Oswald Chettle Mazengarb CBE QC (31 May 1890 – 27 November 1963), known as Ossie Mazengarb, was a New Zealand barrister.

Ossie Mazengarb
Mazengarb in 1950
Member of the New Zealand Legislative Council
In office
22 June 1950 – 31 December 1950
Personal details
Born
Oswald Chettle Mazengarb

(1890-05-31)31 May 1890
Prahran, Victoria, Australia
Died27 November 1963(1963-11-27) (aged 73)
Wellington, New Zealand
Spouse
Margaret Isabel Campbell
(m. 1920)
ProfessionBarrister

Biography

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Cover page of the Report of the Special Committee on Moral Delinquency in Children and Adolescents, 1954, known as the Mazengarb Report

Mazengarb was born in Prahran, a suburb of Melbourne, in 1890. His family moved to Dunedin soon after his birth and he received his education at Otago Boys' High School, which he attended from 1903 to 1905. From 1908 to 1911, he studied for a Bachelor of Arts at Otago University. A scholarship in political economy enabled him to study a further year and he graduated with a Master of Arts in 1912. He then moved to Wellington to study law at Victoria College and obtained a Bachelor of Laws in 1914 and a Master of Laws in 1917. He was a member of the debating club at both universities.[1]

Mazengarb was admitted to the bar in 1914. He formed a partnership with John Barton in 1915. Barton was appointed magistrate in Gisborne and had to dissolve the partnership.[1][2][3] Mazengarb was joined by Ernst Peterson Hay and Robert Macalister and their practice soon rose to one of the largest in the capital city.[1]

Mazengarb wrote a few legal textbooks. Aside from his legal and judicial careers, he was also a politician, standing for the United–Reform Coalition in the 1935 election in the Wellington East electorate,[4] and for National in the 1938 election in the Wellington Suburbs electorate.[5] He was appointed in 1950 as one of the so-called suicide squad in the Legislative Council to vote for its abolition.

Alongside Alfred North, Mazengarb was appointed King's Counsel on 18 April 1947.[6][7] In the 1953 Coronation Honours, Mazengarb was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, for charitable and public services, especially in the field of law.[8]

A well-known public appointment was in 1954, by the National government of the time, to chair the Special Committee on Moral Delinquency in Children and Adolescents, otherwise better known as the Mazengarb Report.

On 6 April 1920 at St John's Church in Invercargill, Mazengarb married Margaret Isabel Campbell. The couple had three daughters. Mazengarb died in Wellington on 27 November 1963.[1]

Publications (partial list)

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d Barton, G. P. "Mazengarb, Oswald Chettle". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 22 January 2022.
  2. ^ "New magistrate welcomed". The Gisborne Times. Vol. XLIX, no. 4948. 15 August 1918. p. 6. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  3. ^ Axford, C. Joy. "John Saxon Barton". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 22 January 2022.
  4. ^ "Election Results". The Evening Post. Vol. CXX, no. 136. 5 December 1935. p. 5. Retrieved 12 November 2013.
  5. ^ "The General Election, 1938". National Library. 1939. p. 5. Retrieved 8 February 2012.
  6. ^ "King's Counsel". Otago Daily Times. No. 26440. 19 April 1947. p. 6. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
  7. ^ "Two appointments to King's Counsel". The Northern Advocate. 19 April 1947. p. 7. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
  8. ^ "No. 39866". The London Gazette (4th supplement). 1 June 1953. p. 3004.
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