Henry Chamberlin (31 July 1825 – 12 April 1888), in many sources referred to as Chamberlain, was a member of the New Zealand Legislative Council. He came to New Zealand in his late 20s with a younger brother and a lot of capital, which he invested in land south and west of Auckland. After a failed attempt to win election to the House of Representatives in 1867, he was called to the Legislative Council in early 1869. He remained a member until his accidental drowning in 1888.

Early life and family

Gatehouse by entrance to Narborough Hall - geograph

Chamberlin was born at

Narborough Hall Narborough Hall is a Grade II* listed building in Narborough in Leicestershire. Believed to date from 1596 this Elizabethan manor house was built by James Meade, a local landowner. However it wasn’t until it was extensively remodelled in th ...

Narborough, Norfolk Narborough is a village of 1405 hectares in the Breckland district of Norfolk, England, with a population of 1,094 at the 2011 census. It is situated in the Nar Valley, with the river Nar flowing through on its way to the River Great Ouse. ...

on 31 July 1825 and baptised on 7 August, one of ten children of Hannah Chamberlin (, 1799–1863) and Henry Chamberlin (1773–1848). He had one elder sister and eight younger siblings. After some years in New Zealand, Chamberlin returned to England in the late 1850s to marry Elizabeth Catherine Heard (1841–1929) at St Mary and St Peter's Church in

Kelsale Kelsale is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Kelsale cum Carlton, in the East Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England. It is located approximately 1 mile north of Saxmundham town centre at the junction of the ...

, Suffolk in November 1859. They had one daughter, Eva Ellen Chamberlin, born in 1861.

Life in New Zealand

Chamberlin and his younger brother Charles (1829–1878) came to Auckland in 1853; Chamberlin had about £20,000 when he immigrated and he invested mostly in land, much of it in the

Raglan Raglan may refer to: People *FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan (1788–1855), British Army officer, commander of British troops during the Crimean War *Raglan (surname) *Raglan Squire (1912–2004), British architect Places Australia *Count ...

, Drury, and

Hobsonville Hobsonville is a suburb in West Auckland, in the North Island of New Zealand. The area was administered by Waitakere City Council until the council was amalgamated into Auckland Council in 2010. Hobsonville Point, formerly the location of the ...

areas. One of his first purchases was at

Ōpaheke Ōpaheke is a suburb of Auckland, in northern New Zealand. It is located to the south of Papakura, and 32 kilometres south of the Auckland CBD. The suburb is the southernmost part of the Auckland metropolitan area. The name was altered to inclu ...

in 1853.

Ponui Island Ponui Island (also known as Chamberlin's Island) is a privately owned island located in the Hauraki Gulf, to the east of the city of Auckland, New Zealand. It is located to the southeast of Waiheke Island, at the eastern end of the Tamaki Strait, ...

, also known as Chamberlin's Island, belonged to his brother Charles. In the 1860s, Chamberlin was a trustee of the Hūnua Highway Board. When Joseph Newman resigned his membership in the House of Representatives for the Raglan electorate, Chamberlin was one of three candidates contesting the 1867 Raglan by-election. Chamberlin was nominated by

Reader Wood Reader Gillson Wood (1821 – 20 August 1895) was a 19th-century New Zealand politician. An architect by trade, he designed the 1854 General Assembly House built as New Zealand's first meeting house for the House of Representatives. Early life ...

but came last, getting 10% of the vote. During the premiership of

Edward Stafford Edward Stafford may refer to: People * Edward Stafford, 2nd Earl of Wiltshire (1470–1498) *Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham (1478–1521), executed for treason *Edward Stafford, 3rd Baron Stafford (1535–1603) *Sir Edward Stafford (diplo ...

, Chamberlin was called to the New Zealand Legislative Council, effective from 8 February 1869. Appointments at the time were for life and he held membership until his death.

Death

Chamberlin fell into a hole on his Drury property and drowned; he had long been prospecting on his land for coal and had recently dug the trench in which he drowned. The inquest was held on 16 April at the Railway Hotel in Drury. The intention was for him to be buried at

St Stephen's Chapel St Stephen's Chapel, sometimes called the Royal Chapel of St Stephen, was a chapel completed around 1297 in the old Palace of Westminster which served as the chamber of the House of Commons of England and that of Great Britain from 1547 to 1834. ...

but the graveyard had been restricted for family burials, and his body was interred at St Thomas' Cemetery in Kohimarama instead. The funeral was attended by Frederick Whitaker,

William Pollock Moat William Pollock Moat (1827–1895) was a 19th-century Member of Parliament (New Zealand), Member of Parliament from Auckland, New Zealand. Pollock represented the Warkworth electorate in the Auckland Provincial Council from 18 November 1873 ...

, and Frederick Moss. His wife died in October 1929 and his daughter in November 1938.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chamberlin, Henry 1825 births 1888 deaths Members of the New Zealand Legislative Council Deaths by drowning in New Zealand People from Breckland District Politicians from Auckland Burials in New Zealand