Jim Thorn

{{Short description|New Zealand politician and trade unionist (1882–1956)}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix =

| name = Jim Thorn

| honorific-suffix =

| image = File:Jim Thorn.jpg

| alt =

| caption =

| 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_date = {{death-date and age|21 November 1956|1 June 1882}}

| death_place = Wellington, New Zealand

| nationality =

| party = Labour Party

| otherparty = IPLL
Social Democratic

| spouse = Margaret Thorn

| partner =

| relations =

| children =

| parents =

| education =

| profession = Journalist

| signature =

|nickname =

|allegiance = New Zealand Army

|branch =

|serviceyears = 1900–01

|rank = 20px Bugler

|unit =

|commands =

|battles = Second Boer War

|awards =

}}

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.{{DNZB|last=McAloon|first=Jim|id=4t15|title=Thorn, James – Biography|access-date=23 December 2011}} 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 {{NZ election link year|1905}} and {{NZ election link|1908}}. 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.{{cite book |first = Barry |last = Gustafson |author-link = Barry Gustafson |title = Labour's path to political independence: The Origins and Establishment of the New Zealand Labour Party, 1900–19 |place = Auckland, New Zealand |publisher = Auckland University Press |year = 1980 |isbn = 0-19-647986-X |page = 168}}

=Political career=

{{NZ parlbox

|start = {{NZ election link year|1935}}

|end = 1938

|term = 25th

|electorate = {{NZ electorate link|Thames}}

|party = New Zealand Labour Party

}}

{{NZ parlbox

|start = {{NZ election link year|1938}}

|end = 1943

|term = 26th

|electorate = Thames

|party = New Zealand Labour Party

}}

{{NZ parlbox

|start = {{NZ election link year|1943}}

|end = 1946

|term = 27th

|electorate = Thames

|party = New Zealand Labour Party

}}

In 1914, he moved to Palmerston North and unsuccessfully stood in the {{NZ election link|1914}} in the {{NZ electorate link|Palmerston}} electorate representing the new Social Democratic Party against the incumbent David Buick and two others, with Buick getting elected.{{cite news |title=North Island |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=HNS19141211.2.15.5 |access-date=23 December 2011 |work=Hawera & Normanby Star|date=11 December 1914|volume=LXVIII|page=4}}

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.{{DNZB|Locke|Elsie|4t16|Margaret Thorn|23 April 2017|Elsie Locke}} 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).{{cite book |title=Humanism in Politics: New Zealand Labour Party in Retrospect|last=Paul|first=J.T.|year=1946|publisher=New Zealand Worker Printing and Publishing|location=Wellington, NZ|pages=192}}

He unsuccessfully stood in the {{NZ electorate link|Otaki}} electorate in the {{NZ election link|1931}}. He represented the electorate of Thames from 1935 to 1946, when the seat was abolished.{{cite book |last= Scholefield |first= Guy |author-link=Guy Scholefield |title= New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1949 |edition=3rd |orig-year= First ed. published 1913 |year= 1950 |publisher=Govt. Printer |location= Wellington |page= 144}} From 1943 to 1946 Thorn was Under-Secretary to the Prime Minister.{{cite news |title=James Thorn, Labour Stalwart, Dies |work=The New Zealand Herald |date=22 November 1956 |page=15 }} In the {{NZ election link|1946}}, he contested the Otaki electorate again, but was beaten by National's Jimmy Maher.{{cite book |last= Wilson |first= James Oakley |title= New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 |edition= 4th |orig-year= First ed. published 1913 |year= 1985 |publisher=V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer |location= Wellington |oclc= 154283103 |pages=217, 240}}

=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. In 1953, he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal.{{cite news |url=http://www.nzlii.org/nz/other/nz_gazette/1953/37.pdf |title=Coronation Medal |work=Supplement to the New Zealand Gazette |issue=37 |date=3 July 1953 |pages=1021–1035 |access-date=20 March 2022}}

Thorn died in 1956 and his ashes were buried at Karori Cemetery, Wellington.{{cite web | url=http://wellington.govt.nz/services/community-and-culture/cemeteries/cemeteries-search/details?id=111991&serviceType=AshesBurial | title=Cemeteries search | date=12 July 2012 | publisher=Wellington City Council | access-date=27 June 2015}}

Notes

References

{{cite book |last = Gustafson |first = Barry |author-link=Barry Gustafson |title = From the Cradle to the Grave: a biography of Michael Joseph Savage |year = 1986 |publisher = Reed Methuen |location = Auckland |isbn = 0-474-00138-5 }}
{{cite book |last= Wilson |first= James Oakley |title= New Zealand parliamentary record, 1840–1984 |edition= 4 |orig-year= First ed. published 1913 |year= 1985 |publisher= V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer |location= Wellington |oclc= 154283103}}

External links

[https://archive.today/20240524154013/https://www.webcitation.org/5kntu44S4?url=http://www.geocities.com/nzhistory/Biographies/thorn_jim.htm Biography and photo at Union website]

{{s-ttl | title = Member of Parliament for Thames|years=1935–1946 }}