William Edward Barnard (29 January 1886 – 12 March 1958) was a New Zealand lawyer, politician and parliamentary speaker. He was a member of Parliament from 1928 until 1943, and was its Speaker from 1936 till 1943. He was known for his association with John A. Lee, a prominent left-wing politician. Early life Barnard was born in Carterton, a town in the Wairarapa region. He studied law at Victoria University College, and became a lawyer in 1908. He eventually settled in Te Aroha, where he served on the borough council. In 1915, he travelled to the United Kingdom and joined the Royal Army Medical Corps to serve in World War I. After serving for a time in Egypt, he became a gunner in the Royal Field Artillery, serving in Palestine. Following World War I, he returned to New Zealand and resumed practice as a lawyer. Parliamentary career Becoming increasingly interested in left-wing politics, Barnard joined the young Labour Party in 1923. He was a good friend of John A. Lee, one of the more radical members of the Labour Party. Barnard rose quickly, being elected to the Labour Party's national executive in 1924. In the 1925 election, he was Labour's candidate in the Kaipara seat – the incumbent was Gordon Coates, the Prime Minister, and Barnard was unsuccessful. In the 1928 elections, he stood in the seat of Napier, and narrowly defeated the incumbent Reform Party MP. In 1935, he was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal. In the 1935 election, he was returned with a comfortable majority, perhaps assisted by his work in response to the Napier earthquake. When the Labour Party won power in 1935, many believed that he would be appointed Minister of Justice. In the end, however, this position was given to Rex Mason. Instead, Barnard was nominated as Speaker of the House. He was elected to this position in March 1936. In the , he was challenged in the electorate by John Ormond of the National Party, but he won with a large majority. Politically, Barnard was on the left of the Labour Party, and was strongly influenced by the social credit theory of monetary reform. He was also a strong Anglican, and considered himself to be a Christian socialist. Barnard became known as one of the senior members of the left-leaning, creditist faction of the party, although his old friend John A.