Charles Major Place (Hāwera)

Charles Major Place, near Hāwera Intermediate School, is named after a prominent local identity.

Charles Edwin Major was a sportsman and sports administrator, politician and businessman. He was born in 1859 on St. Helier in Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands, and came to New Zealand in 1871.

Between 1885 and 1891, Major played rugby for Wellington, Poverty Bay and, after settling in Hāwera, for Taranaki. He was one of the founders of the Taranaki Rugby Football Union and was elected as the first secretary in 1889. He continued serving on the executive committee in the 1890s. He was also president of the Hāwera Cycling Club, a member of the Egmont Racing Club and owned racehorses.

Major was also a captain in the Hāwera Rifle Volunteers and a member of the town's musical society.

Self-employed, he owned a successful real estate and mortgage business, with customers Taranaki-wide. In an era when money for property buyers was not as readily available as it is today, a significant part of Major's business was organising finance for these transactions. His business operated from 77 Princes Street, in a building that still stands today.

A trusted man in the community, Major was 25 when he was elected as a borough councillor. He was elected as Hāwera's Mayor, serving two terms from 1886 to 1888 and 1892 to 1901. Then, as a member of the Liberal Party, he was elected to the New Zealand Parliament as the MP for Hāwera between 1902 and 1908. Describing his appearance during his first term, The Press wrote he had "a well-nourished, large, fat, black moustache - a moustache that forces itself into prominence." However his national political career was unexceptional.

Major lived at 6 Princes Street. The house, Te Ramanui, built for him and his family, still stands today.

In 1910 Major moved to Auckland and lived the rest of his life there. He died in June 1954, just a few weeks short of his 95th birthday. In 2014 a book was published containing selections from his memoirs.

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.