For the American congressman see Charlie Norwood

Charlie Norwood

Charles Whitlow Norwood, Jr., D.D.S. was an American politician and dentist, serving as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 until his death...

Sir Charles Norwood (23 August 1871 – 26 November 1966), full name Charles John Boyd Norwood, was the twenty-third Mayor of Wellington, New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 from 1925 to 1927. He was a local businessman, civic leader, and founder Chairman (1927 – 1966) of the Wellington Free Ambulance

Wellington Free Ambulance

The Wellington Free Ambulance provides free to the patient ambulance services in the Wellington Region of New Zealand.-History:The ambulance service was created on 9 November 1927 by the mayor of Wellington, Sir Charles Norwood, and initially operated out of the Old Navals boatshed...

. He had been on the Wellington City Council from 1917 to 1923.

He was born near Maryborough, Queensland

Maryborough, Queensland

Maryborough is a city located on the Mary River in South East Queensland, Australia, approximately north of the state capital, Brisbane. The city is serviced by the Bruce Highway, and has a population of approximately 22,000 . It is closely tied to its neighbour city Hervey Bay which is...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. He modelled the Wellington

Wellington

Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...

 Free Ambulance on similar services in Australia (Brisbane

Brisbane

Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...

, Maryborough and Newcastle

Newcastle, New South Wales

The Newcastle metropolitan area is the second most populated area in the Australian state of New South Wales and includes most of the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Local Government Areas...

). He had seen the efficient operation of the Brisbane service, and when he saw from his Mayoral car in Wellington an accident in Lambton Quay he got out and put his coat on the victim. As the Hospital would not send their ambulance, he requested that the Wellington Harbour Board send their ambulance to move the patient. He then resolved to start a free ambulance service in Wellington.

His business was selling cars; he obtained the franchise for the popular Morris cars

Morris Motor Company

The Morris Motor Company was a British car manufacturing company. After the incorporation of the company into larger corporations, the Morris name remained in use as a marque until 1984 when British Leyland's Austin Rover Group decided to concentrate on the more popular Austin marque...

 from England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 by going out to the ship on which Lord Nuffield

William Morris, 1st Viscount Nuffield

William Richard Morris, 1st Viscount Nuffield GBE, CH , known as Sir William Morris, Bt, between 1929 and 1934 and as The Lord Nuffield between 1934 and 1938, was a British motor manufacturer and philanthropist...

was arriving in Wellington in the pilot boat. He had been Chairman of the Wellington Harbour Board!

He was a prominent member of the Wellington Rotary Club. He was instrumental in helping Rotary set up the New Zealand Crippled Children Society (NZCCS) in 1935 and was the inaugaral Vice President of that organisation. He was able to convince Lord Nuffield, on his 1935 visit to NZ, to donate 50,000 pounds to the newly established NZCCS. This donation was important to establishing the NZCCS and helping it expand nationwide. In 1939 he became the President of NZCCS and remained in that position until 1965, stepping down at the age of 94 (NZCCS rebranded to CCS Disability Action in 2008). In 1950 he gifted funds to set up the CJB Norwood Trust, originally to help young adults with cerebral palsy gain work skills, the Trust is still in operation today but has broadened its scope and accepts applications from anyone in NZ who has cerebral palsy.

In 1966 he had been in indifferent health for some while, but was still Chairman of the Wellington Free Ambulance when he died, aged 95. His trademarks were a cigar and his goatee beard. His wife Rosina was President of the Ladies’ Auxiliary from 1929 to 1955, and she was succeeded by their daughter Eileen, Mrs A. L. George.

Sir Charles was knighted in 1937.