Charles Statham

{{Short description|New Zealand politician}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=August 2014}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Honourable | name = Sir Charles Statham | honorific_suffix = | image = Charles Statham.jpg | alt = | caption = | order = 9th Speaker of the House of Representatives | prime_minister = | term_start = 7 February 1923 | term_end = 1 November 1935 | predecessor = Frederic Lang | successor = Bill Barnard | birth_date = {{Birth date|1875|05|10|df=yes}} | birth_place = Dunedin, New Zealand | death_date = {{Death date and age|1946|03|05|1875|05|10|df=yes}} | death_place = Wellington, New Zealand | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | birth_name = | party = Reform | other_party =  | spouse = | partner =  }} '''Sir Charles Ernest Statham''' (10 May 1875 – 5 March 1946) was a New Zealand politician, and the ninth Speaker of the House of Representatives, from 1923 to 1935.

==Private life== He was born in Dunedin in 1875, and trained in law, practising in his own Dunedin office from 1904. He married the part-Māori Lilias Harata te Aho Burnett of Dunedin in 1905, with whom he later had one daughter.<ref name="DNZB Statham">{{DNZB|Hamer|David|4s40|Statham, Charles Ernest - Biography|30 December 2011}}</ref>

==Political career== {{NZ parlbox header|nolist = true|align = left}} {{NZ parlbox |start={{NZ election link year|1911}} |end=1914 |term=18th |electorate=Dunedin Central |party=Reform Party (New Zealand) }} {{NZ parlbox |start={{NZ election link year|1914}} |end=1915 |term=19th |electorate=Dunedin Central |party=Reform Party (New Zealand) }} {{NZ parlbox |start={{By-election link year|Dunedin Central|1915}} |end=1919 |term=19th |electorate=Dunedin Central |party=Reform Party (New Zealand) }} {{NZ parlbox |start={{NZ election link year|1919}} |end=1922 |term=20th |electorate=Dunedin Central |party=Independent politician }} {{NZ parlbox |start={{NZ election link year|1922}} |end=1925 |term=21st |electorate=Dunedin Central |party=Independent politician }} {{NZ parlbox |start={{NZ election link year|1925}} |end=1928 |term=22nd |electorate=Dunedin Central |party=Independent politician }} {{NZ parlbox |start={{NZ election link year|1928}} |end=1931 |term=23rd |electorate=Dunedin Central |party=Independent politician }} {{NZ parlbox |start={{NZ election link year|1931}} |end=1935 |term=24th |electorate=Dunedin Central |party=Independent politician }} {{End}} He was on the Dunedin City Council 1911–1915.<ref name="DNZB Statham" /> He was the Reform Party candidate in 1911 in the Dunedin Central electorate and defeated the incumbent, James Arnold of the Liberal Party. Statham held the electorate from 1911 to 1935.{{sfn|Scholefield|1950|p=140}} He had differences with the Reform party leadership, and was returned as an Independent member in 1919. He represented a city and working-class electorate, and his majority was gradually reduced by the Labour Party. He decided to retire at the 1935 election.<ref name="DNZB Statham" />

He was Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1923 to 1935. He is one of only three people to have held the office despite not being from the governing party. In 1923, as an independent, but formerly a member of the Reform Party, he was backed by Reform so as not to endanger the party's slim majority, and later retained his position under the United Party. He was described as "probably the greatest speaker the house has known"<ref>{{citation |first = James Oakley |last = Wilson |title = STATHAM, Sir Charles Ernest| encyclopedia=An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock|year=1966|url = http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/1966/S/StathamSirCharlesErnest/en |access-date = 30 December 2011}}</ref> and many of his rulings still form part of the parliamentary standing orders today.<ref name="DNZB Statham" /> He was fair but firm during a stormy period.<ref name="DNZB Statham" /> His retirement was due to the rising popularity of the Labour Party, and he did not think that he could contest the {{NZ election link|1935}} without losing his impartiality, but fighting the election along party-lines would compromise his ability to remain Speaker.<ref>{{cite news |title=Mr. Speaker |url= http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=AS19350725.2.92 |access-date=16 November 2013 |work=Auckland Star |date=25 July 1935 |volume=LXVI |issue=174 |page=9}}</ref>

He was created a Knight Bachelor in the 1926 King's Birthday Honours,{{sfn|Scholefield|1950|p=140}} and in 1935, he was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal.<ref>{{cite news | url= http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=EP19350506.2.12 | title=Official jubilee medals | date=6 May 1935 | volume=CXIX | issue=105 | work=Evening Post | access-date=24 June 2018 | page=4}}</ref> He was appointed to the New Zealand Legislative Council on 9 March 1936 and was reappointed seven years later after his term had expired and served until his death.{{sfn|Scholefield|1950|p=85}} He did not take an active part in politics as a Legislative Councillor, though.<ref name="DNZB Statham" /> He practised law in Wellington after retiring from Parliament, and died there on 5 March 1946. He was survived by his wife and his daughter.<ref name="DNZB Statham" />

==Notes== {{Reflist}}

==References== *{{cite book |author-link = Guy Scholefield | last = Scholefield | first= Guy | title = New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1949 | edition = 3rd | orig-year=First published in 1913 | year = 1950 |publisher = Govt. Printer |location = Wellington}}

{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{succession box | before=Frederic Lang | title=Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives | years=1923–1935 | after=Bill Barnard}} |- {{s-par | nz}} {{s-bef | before = James Arnold}} {{s-ttl | title= Member of Parliament for Dunedin Central| years=1911–1935}} {{s-aft | after = Peter Neilson}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Statham, Charles}} Category:20th-century New Zealand lawyers Category:Ministers of finance of New Zealand Category:Independent MPs of New Zealand Category:Dunedin City Councillors Category:New Zealand Knights Bachelor Category:Reform Party (New Zealand) MPs Category:Members of the New Zealand Legislative Council Category:Speakers of the New Zealand House of Representatives Category:1875 births Category:1946 deaths Category:New Zealand MPs for Dunedin electorates Category:Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives