Charles Statham

Sir Charles Ernest Statham (10 May 1875 – 5 March 1946) was a New Zealand politician, and the ninth Speaker of the House of Representatives, from 1923 to 1935.

Private life He was born in Dunedin in 1875, and trained in law, practising in his own Dunedin office from 1904. He married the part-Māori Lilias Harata te Aho Burnett of Dunedin in 1905, with whom he later had one daughter.

Political career

He was on the Dunedin City Council 1911–1915. and many of his rulings still form part of the parliamentary standing orders today.

He was created a Knight Bachelor in the 1926 King's Birthday Honours, and in 1935, he was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal. He was appointed to the New Zealand Legislative Council on 9 March 1936 and was reappointed seven years later after his term had expired and served until his death. He did not take an active part in politics as a Legislative Councillor, though. He practised law in Wellington after retiring from Parliament, and died there on 5 March 1946. He was survived by his wife and his daughter.