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

Early life

Chapman was born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, England, in 1876. At the age of 17 he joined the

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse working-class candidates ...

(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. He settled in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

and became secretary of both the Wellington Typographical Union and Wellington Journalists Union. 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. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he was an advocator for dependents of servicemen and their rehabilitation. He became a member of the National Reparation Board. He was keenly interested in the work of the Red Cross Movement and was President of the

New Zealand Red Cross New Zealand Red Cross or Ripeka Whero Aotearoa is a humanitarian organisation, which has more than 15,000 members and volunteers. In New Zealand, Red Cross delivers core community services, such as Meals on Wheels, Community Transport, Refugee ...

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. He was defeated in early 1928 for his position as secretary of the Wellington Typographical Union by James Henrichs. 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. In 1937 he was part of the printing unions' successful negotiating team for a legislated

40-hour work week The eight-hour day movement (also known as the 40-hour week movement or the short-time movement) was a social movement to regulate the length of a business day, working day, preventing excesses and abuses. An eight-hour work day has its ori ...

Political career

He was on the executive of the

Independent Political Labour League The Independent Political Labour League (IPLL) was a small New Zealand political party. It was the second organised political party to win a seat in the New Zealand House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and was a forerunner of the m ...

(IPLL) in 1906/07. He was on the Advisory Committee of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

in 1915–1916.

Local body politics

He was a

Wellington City Council Wellington City Council is a territorial authority in New Zealand, governing the country's capital city Wellington, and ''de facto'' second-largest city (if the commonly considered parts of Wellington, the Upper Hutt, Porirua, Lower Hutt and ...

lor from 1919–1925 and 1929–1941, and also served on the Wellington Hospital Board. Chapman served three separate terms on the

Wellington Harbour Board (Strong but true) , predecessor = , merged = , successor = , formation = , founder = , founding_location = , dissolved = , merger = , type ...

from 1919–21, 1925–31 and 1933–41. In

1915 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction". *January 1 ...

, Chapman ran for

Mayor of Wellington The Mayor of Wellington is the head of the municipal government of the City of Wellington. The mayor presides over the Wellington City Council. The mayor is directly elected using the Single Transferable Vote method of proportional representati ...

as the Social Democratic candidate. In a three horse race, he came a distant third. He ran for mayor a further three times as the Labour Party's nominee. He ran in

1925 Events January * January 1 ** The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria. * January 3 – Benito Mussolini makes a pivotal speech in the Italia ...

, 1927 and

1938 Events January * January 1 ** The Constitution of Estonia#Third Constitution (de facto 1938–1940, de jure 1938–1992), new constitution of Estonia enters into force, which many consider to be the ending of the Era of Silence and the a ...

placing second on each occasion.

Member of Parliament

He contested the electorate in the and came third behind Robert Wright and

William Henry Peter Barber William Henry Peter Barber (10 September 1857 – 15 January 1943) was a New Zealand Member of Parliament for Newtown in Wellington. Early life and family Born in Wellington in 1857, Barber was educated at St Peter's School. He began work in ...

. He contested the electorate in the for the Labour Party and came third behind

Hugh Campbell Hugh Campbell (born May 21, 1941) is a former American football and Canadian football player, coach, and executive. He served as a head coach in three different professional gridiron football leagues: the Canadian Football League (CFL), the Unit ...

and

Gilbert McKay Gilbert McKay (29 May 1865 – 13 June 1954) was a Liberal Party Member of Parliament in New Zealand. Born in Dunedin, he farmed in Ōtāne in the Hawke's Bay. Early life McKay was born in Dunedin in 1865, the son of Gilbert McKay (1841–1922) ...

. In , he stood in the Hawke's Bay electorate again and came a distant third (and last) after Gilbert McKay and

Andrew Hamilton Russell Major General Sir Andrew Hamilton Russell (23 February 1868 – 29 November 1960) was a senior officer of the New Zealand Military Forces who served during the First World War. Born in Napier, New Zealand, Russell spent most of his youth in Engl ...

. In the , he stood in the electorate and was beaten by the incumbent, Robert Wright, who had also beaten him in 1908. In

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhanov, J ...

, 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 from

1946 Events January * January 6 - The 1946 North Vietnamese parliamentary election, first general election ever in Vietnam is held. * January 7 – The Allies recognize the Austrian republic with its 1937 borders, and divide the country into f ...

until 1954 when he retired. In 1945 he was appointed a member of the Wellington Rehabilitation Committee.

Later life

In 1935, he was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal, and in 1953 he received the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal. Chapman died in Wellington in 1957, aged 80, survived by a step-son and step-daughter. He was buried at

Karori Cemetery Karori Cemetery is New Zealand's second largest cemetery, located in the Wellington suburb of Karori. History Karori Cemetery opened in 1891 to address overcrowding at Bolton Street Cemetery. In 1909, it received New Zealand's first cremato ...

in Wellington.

Notes

References

* * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Chapman, Charles 1876 births 1957 deaths New Zealand Labour Party MPs New Zealand MPs for Wellington electorates Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives Wellington City Councillors Social Democratic Party (New Zealand) politicians Independent Political Labour League politicians Unsuccessful candidates in the 1908 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 1919 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 1922 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 1925 New Zealand general election Burials at Karori Cemetery Wellington Harbour Board members Wellington Hospital Board members