Bob Semple
Robert “Bob” Semple (born October 21, 1873 in Sofala , New South Wales , † January 31, 1955 in New Plymouth ) was a New Zealand union leader of Australian descent and Minister of Public Works in New Zealand's first Labor government.
Semple was born in Sofala in New South Wales, Australia in 1873. He started working in gold mining early on. In 1903 he took part in a miners' strike in Victoria and was blacklisted after its defeat. Semple then moved to the West Coast region on New Zealand's South Island . In 1907 he was chairman of the Runanga Miners' Union and was nicknamed 'Fighting Bob Semple' (Fighting Bob Semple).
In 1913 he was sent to prison for supporting the general strike and again in 1916 for his fight against conscription for use overseas during the First World War .
Parliamentarians
Semple was elected in 1918 in by-elections in place of Alfred Humphrey Hindmarsh for the constituency Wellington South as a member of the New Zealand Labor Party in parliament, but lost the seat in the following elections in 1919 again to George Mitchell . In 1928 he won the seat of Wellington East , which he held until 1946. The constituency was then renamed Miramar and Semple was its MP until he retired from politics in 1954.
Semple held several important posts in the field of infrastructure, including being Minister of Public Works and Minister of Railways from 1941 to 1949 . He was seen by many as the embodiment of the infrastructure measures of the first Labor government. During the Second World War he designed and built the Bob Semple Tank , an armored vehicle improvised on the basis of a crawler tractor, which was a constructive failure and was never used in combat, but was and is viewed with a certain affection by many New Zealanders.
Semple could not be erected again in 1954. He was succeeded as MP for Miramar by Bill Fox . Semple died in New Plymouth on January 31, 1955 .
His wife Margaret was a Wellington City councilor from 1938 to 1941.
literature
- Bruce Macdonald Brown: Semple, Hon. Robert . In: Alexander Hare McLintock (Ed.): An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand . Wellington 1966 ( online [accessed December 18, 2015]).
Web links
- Len Richardson: Semple, Robert. In: Dictionary of New Zealand Biography . Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, October 30, 2012, accessed December 18, 2015 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Redmer Yska: Wellington: Biography of a City . Reed Books, Wellington 2006, ISBN 978-0-7900-1107-3 , pp. 159 (English).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Semple, Bob |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Semple, Robert |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | New Zealand union leader |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 21, 1873 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Sofala |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 31, 1955 |
| Place of death | New Plymouth |