Samuel Duncan Parnell

Samuel Duncan Parnell

Samuel Duncan Parnell (born February 19, 1810 in London , United Kingdom , † December 17, 1890 in Wellington , New Zealand ) was a carpenter , farmer and successful lone fighter for the introduction of the eight-hour day in New Zealand.

Life

England

Samuel Duncan Parnell was born in 1810 in London to the gentleman James Parnell and his wife Joan Duncan. Nothing is known about his early childhood. He completed an apprenticeship as a carpenter, which he finished in 1834 at the age of 24, which was quite high for the time. He then worked in a large carpenter's workshop in Theobald's Road in London, where he was already actively campaigning for working hours to be reduced, given the working hours at that time between ten and 14 hours a day and poor pay . Work colleagues described him as one of the most radical among them.

The Grand National Consolidated Trades Union , newly founded under the influence of the early socialist Robert Owen , was not radical enough for Parnell when it came to its commitment to shortening working hours. He did not become a member of the union , quit his job and started his own carpentry work.

After saving enough money, he accepted the offer of the New Zealand Company , which promised each immigrant 100 acres of farmland and one more acre of urban land, and hiked with his wife, Mary Ann, eleven days after his marriage on September 17, 1839 Canham to New Zealand.

New Zealand

Arrived in Port Nicholson , Wellington on February 7, 1840 , Parnell and his wife settled in the Petone district of Wellington. Parnell accepted an assignment from fellow traveler George Hunter to build a shop for him, but insisted on working only eight hours a day. Hunter initially insisted on working hours as they were customary in London, but had no other choice due to a shortage of skilled workers and finally accepted Parnell's terms. Parnell later noted that this was arguably the first strike for the eight-hour day the world had seen.

Other employers tried to enforce UK working hours in Wellington; Parnell countered this by being present at the arrival of every ship in port and welcoming the immigrants with the slogan of the English early socialist Robert Owen " eight hours of work, eight hours of sleep and eight hours of leisure and relaxation " and thus into the "customs" of Wellington briefed.

Parnell's persistent individual actions quickly found recognition and support in Wellington. In October 1840, for example, at a meeting outside the German Brown's Hotel on Lambton Kai, those who violated the eight-hour day rule were threatened with simply throwing them into port. The eight-hour day prevailed. The City of Dunedin followed in January 1849 and Auckland in 1857 .

Parnell himself, who lost his wife in 1842, became a farmer in Karori , in the western part of Wellington. On December 12, 1851, he married his second wife, Sarah Sophia Brunger, who brought two children into the marriage. The marriage itself remained without children of its own, like his first marriage before. With his second wife Parnell moved back to Wellington in October 1873, where he now settled for reasons of age. His second wife died in 1888.

On October 28, 1890, Parnell was the guest of honor at the first Labor Day demonstration in New Zealand after it was introduced as a public holiday. Parnell was the star guest of the day and was celebrated with his 50th anniversary for his contribution to the introduction of the eight-hour day in New Zealand.

Samuel Duncan Parnell died on December 17, 1890 at his Cambridge Terrace home . His funeral a few days later turned into a powerful demonstration. Around 3,000 workers escorted the coffin from his house to the cemetery in the pouring rain and paid their last respects to the man who had set a movement in motion with simple means.

literature

• Herbert Otto Roth: Parnell, Samuel Duncan . In: Alexander Hare McLintock (Ed.): An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand . Wellington 1966 ( online [accessed December 15, 2015]).
• Bert Roth: Days of Action, May Day, Eight Hour Day, Labor Day . Trade Union History Project , Wellington 1990, ISBN 0-473-00963-3 (English).
• Tony Williams : 101 Ingenious Kiwis . Reed Publishing Ltd. , Auckland 2006, ISBN 0-7900-1110-7 (English).

Web links

• Herbert Otto Roth: Parnell, Samuel Duncan . In: Dictionary of New Zealand Biography . Ministry for Culture & Heritage , September 1, 2010, accessed August 20, 2012 .