OBITUARY

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20899, 1 December 1937, Page 5

OBITUARY

MR J. E. JENKINSON By Telegraph—Press Association WELLINGTON, November 30. The death has occurred of Mr John Edward Jenkinson, member of the Legislative Council from 1891 to 1912, and a prominent figure in the political life in New Zealand over that period. He is survived by his widow and one son. The late Mr John Edward Jenkinson was born in Dunedin in 1858. He was educated at State schools in Otago, and entered the Dominion foundry as an apprentice to boilermaking and ironshipbuilding in 1875. In 1882 he joined the first Labour Union in Dunedin, the Boilermakers’ Union, and in the same year was elected president. In 1883 he was deputed to form branches of ’the union in other cities in New Zealand, and represented unions at a conference with New South Wales boilermakers in Sydney towards the formation of the Australasian Federation. Later, Mr Jenkinson assisted in forming unions in Christchurch and Wellington, and was one of the three to draw up rules for the guidance of the Canterbury Trades Council. He Inaugurated technical classes under the auspices of the unions in Christchurch and represented the Trades Council at several annual conferences. He assisted to form the rules for the Railway Servants’ Union, and was treasurer of the Labour Day celebration Committee for some years. He held the position of president of the Talloresses’ Union and numerous other offices in connection with various Labour organisations. In 1892 he was appointed a Justice of the Peace and was called to the Legislative Council by the late Hon. John Ballance and was reappointed in 1900 and 1907.