Bill Schramm

Frederick William Schramm (28 March 1886 – 28 October 1962) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party. He was the eleventh Speaker of the House of Representatives, from 1944 to 1946.

The Honourable
Bill Schramm
11th Speaker of the House of Representatives
In office
22 February 1944 – 12 October 1946
Prime MinisterPeter Fraser
Preceded byBill Barnard
Succeeded byRobert McKeen
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Auckland East
In office
2 December 1931 – 12 October 1946
Preceded byJames Donald
Succeeded byConstituency abolished
Personal details
Born
Frederick William Schramm

28 March 1886
Hokitika, New Zealand
Died28 October 1962
Auckland, New Zealand
Political partyLabour
SpouseAlice Amelia Peard
Children2

Biography

Early life

Schramm was born in Hokitika in 1886. His Danish parents had arrived in New Zealand in the 1860s.[1] He received his education at Hokitika High School and at Canterbury College.[2] He was a prominent sports person in his younger years in athletics, cricket, and hockey,[3] and represented Canterbury College in the New Zealand University championships for two years.[4]

He married Alice Amelia Peard in 1918; they had two daughters. Schramm started his professional career as a clerk with the Justice Department and held positions in Wanganui and Te Kuiti before World War I, and Christchurch, Wellington, and Auckland after the war.[3] He then became deputy-registrar and deputy-sheriff of the Auckland Supreme Court but resigned in 1922 to enter private practice.[5] He was a solicitor and barrister for the last nine years before his election to Parliament.[1]

Political career
New Zealand Parliament
Years Term Electorate Party
1931–1935 24th Auckland East Labour
1935–1938 25th Auckland East Labour
1938–1943 26th Auckland East Labour
1943–1946 27th Auckland East Labour

In 1927 he stood unsuccessfully for the Auckland City Council on a Labour Party ticket.[6] Schramm was a member of the Auckland University College Council until his resignation in 1942.[7]

In the 1928 election, he contested the Hamilton electorate but came third.[8] He was the Member of Parliament for Auckland East from 1931 to 1946; when he was defeated for the new electorate of Parnell.[9] Originally an ally of John A. Lee, they fell out and Schramm moved for Lee's expulsion at the 1940 Labour conference. Lee supported the National candidate Duncan Rae who defeated Schramm in the Parnell electorate in 1946.

In early 1947 he was a nominee for the Mount Albert by-election but was not selected as the candidate.[10] Soon afterwards Schramm, who was originally from Hokitika, was also speculated as a possible candidate at another by-election in Westland but suggestion of him seeking the candidacy was later dismissed.[11]

In November 1947 he was Labour's candidate for the Auckland mayoralty, placing second behind sitting mayor Sir John Allum.[12] Schramm wished to stand for the mayoralty again in 1950, but was beaten for the Labour nomination by former city councillor John Stewart.[13] In 1949 he stood in Parnell once more and was again defeated. He was then President of the Auckland Labour Representation Committee from 1955 to 1957.[5]

Awards and death

In 1935, Schramm was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal.[14]

He died in Auckland in 1962[5] and was buried at Purewa Cemetery.[15]

Notes
  1. "New Members". The Press. Vol. LXVII, no. 20410. 3 December 1931. p. 14. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  2. "New Members". Auckland Star. Vol. LXII, no. 286. 3 December 1931. p. 11. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  3. "Biographies of Former and Current Speakers of the New Zealand House of Representatives" (PDF). New Zealand Parliament. p. 5. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  4. "Mr. Schramm the new Speaker". Auckland Star. Vol. LXXIV, no. 255. 27 October 1943. p. 4. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  5. "Ex-Speaker Dies In Auckland". The New Zealand Herald. 29 October 1962. p. 3.
  6. "Electoral". Auckland Star. 4 May 1927. p. 5. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  7. "University Election". The New Zealand Herald. Vol. 79, no. 24236. 30 March 1942. p. 4. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  8. The General Election, 1928. Government Printer. 1929. p. 3. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
  9. Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. p. 233. OCLC 154283103.
  10. "Labour Considers Mt Albert Nominee". The Northern Advocate. 20 August 1947. p. 8. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  11. "Westland Seat – Mr Schramm Unlikely Candidate". The Press. Vol. LXXXIII, no. 25308. 7 October 1947. p. 6.
  12. "Election of Mayor". Auckland Star. 29 November 1947. p. 9.
  13. "Labour Candidate To Oppose Auckland Mayor". Wanganui Chronicle. 7 October 1950. p. 5.
  14. "Official jubilee medals". The Evening Post. 6 May 1935. p. 4. Retrieved 3 August 2013.
  15. "Burial details". Purewa Cemetery and Crematorium. Archived from the original on 15 October 2014. Retrieved 11 October 2014.

References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bill Schramm.
  • Who’s Who in New Zealand, 4th Edition 1941
  • New Zealand Herald 1962, 30 October (death notice)
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