Explore quick facts and interesting trivia about New Zealand's 38 premiers and prime ministers, and discover the towns, suburbs, mountains and other places that have been named in their honour.
- Total number of premiers and PMs: 38
- Gender balance: 36 men, 2 women
- First female PM: Jenny Shipley (1997-99)
- Oldest PM on gaining office: Walter Nash (1957), 75 years, 10 months
- Youngest PM on gaining office: Edward Stafford (1856), 37 years, 5 weeks
- Longest prime ministerial term: Richard Seddon (1893-1906), 13 years, 5 weeks
- Shortest prime ministerial term: Harry Atkinson (3rd term, 1884), 8 days
- Shortest total time as premier: Henry Sewell (1856), 14 days
- Most frequently premier: William Fox and Harry Atkinson – 4 times each (Atkinson technically 5 times after a ministry was re-sworn in by the governor)
- Longest time between prime ministerships: Sir Joseph Ward – 16 years
- First Freethinking (agnostic) premier: Alfred Domett (1862-3)
- First Catholic premier: Frederick Weld (1864-5)
- First Jewish premier: Julius Vogel (1873-5 and 1876)
- First New Zealand-born PM: Sir Francis Henry Dillon Bell (1925)
- Last overseas-born PM: Walter Nash (1957-60)
- First Maori PM: we are still waiting
- Died in office: John Ballance (1893), Richard Seddon (1906), William Massey (1925), Michael Joseph Savage (1940), Norman Kirk (1974)
- Last PM to lose power after being defeated on a vote in the House: Thomas Mackenzie (1912)
- North/South Island premiers and PMs on first appointment: North Island (22) and South Island (16)
- Premiers and PMs who led from the Legislative Council (the upper house): Frederick Whitaker (1863-4, 1882-3), George Waterhouse (1872-3), Daniel Pollen (1875-6), Sir Francis Henry Dillon Bell (1925)
- Premiers never elected to Parliament: George Waterhouse, Daniel Pollen
PM placenames
A number of New Zealand's premiers and prime ministers, especially the earlier ones, have been commemorated in the names of towns, suburbs, mountain peaks and other places. They include the following:
- John Ballance: Ballance (northern Wairarapa)
- Sir Francis Henry Dillon Bell: Dillon Bell Point (Marlborough)
- Gordon Coates: Coatesville (North Shore), Mount Coates (Mt Cook National Park)
- Alfred Domett: Mount Domett (Canterbury)
- William Fox: Foxton (Manawatu), Fox Glacier (West Coast), Fox Peak (Canterbury)
- Sir George Grey: Greytown (Wairarapa), Greymouth and Grey River (West Coast), Grey Lynn (Auckland), Mount Grey (Kawau Island), Mount Grey (Canterbury)*
- Thomas Mackenzie: Lake Mackenzie and Mackenzie Pass (Fiordland), Mackenzie Stream (Otago), Mount Mackenzie (Otago)**
- William Massey: Massey (West Auckland), Glen Massey (Waikato) – also Massey University
- Daniel Pollen: Pollen Island (Auckland)
- Richard Seddon: Seddon (Marlborough), Seddonville (West Coast)
- Sir Robert Stout: Mount Stout (Canterbury)
- Julius Vogel: Vogeltown (New Plymouth), Vogeltown (Wellington)
- Sir Joseph Ward: Ward (Marlborough), Mount Ward (Fiordland), Wardville (Waikato)
- Frederick Weld: Welds Hill (Marlborough)
* Placenames associated with George Grey generally commemorate his role as governor rather than premier.
** Thomas Mackenzie was an explorer in his younger years.
