Thomas Forsaith
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Thomas Spencer Forsaith was a New Zealand politician. According to some historians, he was the country's second Premier, although a more conventional view states that neither he nor his predecessor should properly be given that title.
Forsaith was elected to the 1st New Zealand Parliament as the representative of the Northern Division, an electorate which covered the area north of Auckland but south of Whangarei. Forsaith was invited to form a ministry in August 1855, when Acting Governor Robert Wynyard suspended Parliament. Wynyard had taken this action after Parliament refused to accept his claim that New Zealand self-rule was not possible without royal assent. Forsaith, a member of the minority which supported Wynyard, was joined in Cabinet by James Macandrew, William Travers, and Edward Jerningham Wakefield. This appointed Cabinet did not have the confidence of Parliament, however, and was defeated almost immediately. No new Cabinet was formed until the 2nd New Zealand Parliament, under which self-rule was obtained. Forsaith himself served through the 2nd Parliament as representative of the City of Auckland, but never served in Cabinet again.
