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Willie Stowers

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Willie Stowers
Stowers in 1912
Member of the Legislative Assembly
In office
1948–1951
Personal details
Born25 September 1887
Lano, Samoa
Died15 May 1971(1971-05-15) (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

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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

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  1. ^ William Frederick Stowers Auckland War Memorial
  2. ^ Marist Brother's Commercial School Samoa Weekly Herald, 8 August 1896
  3. ^ a b c d Samoa-born Soldier Returns to His Home Samoanische Zeitung, 22 June 1918
  4. ^ Private William Stowers Wounded Samoanische Zeitung, 8 September 1917
  5. ^ Local and General News Samoanische Zeitung, 15 June 1918
  6. ^ Turf Notes Samoanische Zeitung, 10 September 1926
  7. ^ Samoa's new Assembly Pacific Islands Monthly, May 1948, p7
  8. ^ Death of a W. Samoan resident Pacific Islands Monthly, June 1951, p38
  9. ^ William F. Stowers – A Samoan in the Great War The Museum of Samoa