John Bitchener was a Reform Party Member of Parliament in New Zealand.
11 Facts About John Bitchener
1.
2.
John Bitchener was a cabinet minister from 1933 to 1935 in the Reform Government of New Zealand.
3.
John Bitchener's father was Alfred Bitchener, who was born in 1844 in Cranfield, Bedfordshire, England.
4.
John Bitchener's mother was Mary Ann Bitchener, and his parents had married on 9 February 1864.
5.
Alfred John Bitchener moved to the Waimate District and worked as a farm labourer for three or four years, and then became a saw milling contractor.
6.
John Bitchener received his education at Waimate Public School and then joined his father as a contractor in Waimate, before moving to Southland for four years.
7.
John Bitchener's father bought a farm in Hook, some 8 kilometres southwest of Waimate, and John Bitchener moved to live there, too.
8.
John Bitchener was chairman of the Hook School Committee, he was a member of the Waimate County Council for eleven years, was a member of the Timaru Boys' High School Board including chairman for some time, was a member of the Timaru Harbour Board, was on the Waimate High School Board, and was president of the South Canterbury Farmers' Union.
9.
John Bitchener was a member of the Advisory Board of the Farmers' Union in Wellington, was chairman of the Waimate Cooperative Flour Milling Company, and a director of the Canterbury Farmers' Cooperative Association.
10.
John Bitchener was elected as Member of Parliament for Waitaki in the 1919 general election, but was defeated in 1935.
11.
John Bitchener was Minister of Works under George Forbes from 10 April 1933 to 6 December 1935, when the Coalition Government was defeated.