Samuel Duncan Parnell (19 February 1810 – 17 December 1890) was an early New Zealand

settler A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established a permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. A settler who migrates to an area previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited may be described as a pioneer. Settle ...

often credited with the establishment of the

eight-hour day 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 working day, preventing excesses and abuses. An eight-hour work day has its origins in the ...

in New Zealand.

Early years

He was born in London, England, on 19 February 1810, one of nine children- he had seven sisters and one brother- of egg salesman James Parnell and Joan, née Duncan. He trained as carpenter's apprentice until 1834, when he took a job at a joinery on Theobald's Road in London. As carpenters in London routinely worked 12 to 14 hours per day, the problems with such long working days would have been painfully clear to him. Parnell argued about the length of the working day with his colleagues. Around the same time, a Grand National Consolidated Trades Union was being formed, and Parnell asked the union to support the shortening of the working day. The union did not agree, and so Parnell did not join the union, but instead set up his own business. On 6 September 1839, Parnell married widow Mary Ann Canham, and only eleven days later, the newly wedded couple set off together for New Zealand. For £126, Parnell had secured the boat fare, and the right to of country land, and of land in the area then called

Port Nicholson A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ha ...

and now the city of

Wellington, New Zealand 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 ...

. The couple left on the '' Duke of Roxburgh'' on 17 September 1839, and landed on Britannia (

Petone Petone (Māori: ''Pito-one''), a large suburb of Lower Hutt, Wellington, stands at the southern end of the Hutt Valley, on the northern shore of Wellington Harbour. The Māori name means "end of the sand beach". Europeans first settled in P ...

) Beach on 8 February 1840.

1840–1841

Parnell met a shipping agent named George Hunter on board the ship. Soon after arriving in New Zealand, Hunter asked Parnell to build him a store on

Lambton Quay Lambton Quay (once known as The Beach) is the heart of the central business district of Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand. Originally, as the name implies, it was the high-water line of the foreshore, and sometimes the sea would roll ...

. Parnell agreed, on the condition that he would only work eight hours per day. Hunter was initially reluctant, but Parnell argued, now famously, that "we have twenty-four hours per day given us; eight of these should be for work, eight for sleeping, and the remaining eight for recreation and in which for men to do what little things they want for themselves. I am ready to start to-morrow morning at eight o'clock, but it must be on these terms or none at all." (This echoed the famous slogan originated by

Robert Owen Robert Owen (; 14 May 1771 – 17 November 1858) was a Welsh people, Welsh textile manufacturer, philanthropist and social reformer, and a founder of utopian socialism and the cooperative movement. He strove to improve factory working conditio ...

in 1817: ''"Eight hours' labour, Eight hours' recreation, Eight hours' rest."'') Hunter pointed out how different this was from London, but Parnell replied "We're not in London." However, as there was a severe shortage of skilled workers in New Zealand, Hunter was forced to accept Parnell's terms on the spot. Parnell greeted ships coming in to Port Nicholson, and told all new migrants not to work more than eight hours a day. In a workers' meeting at October 1840, it was agreed that people should only work eight hours a day, which must be between 8am and 5pm. Anyone accepting less favourable working conditions was to be thrown into the harbour. The eight-hour day was cemented when, in 1841, road-builders in

Hutt Valley The Hutt Valley (or 'The Hutt') is the large area of fairly flat land in the Hutt River valley in the Wellington region of New Zealand. Like the river that flows through it, it takes its name from Sir William Hutt, a director of the New Zeala ...

went on strike after being told to work longer hours.

1842–1890

In 1842, his first wife Mary Ann died, and in 1843 Parnell sold his Hutt Valley country land, and started an animal farm in

Karori Karori is a suburb located at the western edge of the urban area of Wellington, New Zealand, 4 km from the city centre and is one of New Zealand's most populous suburbs, with a population of in History Origins The name ''Karori'' used ...

. On 12 December 1851 he married another widow, Sarah Sophia Brunger, with two children. While a farmer, Parnell still did some carpentry work, and built a home for the local judge. In October 1873 Parnell returned to Wellington, and lived in Cambridge Terrace. Parnell never had any children of his own, and his second wife died in 1888. The by-then much honoured and respected Parnell died on 17 December 1890. Thousands of people attended his public funeral three days later. He is buried at Bolton Street Memorial Park, and his grave is part of the memorial trail.

Honorific eponym

Samuel Parnell Road in the Wellington suburb of Karori was named in Parnell's honour in 1999. The Auckland suburb of Parnell, established in 1841, is often incorrectly said to have been named after Parnell.

References

External links

Samuel Parnell
in the 1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Parnell, Samuel Duncan 1810 births 1890 deaths New Zealand activists New Zealand farmers Workers' rights activists English emigrants to New Zealand Burials at Bolton Street Cemetery