Title: The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Otago & Southland Provincial Districts]

Author: Cyclopedia Company Limited

Publication details: The Cyclopedia Company, Limited, 1905, Christchurch

Part of: The Cyclopedia of New Zealand

License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 New Zealand Licence

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Mr. Thomas Kay Sidey , B.A., LLB., member of the House of Representatives for Caversham, is a son of Mr. John Sidey, who arrived in Otago by the ship “Blundell,” in 1848. He was born at Corstorphine, Caversham, in 1863; was educated at the Dunedin Boys' High School, and at the University of Otago, book his B.A. degree in 1884 and LL.B. in 1887, and was admitted a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court in 1889. Mr. Sidey served for some years as a member of the Caversham Borough Council, and filled the maytoral chair for three years. For ten years he was a member of the Caversham school committee, and for some years secretery to the Dunedin and Suburban School Committees' Conference, of which he has also been president. He is a member of the Council of the University of Otago, has served on the governing body of the Dunedin High School, is an ex-president of the Dunedin centre of the New Zealand Natives' Association, and was one of the first members of the Dunedin Drainage and Sewerage Board, having been returned third among twenty candidates. Mr. Sidey has taken a considerable interest in horticulture, and has been for many years a member of the Executive Committee of the Dunedin Horticultural Society, of which he was president for two years. As an Oddfellow of the Manchester Unity, he is attached to Ledge Loyal Caversham. He has also been for many years an active worker in the Presbyterian church and Sabbath school of his district, and was for some years clerk to the Sustentation Fund Committee of the Symod of the Presbyterian Church of Otago and Southland. Mr. Sidey contested the Caversham seat in the House of Representatives at the general election of 1896 as an independent candidate, and although he was defeated he obtained second place, having polled between eleven and twelve hundred votes. Early in 1898 he returned from a trip to the Old Country after being present at the Queen's Jubilee celebrations, and spending an enjoyable holiday in Great Britain and Ireland. Mr. Sidey visited Germany, France, Switzerland, and Italy in the course of his travels. In 1901 he again contested the Caversham seat at a by-election, and was returned. He was re-elected at the general election in 1902. In 1903 Mr. Sidey married a daughter of the late David Baxter, a Dunedin merchant.