Charles Chapman (New Zealand politician)

Charles Henry Chapman (1876 – 2 March 1957) was a New Zealand unionist and politician of the Labour Party and various predecessor parties.

This article is about the politician from Wellington. For the mayor of Dunedin, see Charles Robert Chapman.

Charles Chapman
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Wellington Central
In office
27 November 1946 – 13 November 1954
Preceded byPeter Fraser
Succeeded byFrank Kitts
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Wellington North
In office
14 November 1928 – 27 November 1946
Preceded byJohn Luke
Succeeded byseat abolished
Personal details
Born
Charles Henry Chapman

1876
London, England
Died2 March 1957
Wellington, New Zealand
Political partyLabour (1916–57)
Social Democratic (1913–16)
Signature

Early life

Chapman was born in London, England, in 1876. At the age of 17 he joined the Independent Labour Party (ILP) and was later secretary of the London ILP Federation. Chapman was a linotype operator by trade as well as a union secretary. Upon leaving England he was made a life member of the ILP. He emigrated to New Zealand in 1905.[1]

He settled in Wellington and became secretary of both the Wellington Typographical Union and Wellington Journalists Union.[2] Chapman was also secretary of the Wellington Female Printers Assistants Union and the Wellington Related Printing Trades Union and was a proponent of related unions merging together for unity.[3]

During World War I he was an advocator for dependents of servicemen and their rehabilitation. He became a member of the National Reparation Board.[2] He was keenly interested in the work of the Red Cross Movement and was President of the New Zealand Red Cross for 25 years. He was also a worker for the Wellington Free Ambulance as a representative of the Red Cross. He was also a member of the Wellington Technical Board of Governors.[2]

He was defeated in early 1928 for his position as secretary of the Wellington Typographical Union by James Henrichs.[4] However he remained secretary of the Wellington Female Printers Assistants Union and the Wellington Related Printing Trades Union, but over time he became less enthusiastic about merging unions.[5] In 1937 he was part of the printing unions' successful negotiating team for a legislated 40-hour work week.[6]

Political career

He was on the executive of the Independent Political Labour League (IPLL) in 1906/07.[1] He was on the Advisory Committee of the Social Democratic Party in 1915–1916.[1]

New Zealand Parliament
Years Term Electorate Party
1928–1931 23rd Wellington North Labour
1931–1935 24th Wellington North Labour
1935–1938 25th Wellington North Labour
1938–1943 26th Wellington North Labour
1943–1946 27th Wellington North Labour
1946–1949 28th Wellington Central Labour
1949–1951 29th Wellington Central Labour
1951–1954 30th Wellington Central Labour

Local body politics

He was a Wellington City Councillor from 1919–1925 and 1929–1941, and also served on the Wellington Hospital Board.[1] Chapman served three separate terms on the Wellington Harbour Board from 1919–21, 1925–31 and 1933–41.[7]

In 1915, Chapman ran for Mayor of Wellington as the Social Democratic candidate. In a three horse race, he came a distant third.[8] He ran for mayor a further three times as the Labour Party's nominee. He ran in 1925, 1927 and 1938 placing second on each occasion.[9][10][11] At the 1944 election he was nominated to be Labour's candidate for the mayoralty, one of five candidates he was not selected with Labour Party president James Roberts prevailing.[12][13]

Member of Parliament

He contested the Wellington South electorate in the 1908 election and came third behind Robert Wright and William Henry Peter Barber.[14]

He contested the Hawke's Bay electorate in the 1919 election for the Labour Party and came third behind Hugh Campbell and Gilbert McKay.[15] In 1922, he stood in the Hawke's Bay electorate again and came a distant third (and last) after Gilbert McKay and Andrew Hamilton Russell.[16] In the 1925 election, he stood in the Wellington Suburbs electorate and was beaten by the incumbent, Robert Wright, who had also beaten him in 1908.[17]

In 1928, Chapman was elected as the Member of Parliament for Wellington North which he held until the seats abolition in 1946. He then became the Member for Wellington Central from 1946 until 1954 when he retired.[18]

In 1945 he was appointed a member of the Wellington Rehabilitation Committee.[2]

Later life

In 1935, he was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal,[19] and in 1953 he received the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal.[20]

Chapman died in Wellington in 1957, aged 80, survived by a step-son and step-daughter.[2] He was buried at Karori Cemetery in Wellington.[21]

Notes
  1. Gustafson 1980, p. 155.
  2. "Mr. C. H. Chapman Dies After Long Public Service". The Evening Post. 4 March 1957.
  3. Franks 2001, p. 79.
  4. Franks 2001, p. 83.
  5. Franks 2001, p. 89.
  6. Franks 2001, p. 111.
  7. Johnson, David (1996). "Members and Officers of the Wellington Harbour Board, Appendix I". Wellington Harbour. Wellington Maritime Museum Trust. p. 477. ISBN 0958349800.
  8. "Wellington City Council". The Evening Post. Vol. LXXXIX, no. 108. 8 May 1915. p. 8. Retrieved 18 March 2016.
  9. "The Mayoral Election". The Evening Post. Vol. CIX, no. 102. 4 May 1925. p. 6. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
  10. "Election Notices". The Evening Post. Vol. CXIII, no. 103. 4 May 1927. p. 6. Retrieved 22 July 2016.
  11. "Election Recounts". The Evening Post. Vol. CXXV, no. 114. 17 May 1938. p. 12. Retrieved 27 October 2016.
  12. "The Mayoralty - Labour Ticket". The Evening Post. Vol. CXXXVII, no. 36. 12 February 1944. p. 6.
  13. "The Mayoralty - Labour Candidate". The Evening Post. Vol. CXXXVII, no. 52. 2 March 1944. p. 6.
  14. "The General Election, 1908". National Library of New Zealand. 1909. p. 31. Retrieved 14 April 2012.
  15. "Hawke's Bay Province". Colonist. Vol. LXII, no. 15259. 22 December 1919. p. 2. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
  16. "How The Electorates Went". Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle. Vol. XVIII, no. 909. 12 December 1922. p. 2. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
  17. "Wellington Province". Auckland Star. Vol. LVI, no. 262. 5 November 1925. p. 9. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
  18. Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First published in 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. p. 189. OCLC 154283103.
  19. "Official jubilee medals". The Evening Post. Vol. CXIX, no. 105. 6 May 1935. p. 4. Retrieved 2 July 2013.
  20. "Coronation Medal" (PDF). Supplement to the New Zealand Gazette. No. 37. 3 July 1953. pp. 1021–1035. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  21. "Cemeteries search". Wellington City Council. 12 July 2012. Retrieved 30 April 2015.

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