Jim Thorn Explained

Jim Thorn
Office:4th High Commissioner to Canada
Term Start:12 May 1947
Term End:8 August 1950
Appointer:Peter Fraser
Predecessor:David Wilson
Successor:Thomas Hislop
Constituency Mp1:Thames
Parliament1:New Zealand
Term Start1:27 November 1935
Term End1:27 November 1946
Predecessor1:Albert Samuel
Successor1:Constituency abolished
Office2:9th President of the Labour Party
Term Start2:3 April 1929
Term End2:8 April 1931
Vicepresident2:John Archer
Predecessor2:John Archer
Successor2:Rex Mason
Birth Date:1 June 1882
Birth Place:Christchurch, New Zealand
Death Place:Wellington, New Zealand
Party:Labour Party
Otherparty:IPLL
Social Democratic
Spouse:Margaret Thorn
Profession:Journalist
Allegiance:New Zealand Army
Serviceyears:1900–01
Rank: Bugler
Battles:Boer War

James Thorn (1 June 1882 – 21 November 1956) was a New Zealand politician and trade unionist. He was an organiser and candidate for the Independent Political Labour League, Social Democratic Party then the Labour Party.

Biography

Early life

Thorn was born in Christchurch, educated at Christchurch Boys' High School. He worked in the Addington Railway Workshops and as a journalist. Thorn was a bugler in the third New Zealand Contingent to the Boer War in 1900 and 1901; the experience turned him into a pacifist. He was engaged in trade union and party activity, including 1909 to 1913 in England and Scotland.

He unsuccessfully stood for the Independent Political Labour League in the Christchurch South electorate in the and . In 1907 and 1908, he was President of the Independent Political Labour League. In 1909, he went to England and then Scotland and worked for labour parties there.[1]

Political career

In 1914, he moved to Palmerston North and unsuccessfully stood in the in the electorate representing the new Social Democratic Party against the incumbent David Buick and two others, with Buick getting elected.[2]

He met his future wife while living in Palmerston North; Margaret Anderson (1897–1969), 15 years his junior, who had joined the Social Democratic Party with her father. The Thorns married on 8 December 1917 in Wellington. He was imprisoned for opposing conscription in World War I.

He was president of the Labour Party (1929–1931), and vice-president at various times (1925–1927; 1928–1929; 1936–1938), and national secretary (1932–1936).[3]

He unsuccessfully stood in the electorate in the . He represented the electorate of Thames from 1935 to 1946, when the seat was abolished.[4] From 1943 to 1946 Thorn was Under-Secretary to the Prime Minister.[5] In the, he contested the Otaki electorate again, but was beaten by National's Jimmy Maher.[6]

Later life and death

From 1947 to 1950 he was High Commissioner to Canada, and was President of UNESCO in 1949. In 1952 he wrote a biography of Peter Fraser and later published a history of the First Labour Government.[5] In 1953, he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal.[7]

Thorn died in 1956 and his ashes were buried at Karori Cemetery, Wellington.[8]

References

External links

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Notes and References

  1. Book: Gustafson, Barry . Barry Gustafson . Labour's path to political independence: The Origins and Establishment of the New Zealand Labour Party, 1900–19 . Auckland, New Zealand . . 1980 . 0-19-647986-X . 168.
  2. News: North Island . 23 December 2011 . Hawera & Normanby Star. 11 December 1914. LXVIII. 4.
  3. Book: Paul, J.T.. Humanism in Politics: New Zealand Labour Party in Retrospect. 1946. New Zealand Worker Printing and Publishing. Wellington, NZ. 192.
  4. Book: Scholefield, Guy . Guy Scholefield . New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1949 . 3rd . First ed. published 1913 . 1950 . Govt. Printer . Wellington . 144.
  5. News: James Thorn, Labour Stalwart, Dies . . 22 November 1956 . 15 .
  6. Book: Wilson, James Oakley . New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 . 4th . First ed. published 1913 . 1985 . V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer . Wellington . 154283103 . 217, 240.
  7. News: Coronation Medal . Supplement to the New Zealand Gazette . 37 . 3 July 1953 . 1021–1035 . 20 March 2022.
  8. Web site: Cemeteries search . 12 July 2012 . Wellington City Council . 27 June 2015.