John Bitchener

The Honourable
John Bitchener
OBE
20th Minister of Works
In office
10 April 1933 – 6 December 1935
Prime MinisterGeorge Forbes
Preceded byGordon Coates
Succeeded byBob Semple
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Waitaki
In office
17 December 1919 – 1 November 1935
Preceded byJohn Anstey
Succeeded byDavid Barnes
Personal details
Born1864
Stagsden, Bedfordshire, England
Died (aged 87)
New Zealand
Resting placeOld Waimate Cemetery
Occupationpolitician

John Bitchener OBE (1864 – 10 March 1952) was a Reform Party Member of Parliament in New Zealand. He was a cabinet minister from 1933 to 1935 in the Reform Government of New Zealand.

Early life

Bitchener was born in 1864 in Stagsden, Bedfordshire, England.[1] His father was Alfred Bitchener, who was born in 1844 in Cranfield, Bedfordshire, England.[2] His mother was Mary Ann Bitchener (née Welch), and his parents had married on 9 February 1864. John Bitchener had two younger sisters. After his wife's death, Alfred Bitchener decided to emigrate to New Zealand together with his sister Anne, who had married a brother of his late wife. The Bitchener and Welch families arrived in Lyttelton Harbour in January 1875 on the Lady Jocelyn[3] and the Welchs had two infants at the time.[4]

Alfred Bitchener moved to the Waimate District and worked as a farm labourer for three or four years, and then became a saw milling contractor.[2] John Bitchener received his education at Waimate Public School and then joined his father as a contractor in Waimate, before moving to Southland for four years.[1] His father bought a farm in Hook, some 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) southwest of Waimate, and John Bitchener moved to live there, too.[2]

Public roles

New Zealand Parliament
Years Term Electorate Party
1919–1922 20th Waitaki Reform
1922–1925 21st Waitaki Reform
1925–1928 22nd Waitaki Reform
1928–1931 23rd Waitaki Reform
1931–1935 24th Waitaki Reform

Like his father,[2] John Bitchener joined many organisations and took leading roles.[1] He was chairman of the Hook School Committee, he was a member of the Waimate County Council for eleven years, was a member of the Timaru Boys' High School Board including chairman for some time, was a member of the Timaru Harbour Board, was on the Waimate High School Board, and was president of the South Canterbury Farmers' Union. He was a member of the Advisory Board of the Farmers' Union in Wellington, was chairman of the Waimate Cooperative Flour Milling Company, and a director of the Canterbury Farmers' Cooperative Association.[1]

He was elected as Member of Parliament for Waitaki in the 1919 general election, but was defeated in 1935.[5] He was Minister of Works under George Forbes from 10 April 1933 to 6 December 1935, when the Coalition Government was defeated.[6]

In 1935, he was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal.[7] In the 1950 New Year Honours, Bitchener was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for public and municipal services.[8]

Family

While living in Southland, Bitchener married Mary Laughton from Scotland in Invercargill in 1887. Their son was John Alfred Bitchener.[9] They had a daughter, Jessie Laughton Bitchener, who died on 6 December 1895 at age four.[10] Another daughter, Eva Laughton Bitchener, lived until old age and died in 1985 aged 89.[10] His father, Alfred Bitchener, died suddenly in January 1918 at Waimate.[11] His wife, Mary, died on 17 August 1946.[10] John Bitchener died on 10 March 1952.[10] Apart from John Alfred Bitchener, all of these are buried in the Bitchener family grave at Old Waimate Cemetery.[10]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d "Mr. John Bitchener". The Evening Post. Vol. XCVIII, no. 146. 18 December 1919. p. 10. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  2. ^ a b c d Cyclopedia Company Limited (1903). "Old Colonists". The Cyclopedia of New Zealand : Canterbury Provincial District. Christchurch: The Cyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  3. ^ "The Arrival of the Lady Jocelyn". The Press. Vol. XXIII, no. 2940. 22 January 1875. p. 2. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  4. ^ "Lady Jocelyn". Archives New Zealand. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  5. ^ Wilson 1985, p. 184.
  6. ^ Wilson 1985, p. 82.
  7. ^ "Official jubilee medals". The Evening Post. 6 May 1935. p. 4. Retrieved 2 July 2013.
  8. ^ "No. 38798". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 1949. p. 36.
  9. ^ "John Alfred Bitchener". Auckland War Memorial Museum. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  10. ^ a b c d e "WDC Cemetery Viewer". Waimate District. Archived from the original on 28 April 2015. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  11. ^ "Obituary". The Press. Vol. LIV, no. 16118. 24 January 1918. p. 8. Retrieved 13 March 2015.

References

  • Wilson, Jim (1985) [First published in 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.

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