Richard and Louisa Seddon married on 13 January 1869, and were one of New Zealand’s great power couples. Richard, who became New Zealand’s longest-serving and most famous prime minister (known as ‘premier’ in New Zealand), is known as ‘King Dick’, but the true story is just as much (or more) about his wife, a young woman from Melbourne who played a significant role in the nation’s politics.
According to Tom Brooking, who wrote Richard’s biography, Richard Seddon: King of God’s Own, Louisa stated herself that her husband ‘never made a major decision without first consulting her’. Yet, Louisa is also quoted as saying she is not one of the ‘New Women’ in the feminist movement (such as Kate Sheppard and Anna Stout), but that she was ‘quite satisfied to leave politics and public affairs to my husband’. What is this paradox of the Seddons?
The couple met in Melbourne when Louisa Spotswood was literally the (wealthy and attractive)
