Vincent Pyke

Pyke was born in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, England[1] as Vincent Pike. He married Frances Renwick on 7 September 1846 at Bristol, England; they had four sons and one daughter. He changed the spelling of his surname some time after their wedding.[2]

Pyke and family went to Australia in 1851, first to South Australia and then the gold diggings in Victoria where he spent two years as a miner around Forest Creek, Castlemaine and Fryer's Creek Bendigo[1] and opened a store at Forest Creek. Pyke was elected to represent Castlemaine in the Victorian Legislative Council from November 1855 to March 1856 and Castlemaine Boroughs in the Victorian Legislative Assembly from November 1856 to February 1857 and again from October 1859 and June 1862.[3]

In 1857, Pyke was appointed emigration agent in England in conjunction with the Right Hon. Hugh Childers.[1]

In 1862 Pyke visited the Otago goldfields, and became Secretary or Commissioner of the goldfields for the Otago Provincial Council. He then moved to Dunstan and Clyde. He was the first Chairman of Vincent County, which was named after him following an ironic suggestion by an opponent.

He represented the electorates of Wakatipu 1873–1875, then Dunstan 1875–1890.[4] He contested the 1890 election in the Mount Ida electorate, but was beaten by Scobie Mackenzie.[2] He then represented Tuapeka from 1893 to 1894 when he died.[4] He was noted for his loyalty to Clyde and his Central Otago constituents.

Pyke was also a journalist, and wrote two novels about life on the goldfields, Wild Will Enderby (1873) and The Adventures of George Washington Pratt (1874).

Pyke died at Lawrence, Otago, and is buried in the Dunedin Northern Cemetery.

• five works by Pyke from the New Zealand Electronic Text Centre
• Cartoon of Vincent Pyke in New Zealand Parliament