Peter John Cartwright CNZM QSO CStJ (3 May 1940 – 17 April 2019) was a New Zealand lawyer and, as the husband of Dame Silvia Cartwright, viceregal consort of New Zealand between 2001 and 2006.

Born in Dunedin on 3 May 1940, Cartwright was the son of James Patrick Cartwright and Gladys Josephine Cartwright (née Laffey).^[1][2][3] He was educated as a boarder at St Bede's College in Christchurch, and then studied law at the University of Otago from 1960 to 1965, graduating with a Bachelor of Laws.^[3][4] He went on to become a partner in a law firm in Hamilton as a commercial lawyer.^[4][5]

Cartwright served on the boards of IHC New Zealand and the Donald Beasley Institute, and was chair of the latter for several years.^[4] He also chaired the Medical Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal, the Indecent Publications Tribunal and the Broadcasting Standards Authority, was a member of the Accident Compensation Appeal Authority, and patron of Citizen Advocacy Auckland.^[4][5]

In 1969, Cartwright married Silvia Rose Poulter who, as Silvia Cartwright, became the first female High Court judge in New Zealand, and who was appointed as the 18th Governor-General of New Zealand in 2001, serving until 2006.^[5][6]

Cartwright died in Auckland on 17 April 2019 at the age of 78.^[7]

In 2001, Cartwright was appointed a Commander of the Order of St John.^[8] In the 2006 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for public services and services to the community,^[9] and later that year, at the conclusion of his wife's term as governor-general, he was made a Companion of the Queen's Service Order for community service.^[10]