Michael Connelly

Michael Connelly (29 April 1887 – 30 October 1970) was a New Zealand trade unionist, politician of the Labour Party, and a Member of the Legislative Council (upper house) from 1936 to 1950. Biography Early life and career Connelly was born in Kakaramea in 1887 where his father was a farmer. Early in his life, they moved to the West Coast and gained work as a coal miner. He joined the trade union movement and was elected an executive member of the Paparoa Miners' Union. In 1911 he moved to Wellington to work for the New Zealand Railways Department. Subsequently, he was active in the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants as Secretary of the Thorndon (Wellington) branch 1914–18, Greymouth branch 1920–21, and national president 1923–25. He was a director of the Grey River Argus, the first following it becoming a Labour Party newspaper. He was a member of first the Westland and later Wellington Labour Representation Committee.