IN PICTURES: Assembly speaker hosts event marking centenary of NI-Born William F. Massey's death
Born in Limavady in 1856, William F. Massey and his family emigrated to New Zealand in the 1860s later becoming their Prime Minister in 1912
The Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly, Edwin Poots MLA has hosted an event at Parliament Buildings in Belfast to mark the centenary of the death of William F. Massey.
Born in Limavady in 1856, William F. Massey and his family emigrated to New Zealand in the 1860s. He went on to become its Prime Minister in 1912. After the First World War, Massey signed the Treaty of Versailles on New Zealand's behalf and is regarded as one of the country’s most significant politicians. East Belfast’s Massey Avenue, which leads into the Stormont Estate, is named after him. He died in 1925.
At the event held in Parliament Buildings, the Speaker was joined by Guergana Guermanoff, New Zealand’s Acting High Commissioner and Caroline Keenan, the Honorary Consul for New Zealand in Northern Ireland. A number of William F. Massey’s direct descendants also travelled from New Zealand, the U.S. and England for the Belfast event.