Charles Lewis

Charles Lewis (21 September 1857 – 28 November 1927) was an independent conservative Member of Parliament in New Zealand.

Early life Lewis was born in Christchurch on 21 September 1857. His father, David Lewis, was a farmer in Halswell and one of the early settlers of Canterbury. On 25 December 1856, his father had married Annie Gould, a sister of George Gould (G. Gould's son, also George Gould, would thus be Lewis' cousin). His mother Annie died in February 1860 when Lewis was two years old. Lewis attended Christ's College in his home city, and Clifton and Malvern Colleges in England. Upon his return to New Zealand in 1874, he was employed as a farmer in Springfield, Ellesmere, and Brookside, until he inherited his father's farm in Halswell upon his death in 1874.

Political career

Lewis was a member of various local bodies, most importantly the Halswell Road Board.

When William Pember Reeves' appointment as Agent-General to the United Kingdom caused a vacancy in the City of Christchurch electorate, Lewis was on the committee of the National Association (i.e. the opposition) and was part of a small majority that decided that the resulting 1896 by-election should be contested by conservative interests. Together with two others, he was tasked with finding a suitable candidate, and it was him who informed the print media that a conservative candidate would stand. No candidate being found, Lewis saved the situation by consenting to become the candidate himself. he unexpectedly won the 13 February 1896 by-election.

Lewis was confirmed by the voters in the and 1899 general elections, but as he had predicted, he found the parliamentary work demanding to his health. At the time, sessions regularly extended into the evening or the early morning, sometimes even all night. He missed the last week of the session in 1900 due to exhaustion. Consequently, the speech was poorly attended—only about 60 people turned up—and Lewis was so disappointed about the lack of support by the constituency that on 7 June, he sent his resignation to the Speaker of the House. The resulting by-election was won by George John Smith.