Bill Schramm

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New Zealand politician

title: "Bill Schramm" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1886-births", "1962-deaths", "speakers-of-the-new-zealand-house-of-representatives", "new-zealand-labour-party-mps", "20th-century-new-zealand-lawyers", "new-zealand-people-of-danish-descent", "members-of-the-new-zealand-house-of-representatives", "people-from-hokitika", "politicians-from-auckland", "new-zealand-mps-for-auckland-electorates", "burials-at-purewa-cemetery", "unsuccessful-candidates-in-the-1928-new-zealand-general-election", "unsuccessful-candidates-in-the-1946-new-zealand-general-election", "unsuccessful-candidates-in-the-1949-new-zealand-general-election", "people-educated-at-westland-high-school,-hokitika"] description: "New Zealand politician" topic_path: "law" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Schramm" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary New Zealand politician ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
honorific-prefix	The Honourable
name	Bill Schramm
image	Frederick Schramm, 1935.jpg
order	11th Speaker of the House of Representatives
primeminister	Peter Fraser
term_start	22 February 1944
term_end	12 October 1946
predecessor	Bill Barnard
successor	Robert McKeen
constituency_MP2
parliament2	New Zealand
term_start2	2 December 1931
term_end2	12 October 1946
predecessor2	James Donald
successor2	Constituency abolished
birth_date	28 March 1886
birth_place	Hokitika, New Zealand
death_date	28 October 1962
death_place	Auckland, New Zealand
birthname	Frederick William Schramm
party	Labour
spouse	Alice Amelia Peard
children	2
::

Biography

Early life

Schramm was born in Hokitika in 1886. His Danish parents had arrived in New Zealand in the 1860s. He received his education at Hokitika High School and at Canterbury College. He was a prominent sports person in his younger years in athletics, cricket, and hockey, and represented Canterbury College in the New Zealand University championships for two years.

He married Alice Amelia Peard in 1918; they had two daughters. Schramm started his professional career as a clerk with the Justice Department and held positions in Whanganui and Te Kūiti before World War I, and Christchurch, Wellington, and Auckland after the war. He then became deputy-registrar and deputy-sheriff of the Auckland Supreme Court but resigned in 1922 to enter private practice. He was a solicitor and barrister for the last nine years before his election to Parliament.

Political career

In the , he contested the electorate but came third. He was the Member of Parliament for Auckland East from to 1946; when he was defeated for the new electorate of . Originally an ally of John A. Lee, they fell out and Schramm moved for Lee's expulsion at the 1940 Labour conference. Lee supported the National candidate Duncan Rae who defeated Schramm in the electorate in 1946.

In early 1947 he was a nominee for the Mount Albert by-election but was not selected as the candidate. Soon afterwards Schramm, who was originally from Hokitika, was also speculated as a possible candidate at another by-election in Westland but suggestion of him seeking the candidacy was later dismissed.

In November 1947 he was Labour's candidate for the Auckland mayoralty, placing second behind sitting mayor Sir John Allum. Schramm wished to stand for the mayoralty again in 1950, but was beaten for the Labour nomination by former city councillor John Stewart. In he stood in Parnell once more and was again defeated. He was then President of the Auckland Labour Representation Committee from 1955 to 1957.

Awards and death

In 1935, Schramm was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal.

In August 1958 Schramm suffered a fall while on the sixth floor of Dilworth Buildings in Queen Street where he had an office. He broke his thigh bone and was admitted to Middlemore Hospital. He died in Auckland in 1962

Notes

References

Who’s Who in New Zealand, 4th Edition 1941
New Zealand Herald 1962, 30 October (death notice)

References

(3 December 1931). "New Members". [[The Press]].
(3 December 1931). "New Members". [[Auckland Star]].
(27 October 1943). "Mr. Schramm the new Speaker". [[Auckland Star]].
"Biographies of Former and Current Speakers of the New Zealand House of Representatives". [[New Zealand Parliament]].
(29 October 1962). "Ex-Speaker Dies In Auckland". [[The New Zealand Herald]].
(4 May 1927). "Electoral". [[Auckland Star]].
(30 March 1942). "University Election". [[The New Zealand Herald]].
(1929). "The General Election, 1928". Government Printer.
Wilson, Jim. (1985). "New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984". V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer.
(20 August 1947). "Labour Considers Mt Albert Nominee". [[The Northern Advocate]].
(7 October 1947). "Westland Seat – Mr Schramm Unlikely Candidate". [[The Press]].
(29 November 1947). "Election of Mayor". [[Auckland Star]].
(7 October 1950). "Labour Candidate To Oppose Auckland Mayor". [[Wanganui Chronicle]].
(6 May 1935). "Official jubilee medals". [[The Evening Post (New Zealand).
(4 August 1958). "Former Speaker Injured". [[The Press]].
"Burial details". Purewa Cemetery and Crematorium.

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