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Research dossier · People & Ideas

James Sutter

New Zealand politician (1818–1903)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJan 14, 2026
Entity authorityQ6143861 ↗
Source-derived summary

James Hutchinson Sutter (1818 – 13 April 1903) was a 19th-century member of parliament in Canterbury, New Zealand.

He represented the Gladstone electorate from 1881 to 1887, when he retired. He was Mayor of Timaru from 1875 to 1876 and from 1879 to 1882. He died on 13 April 1903, aged 85.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “James Sutter” as new Zealand politician (1818–1903). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1818, 1903, 1881, 1887—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1818-01-01. The account is most persuasive where James, Sutter and Zealand can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as new Zealand politician (1818–1903). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6143861. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1818, 1903, 1881 and 1887.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “James Sutter”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow James Sutter primary sources, James Sutter archive and James research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “James Sutter”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “James Sutter” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.