Name Charles Chapman | ||
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Charles Henry Chapman (1876 – 2 March 1957) was a New Zealand unionist and politician of the Labour Party and various predecessor parties.
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Early life
Chapman was born in London, England in 1876. He joined the Independent Labour Party (ILP) and was later secretary of the London ILP Federation. He emigrated to New Zealand in 1905.
Early political career
Chapman was a linotype operator by trade as well as a union secretary. He was on the executive of the Independent Political Labour League (IPLL) in 1906/07. He was on the Advisory Committee of the Social Democratic Party in 1915–1916.
Local Government career
He was a Wellington City Councillor from 1919–1925 and 1929–1941, and also served on both the Hospital Board and Wellington Harbour Board. In 1915, Chapman ran for Mayor of Wellington 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, 1927 and 1938 placing second on each occasion.
Parliamentary career
He contested the Wellington South electorate in the 1908 election and came third behind Robert Alexander Wright and William Henry Peter Barber.
He contested the Hawke's Bay electorate in the 1919 election for the Labour Party and came third behind Hugh Campbell and Gilbert McKay. 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. In the 1925 election, he stood in the Wellington Suburbs electorate and was beaten by the incumbent, Robert Alexander Wright, who had also beaten him in 1908.
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.
Later life
In 1935, he was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal.
Chapman died in 1957 and was buried at Karori Cemetery in Wellington.