Charles Bathurst, 1st Viscount Bledisloe
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Charles Bathurst, 1st Viscount Bledisloe, GCMG, KBE, PC (September 21, 1867 - July 3, 1958). Born in London and educated at Sherborne School and then University College, Oxford, where he studied law and graduated with a BA in 1890. Bathurst worked as a barrister and conveyancer and in 1910 entered parliament representing the Conservative Party as MP for the South or Wilton division of Wiltshire.
After serving as parliamentary secretary at the Ministry of Food, Bathurst was created a Knight (KBE) in 1917, and raised to the peerage as Baron Bledisloe, of Lydney and Aylburton. He remained in parliament until 1928, serving as parliamentary secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries from 1924 onwards, and was a member of the Privy Council from 1926.
After leaving parliament, Lord Bledisloe was created a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George and appointed Governor-General of New Zealand, an office he held from 1930 until 1935, proving to be extremely well-liked and respected. His social conscience was much appreciated during the Depression era, as was his insistence that his salary should be cut as were the salaries of public servants at the time. Bledisloe also contributed to improved Pakeha-Māori relations, purchasing the site where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed and presenting it to the nation as a memorial. In 1934, restoration of the site was completed and the first Waitangi day was celebrated there. Bledisloe also contributed to the recognition of the Māori King Movement by developing a friendship with King Koroki and Te Puea Herangi, and his willingness to use the title "king" without reticence.
Bledisloe also promoted various causes and events by the presentation of trophies, the most famous of these being the Bledisloe Cup, the trophy for an ongoing rugby union competition between New Zealand and Australia, first awarded in 1931, and currently contested annually.
Upon returning to England in 1935, the title of Viscount Bledisloe of Lydney was created and awarded to Bathurst. He continued to serve on a number of committees and councils, was awarded honorary doctorates from the universities of Bristol, Edinburgh and Oxford, and was made a fellow of University College, Oxford. Lord Bledisloe died, aged 90, at Lydney on July 3, 1958, and was succeeded as Viscount Bledisloe by his eldest son, Benjamin Ludlow Bathurst.
| Preceded by: New Creation | Viscount Bledisloe | Succeeded by: Benjamin Bathurst |
| Preceded by: Sir Charles Fergusson | Governor-General of New Zealand 1930–1935 | Succeeded by: The Viscount Galway BibliographyMarshall, Russell. 'Bledisloe, Charles Bathurst 1867 - 1958'. Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, updated 16 December 2003. URL: [1] (http://www.dnzb.govt.nz/) |