 1928 he was Deputy Leader of the Legislative Council and minister without portfolio. In 1927 he was Minister in attendance upon the Duke and Duchess of York on their visit to New Zealand. He was vice-president of the Victoria League for Commonwealth Friendship in Canterbury in the 1930s.

Night shot of Otahuna in 2007

He bred pedigree cattle at Otahuna, Tai Tapu, where he also grew daffodils.

Heaton Rhodes was an advanced philatelist. He had a large collection of New Zealand Chalon head postage stamps. He was President of the Royal Philatelic Society of New Zealand and signed the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists in 1949.

For his role as the Commissioner of the New Zealand Red Cross he was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in the 1920 New Year Honours. For his role of dealing with the Duke and Duchess of York he was appointed Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO) in July 1927. He was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal in 1935.

• Commander of the Order of the British Empire (Great Britain)
• Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur (France)

• The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 31712. p. 6. 30 December 1919.
• The London Gazette: no. 33292. pp. 4403–4404. 8 July 1927. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
• "Official jubilee medals". The Evening Post. CXIX (105). 6 May 1935. p. 4. Retrieved 4 June 2014.