Frederic Lang

{{Infobox officeholder

|honorific-prefix = The Honourable

|name = Sir Frederic Lang

|honorific-suffix =

|image = Frederic Lang.jpg

|alt =

|caption =

|order = 8th Speaker of the House of Representatives

|primeminister = William Massey

|term_start = 26 June 1913

|term_end = 31 October 1922

|predecessor = Arthur Guinness

|successor = Charles Statham

|constituency_MP2 = {{NZ electorate link|Manukau}}

|parliament2 = New Zealand

|term_start2 = 6 December 1906

|term_end2 = 7 December 1922

|predecessor2 = Matthew Kirkbride

|successor2 = Bill Jordan

|constituency_MP3 = {{NZ electorate link|Waikato}}

|parliament3 = New Zealand

|term_start3 = 4 December 1896

|term_end3 = 6 December 1905

|predecessor3 = Alfred Cadman

|successor3 = Henry Greenslade

|constituency_MP4 = {{NZ electorate link|Waipa}}

|parliament4 = New Zealand

|term_start4 = 28 November 1893

|term_end4 = 4 December 1896

|predecessor4 = In abeyance

|successor4 = In abeyance

|birth_name = Frederic William Lang

|birth_date = 1852

|birth_place = Blackheath, Kent, England

|death_date = 5 March 1937

|death_place = Onehunga, New Zealand

|restingplace =

|restingplacecoordinates =

|birthname =

|occupation = Farmer

|party = Reform

}}

Sir Frederic William Lang (1852 – 5 March 1937) was a New Zealand politician, from 1909 a member of the Reform Party, he was the eighth Speaker of the House of Representatives, from 1913 to 1922.

Early life

Lang was born in Blackheath, Kent, England, in 1852.{{cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19370305.2.119 |title=Sir Frederic Lang |work=The Evening Post |date=5 March 1937 |volume=CXXIII |issue=54 |page=10 |access-date=5 December 2013 }} He was the youngest of six children born to Oliver William Lang and Louisa Lang (née Briggs). His father, a Master Shipwright of HM Dockyard, Chatham and Lieutenant colonel of the Royal Dockyard Brigade, died in 1868 and his mother also died in 1869. In 1872 Lang emigrated to New Zealand, aged 19, and settled as a farmer in Tuhikaramea close to the Waipā River.{{cite news |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/waikato-news/news/sir-frederic-lang-from-rugby-paddock-to-parliament/JE7Y2BJ3IBGBNIW5OZS44YEVH4/ |first=Jesse |last=Wood |title=Sir Frederic Lang - from rugby paddock to Parliament |work=The New Zealand Herald |date=20 October 2023 |access-date=23 February 2025 }}

In 1878 and again in 1880-82 Lang played for the Waikato District rugby team as a forward along with playing for a Civilians side, Ngahinepouri, Ōhaupō, Te Awamutu and Waipā teams. He played cricket and was captain of the Ngahinepouri side, played for Alexandra and was a member of the Waikato Cricket Association. He played football and represented the Auckland Province in 1880.

Around 1906, he sold his farm and moved north to Onehunga. He never married.

Political career

{{NZ parlbox

|term = 12th

|start = {{NZ election link year|1893}}

|end = 1896

|party = Conservative (New Zealand)

|electorate = {{NZ electorate link|Waipa}}

}}

{{NZ parlbox

|term = 13th

|start = {{NZ election link year|1896}}

|end = 1899

|party = Conservative (New Zealand)

|electorate = {{NZ electorate link|Waikato}}

}}

{{NZ parlbox

|term = 14th

|start = {{NZ election link year|1899}}

|end = 1902

|party = Conservative (New Zealand)

|electorate = Waikato

}}

{{NZ parlbox

|term = 15th

|start = {{NZ election link year|1902}}

|end = 1905

|party = Conservative (New Zealand)

|electorate = Waikato

}}

{{NZ parlbox

|term = 16th

|start = {{By-election link year|Manukau|1906}}

|end = 1908

|party = Conservative (New Zealand)

|electorate = {{NZ electorate link|Manukau}}

}}

{{NZ parlbox

|term = 17th

|start = {{NZ election link year|1908}}

|end = 1911

|party = Conservative (New Zealand)

|electorate = Manukau

}}

{{NZ parlbox

|term = 18th

|start = {{NZ election link year|1911}}

|end = 1914

|party = Reform Party (New Zealand)

|electorate = Manukau

}}

{{NZ parlbox

|term = 19th

|start = {{NZ election link year|1914}}

|end = 1919

|party = Reform Party (New Zealand)

|electorate = Manukau

}}

{{NZ parlbox

|term = 20th

|start = {{NZ election link year|1919}}

|end = 1922

|party = Reform Party (New Zealand)

|electorate = Manukau

}}

Lang's political career started with his election to the Tuhikaramea Road Board. He was elected onto the Waipa County and became its chairman for six years. He also belonged to the Waikato Charitable Aid Board.

He was the Member of Parliament for {{NZ electorate link|Waipa}} from 1893 to 1896; then Waikato from 1896 to 1905 when he was defeated; then Manukau from 6 December {{By-election link year|Manukau|1906}} until 1922, when he was defeated.{{sfn|Wilson|1985|p=211}} He was Chairman of Committees from 1912 to 1913.{{sfn|Wilson|1985|p=252}} He then became Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1913 to 1922.{{sfn|Wilson|1985|p=250}}

In 1913 as speaker, in response to filibusting by Āpirana Ngata, Lang introduced a rule that MPs who could speak in English must not speak te reo Māori and by 1920 Parliament no longer employed translators. The situation was reversed in the 1980s with the Māori Renaissance and the Maori Language Act 1987.{{cite web |title=Launch of Simultaneous Interpretation in the House|url= http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/AboutParl/HowPWorks/Speaker/Speeches/d/6/8/49SpeakSpeech090220101-Launch-of-Simultaneous-Interpretation-in-the.htm |publisher=New Zealand Parliament |access-date=18 July 2012}}

He was knighted in 1916.{{sfn|Wilson|1985|p=211}} He was appointed to the Legislative Council in 1924 and served for one term until 1931.{{sfn|Wilson|1985|p=157}} In 1935, he was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal.{{cite news | url= http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=EP19350506.2.12 | title=Official jubilee medals | date=6 May 1935 | work=The Evening Post | access-date=16 November 2013 | page=4}}

Death

He died at his home in Onehunga on 5 March 1937.{{cite news | url= http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=AS19370305.2.4 | title=Deaths | date=5 March 1937 | work= Auckland Star | access-date=16 November 2013 | page=1}}

Notes

References

{{cite book |editor1-last=Scholefield |editor1-first=Guy |editor1-link=Guy Scholefield |title=Who's who in New Zealand and the western Pacific |year=1925 |edition=2nd | orig-year=First published in 1908 |publisher = Guy Scholefield |location=Masterton}}
{{cite book |last= Wilson |first= James Oakley |title= New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 |edition= 4th |orig-year=First published in 1913 |year= 1985 |publisher=V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer |location= Wellington |oclc= 154283103}}
{{Cite book |last= Wood |first= G. A. |title= Ministers and Members in the New Zealand Parliament |edition= 2nd |orig-year= First published in 1987 |year= 1996 |publisher=University of Otago Press |location= Dunedin |isbn= 1-877133-00-0|pages=95, 114}}

{{s-ttl

| title = Chairman of Committees of the House of Representatives

| years = 1912–1913

}}

{{s-ttl

| title = Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives

| years = 1913–1922

}}

{{s-vac|reason=Constituency recreated after abolition in 1890|last=John Bryce}}

{{s-vac|reason=Constituency abolished, recreated in 1954|next=Stan Goosman}}

{{S-ttl | title = Member of Parliament for Waikato| years=1896–1905}}

{{s-ttl | title = Member of Parliament for Manukau | years = 1906–1922}}