Charles Boswell

Charles Boswell
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Bay of Islands
In office
1938 – 1943
Preceded by Harold Rushworth
Succeeded by Sidney Walter Smith
Personal details
Born Charles Wallace Boswell
5 August 1886
Died 17 June 1956(1956-06-17) (aged 69)
Nationality New Zealand
Political party Labour

Charles Wallace Boswell (1886–1956) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party.

Biography

New Zealand Parliament
Years Term Electorate Party
1938–1943 26th Bay of Islands Labour

He represented the Bay of Islands electorate from 1938 to 1943, when he was defeated by National's Sidney Walter Smith.[1]

He was then appointed as the (first and only) Minister in charge of the Moscow Embassy in the USSR from 1944 to 1950.[2] He declined to report to some clerk in External Affairs, writing instead personal letters to the Prime Minister (which secretly Fraser rather enjoyed). His (and James Barclays) appointments attracted criticism as political appointments, as did his ordering of seven suits when clothing was rationed. But this was eclipsed by the "great furniture scandal" of items to be shipped from New Zealand to Moscow (via Tehran and Central Asia) for the new Legation, including 40 armchairs, 10 couches and a billiard table plus palm stands! The order dreamed up by the Public Works Department and which could have seated almost the entire House of Representatives was cancelled by Peter Fraser.[3]

Notes

  1. ↑ Wilson 1985, p. 184, 235.
  2. ↑ Gustafson 1980.
  3. ↑ Hensley, Gerald (2009). Beyond the Battlefield: New Zealand and its Allies 1939-45. North Shore Auckland: Viking/Penguin. pp. 330, 331. ISBN 978-06-700-7404-4.

References

  • Gustafson, Barry (1980). Labour's path to political independence: the origins and establishment of the NZ Labour Party 1900–1919. Auckland, New Zealand: Auckland University Press. ISBN 0-19-647986-X.
  • Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand parliamentary record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.
New Zealand Parliament
Preceded by
Harold Rushworth		 Member of Parliament for Bay of Islands
1938–1943		 Succeeded by
Sidney Walter Smith


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