The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Reynolds, Hon. William Hunter
Reynolds, Hon. William Hunter, M.L.C., son of Thomas Reynolds and Marion (Hunter) his wife, was born at Chatham, Kent, on May 1st, 1822. Mr. Reynolds, who arrived in Otago, N.Z., from London in Jan 1851, was returned to the Provincial Council for Dunedin in 1853 at the first election after the granting of a constitution to the colony. He retained his seat till the provinces were abolished in 1875, and in the meantime held office on several occasions in the Provincial Executive, besides for a time filling the office of Speaker in the Provincial Council. In 1863 Mr. Hunter was member for Dunedin in the New Zealand House of Representatives from 1863 to 1878, when he resigned, and was nominated to the Legislative Council in the same year. Mr. Reynolds, who was married at Caversham, Dunedin, on Oct. 7th, 1856, to Miss Rachel Selena Pinkerton, was Commissioner of Customs in the Waterhouse and Fox Ministries from Oct. 1872 to April 1873, and Colonial Secretary under Sir Julius Vogel from the latter date until July 1875, when he became Commissioner of Customs in the Pollen Ministry, holding office till Feb. 1876. He was a member without portfolio of the Stout-Vogel Ministry of 1884-7.