Vernon Reed

Vernon Herbert Reed (7 May 1871 - 26 May 1963) was a Liberal Party and from 1912 a Reform Party member of parliament in New Zealand. He was later a member of the Legislative Council. Reed was the youngest son of George McCullagh Reed, a newspaper proprietor, and Jessie Chalmers Reed (née Ranken). He was born in Auckland, where his father had moved to in circa 1870 after several years in Queensland, Australia. An elder brother was John Reed. Reed received his education at Victoria College, Jersey, Dulwich College, London, and the University of Sydney, New South Wales. He was in England from 1878 to 1887. In 1889, he joined the Daily Telegraph and in 1891 moved to The Sydney Morning Herald where he also stayed for two years. He moved to Kawakawa in the Bay of Islands at the end of 1893 or 1895 (sources differ) and commenced legal studies. He took over his brother's legal practice upon his brother's move to Auckland in 1896. He was admitted as a solicitor in 1899, and five years later, he was admitted as a barrister. Reed was clerk and treasurer to the Bay of Islands County. Reed played cricket as a batter and bowler, representing both Dulwich College in 1886 and the Bay of Islands in 1897. He also played rugby union as a forward and represented Auckland Province in 1889, Victoria in 1890, New South Wales Colony in 1891 and 1892 and the Hawke's Bay Province in 1895. While in the Hawke's Bay, Reed captained the Waipawa Branch Union.