Charles Button

Charles Edward Button (23 August 1838 – 27 December 1920) was a solicitor, Supreme Court judge, Mayor of Hokitika and later Birkenhead, and an independent conservative Member of Parliament in New Zealand.

He received his education at Hobart High School and was then trained as a solicitor at Douglas, Dawes and Miller in Launceston.

[1] After running his own practice for a short time, Button emigrated to Invercargill, New Zealand, in 1863, where he continued to work in law.

[6] Button first stood for Parliament in the 1868 supplementary election, which was held in the newly established Westland South electorate.

[11] He contested the two-member Hokitika electorate in 1876 with Barff, Richard Seddon, Robert Reid and Conrad Hoos.

[15] He remained the borough's mayor for 12 years[1] until he resigned in January 1901; he was succeeded by Joseph Witheford.

[1] He was active in the Presbyterian church and was an elder in Hokitika and at St Paul's in Christchurch.

[6] Button died on 27 December 1920; his last residence was in Prospect Terrace in Mount Eden.