Sir John Ross Marshall GBE CH ED PC^[1] (5 March 1912 – 30 August 1988) was a New Zealand politician of the National Party. He entered Parliament in 1946 and was first promoted to Cabinet in 1951. After spending twelve years as the deputy prime minister of New Zealand, he served as the 28th prime minister from February until December 1972.

The Second National Government, in office since 1960, appeared worn-out and out of touch, and at the time of Marshall's appointment it seemed headed for heavy electoral defeat. After Labour's victory in the 1972 general election, Marshall became Leader of the Opposition. He was determined to remain as leader of the National Party, but in July 1974 was challenged for the leadership by Robert Muldoon, his deputy, rival and successor.

Marshall's politeness and courtesy were well known, and he was sometimes nicknamed Gentleman Jack.^[2] He disliked the aggressive style of some politicians, preferring a calmer, less confrontational approach. These traits were sometimes misinterpreted as weakness by his opponents. Marshall was a strong believer in pragmatism, and he disliked what he considered populism in other politicians of his day. At his death he was described as "A soft spoken lawyer almost too nice to be a politician".^[3]

Marshall was born in Wellington. He grew up in Wellington, Whangārei, and Dunedin, attending Whangarei Boys' High School and Otago Boys' High School. He was noted for his ability at sports, particularly rugby.^[2]

After leaving high school, Marshall studied law at Victoria University College. He gained an LL.B. in 1934 and an LL.M. in 1935. He also worked part-time in a law office.^[2] He was deeply involved with the Presbyterian Church, also serving for a time as president of the New Zealand Bible Society.^[3]

In 1941, during World War II, Marshall joined the New Zealand Military Forces, and received officer training. In his first few years of service, he was posted to 36th Battalion and served in Fiji, Norfolk Island, New Caledonia, and the Solomon Islands, eventually reaching the rank of major. During this time he also spent five months in the United States at a marine staff school in Virginia. On 29 July 1944, while on leave in Perth, Western Australia, Marshall married Jessie Margaret Livingston, a nurse.^[2] At the start of 1945, Marshall was transferred to the Divisional Cavalry Battalion in Italy and participated in the battle of the Senio River and the liberation of Trieste.^[2]

After the war, Marshall briefly established himself as a barrister, but was soon persuaded to stand as the National Party's candidate for the new Wellington seat of Mt Victoria in the 1946 election. He won the seat by 911 votes. He was, however, nearly disqualified by a technicality – Marshall was employed at the time in a legal case for the government, something which ran afoul of rules barring politicians from giving business to their own firms. However, because Marshall had taken on the case before his election (and so could not have influenced the government's decision to give him employment), it was obvious that there had been no wrongdoing. As such, the Prime Minister, Peter Fraser of the Labour Party, amended the regulations.^[2]

Marshall's political philosophy, which was well-defined at this stage, was a mixture of liberal and conservative values. He was opposed to laissez-faire capitalism, but was equally opposed to the redistribution of wealth advocated by socialists – his vision was of a property-owning society under the benign guidance of a fair and just government. Barry Gustafson states, "[Marshall] was strongly motivated by his Christian faith and by an equally deep intellectual commitment to the principles of liberalism."^[2]

He remained active in the National Party organisation, and was highly respected for his many years of service. Marshall was initially reticent on his successors activities, though he became publicly more critical of Muldoon's aggressive personality with time. Following the Moyle Affair he was interviewed on television about the incident in which he criticised Muldoon's behavior, of accusing Labour MP Colin Moyle of being picked up by the police for homosexual activities, stating "I think anyone who indulges in this kind of conduct is damaging himself and lowering the status of Parliament".^[13] Over time he grew ever more critical of Muldoon, accusing him of being overly aggressive and controlling. Muldoon's highly controversial decision to allow a visit by a rugby union team from apartheid South Africa exasperated Marshall even more.^[2] He wrote his memoirs (split into two volumes) which "pulled no punches" in his description of Muldoon and his 1974 leadership coup.^[3]

In addition to his memoirs, Marshall wrote a law book and published several children's books about the adventures of a character named 'Dr Duffer'.^[3] He had first started writing the stories as a law student in his youth, but did not publish the first book until 1978. They were very popular, with the first book selling out within a week and thousands more being ordered.^[14] He was active in various charities and cultural organisations, including the New Zealand Chess Association,^[15] and was a founder of the New Zealand Portrait Gallery.^[16][8] Many of his later activities were related to his strong Christian faith. Marshall died in Snape, Suffolk, England, on 30 August 1988, en route to Budapest to give an address at the world conference of the United Bible Societies. He was survived by his wife and four children.^[2]

In 1953, Marshall was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal, and in 1977 he received the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal.^[17]

In the 1973 New Year Honours, Marshall was appointed a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour, in recognition of his service as New Zealand prime minister,^[18] and the following year he was bestowed with a knighthood as a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire.^[19]

In the 1992 Queen's Birthday Honours, Margaret, Lady Marshall, was appointed a Companion of the Queen's Service Order for community service.^[20]