Harry Atmore (14 December 1870 – 20 August 1946) was a New Zealand

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

Member of Parliament for

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

in the

South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...

. He held the Nelson seat as an Independent for a total of thirty years from 1911 to 1914 and then from 1919 to his death in 1946. He was

Minister of Education An education minister (sometimes minister of education) is a position in the governments of some countries responsible for dealing with educational matters. Where known, the government department, ministry, or agency that develops policy and deli ...

and Minister in charge of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) in Sir

Joseph Ward Sir Joseph George Ward, 1st Baronet, (26 April 1856 – 8 July 1930) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 17th prime minister of New Zealand from 1906 to 1912 and from 1928 to 1930. He was a dominant figure in the New Zealand Liber ...

's United Government of 1928 to 1931.

Early years

Born in

, in 1870, Atmore attended the publicly funded School in Bridge Street, Nelson and represented the province in rugby. He later moved to

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

and spent eight years there as an apprentice signwriter and decorator. After his apprenticeship, Atmore returned to Nelson and established his own signwriting and decorating business. Atmore was prominent in local affairs. He was a member of the Nelson Licensing Committee, Education Board and Hospital Board. In 1905, he was elected to the

Nelson City Council Nelson City Council is the unitary local authority for Nelson in New Zealand. History Local governance of Nelson began with Nelson Province in 1853, which covered the entire upper South Island. The town of Nelson was managed by the Nelson ...

. Later, he served on the

Nelson College Nelson College is the oldest state secondary school in New Zealand, a feat achieved in part thanks to its original inception as a private school. It is an all-boys school in the City of Nelson that teaches from years 9 to 13. In addition, it r ...

Council of Governors and Cawthron Institute Trust Board.

Member of Parliament

Atmore unsuccessfully contested the Nelson seat in 1902, 1905 and 1908 against the Liberal John Graham. In 1911 he became Nelson's Member of Parliament. Atmore gave his support in Sir

's Liberal government by voting for it on a no-confidence motion, which was saved by just one vote. Whilst remaining an independent, he normally supported the Liberals from then on. Regardless, Atmore's political independence was always discernible. He believed that politicians should be, first and foremost, representatives of the people. That when elected they should put principle before party. Atmore lost his seat in the 1914 election, but returned to parliament in 1919 after unsuccessfully contesting the Wellington Central which was won by

Peter Fraser Peter Fraser (; 28 August 1884 – 12 December 1950) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 24th prime minister of New Zealand from 27 March 1940 until 13 December 1949. Considered a major figure in the history of the New Zealand Lab ...

, the Labour Party candidate. Initially, Atmore was opposed to the rising Labour Party and was doubtful of its socialist agenda. He was also an admirer of

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...

due to his opposition to socialist radicals in Italy. As a result, Labour put considerable effort in to defeat him in 1925. Gradually Atmore's animosity towards Labour lessened and Labour did not stand a candidate against him after that. Following the 1928 election he supported Ward's new United Party form a majority and was rewarded with a position in cabinet, as

. As a largely self-educated man, he had passionate concern for education and took to his new responsibilities with vigor. Atmore's first goal as education minister was to ensure every child in New Zealand could have the opportunity to gain a proper education to realise their own potential. He formed a committee to examine the existing public education system. The outcome was the " Atmore Report" which recommended several radical reforms including raising the age to leave school to 15, establishing intermediate schools, abolishing scholarship entry to secondary school, and widening the secondary school curriculum to also cover non University approved subjects. When a terminally ill Ward resigned as Prime Minister in 1930, Atmore contested the leadership of the party but was eliminated in the first round of a four-way contested caucus ballot. George Forbes won the Premiership. Initially retained in the Forbes ministry, Atmore resigned as education minister in 1931 when cuts were proposed for his portfolio due to the worsening depression and formation of the

coalition government A coalition government, or coalition cabinet, is a government by political parties that enter into a power-sharing arrangement of the executive. Coalition governments usually occur when no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an ...

which he was opposed to. However, many of his ideas were later implemented under the First Labour Government where Peter Fraser (who was a member of Atmore's Committee) was minister of education. Fraser's Education Amendment Act 1938 was to endorse and implement most of Atmore's recommendations. Atmore read and thought widely. He was one New Zealander who was looking for solutions to problems within the altered economic, social and political context of inter-war New Zealand. He believed it was important to be informed on the issues of the day including monetary reform, international rearmament and the pivotal role of the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

in any crisis. Curiously, he was a

social credit Social credit is a distributive philosophy of political economy developed in the 1920s and 1930s by C. H. Douglas. Douglas attributed economic downturns to discrepancies between the cost of goods and the compensation of the workers who made t ...

monetary reform sponsor and campaigned for it vigorously, blaming many of New Zealand's debt problems in the early 1930s on obligations to pay interest on its debts in London. On 8 August 1946 Atmore announced his intention not to stand again at the next election. However, only two weeks later, on 20 August, he was found dead at his home. He was buried at Wakapuaka Cemetery.

Personal life

Atmore was a well known man in Nelson, refusing to drive a car, instead preferring to ride a bicycle everywhere locally which made him a visible addition to the community. He personally answered all messages and requests in his own handwriting as an indication of his dedication to his work. Atmore married Dorothy Annie Corrigan on 24 June 1936, at the age of 65, at Hāwera. There were no children from the marriage. Dorothy was both wealthy and well-educated. The two built a new home named Te Maunga and made it a local centre of hospitality. Throughout

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the two were both actively involved in patriotic work, which was to earn Dorothy an MBE. Dorothy lived a further thirty years as a widow, dying in 1976. Atmore's grip on the Nelson seat was due primarily to his commitment and availability to his constituents. He organised a call to repair a country school, the completion of the Nelson railway, an exemption for an only son of an elderly farming couple from military service and helped issue jobs in the public service to the unemployed. For an entire generation Atmore worked for all Nelson residents with such a commitment that his constituents regarded him to be a personal friend.

Legacy

In 1935, he was awarded the

King George V Silver Jubilee Medal The King George V Silver Jubilee Medal is a commemorative medal, instituted to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the accession of King George V. Issue This medal was awarded as a personal souvenir by King George V to commemorate his Silver Ju ...

. Robert Chapman comments on Harry Atmore:''New Zealand Politics in Action: The 1960 General Election'' by R M Chapman, W K Jackson and A V Mitchell p213 (1962, Oxford University Press, London) :Nelson even shares with Hobson a record of preferring political idiosyncrancy. Nine times out of ten between 1911 and 1946 Nelson voted for Harry Atmore, who confounded cynics by moving to the Left politically as he got older. Having begun as an

Independent Liberal Independent Liberal is a description which candidates and politicians have used to describe themselves, designating them as liberals, yet independent of the official Liberal Party of their country. To avoid confusion with the Liberal Party of ...

, he thereafter passed through many shades of independence to finish as his own variety of consistently pro-Labour MP. Historians have regarded Atmore as the last example of an earlier, simpler political age, before the rise of the party system. He embodied the aspirations of small town residents and their desires for a fairer and more egalitarian society.

Books

*"This Debt Slavery" by Harry Atmore, M.P. and John A. Lee, M.P. (1940 Budget Speeches, Commercial Printing & Publishing, Auckland). *"The Mortgage Corporation Bill" by Harry Atmore, M.P. and Capt. Harold Rushworth, M.P. (A copy is held at the Macmillan Brown Library, University of Canterbury, Christchurch). *"You and the USSR" by Harry Atmore, M.P. and 'Uncle Scrim' i.e. Colin G. Scrimgeour (1941, Society for Closer Relations with Russia, Wellington).

References

External links

Harry Atmore's Political Papers. National Register of Archives and Manuscripts