George Reid

Sir George Houston Reid

Reid was born on 25 February 1845 in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, Scotland. He was the fifth of seven children born to Marion (née Crybbace) and John Reid; he had four older brothers and two younger sisters.^[2] He was named after George Houstoun, a former Conservative MP for the Renfrewshire constituency who had died a few years earlier.^[3] Reid's father, the son of a farmer, was born in Tarbolton, Ayrshire. At the time of George's birth he was a minister in the Church of Scotland, which he had joined in 1839 after previously ministering in various secessionist Presbyterian churches; he remained loyal to the established church in the Disruption of 1843.^[4] In 1834, he had married the daughter of another minister, Edward Crybbace; she was about nine years his junior.^[2]

In April 1845, Reid and his family moved to

In 1864, Reid joined the New South Wales Civil Service as an assistant accountant in the Colonial Treasury, with an annual salary of £200. He was promoted to clerk of correspondence and contracts in 1868, and then chief clerk of correspondence in 1874 on a salary of £400.^[7] In 1876 he began to study law seriously, which would provide the independent income necessary to pursue a parliamentary career (given that parliamentary service was unpaid at the time). He became head of the Attorney-General's Department in 1878.^[1] In 1879, Reid qualified as a barrister.^[6] He made a name for himself by publishing pamphlets on topical issues. In 1875, he published his Five Essays on Free Trade, which brought him an honorary membership of the Cobden Club, and in 1878 the government published his New South Wales, the Mother Colony of the Australians, for distribution in Europe.^[8]

Political career

Reid's career was aided by his quick wit and entertaining oratory; he was described as being "perhaps the best platform speaker in the Empire",^[9] both amusing and informing his audiences "who flocked to his election meetings as to popular entertainment".^[10] In one particular incident his quick wit and affinity for humour were demonstrated when a heckler pointed to his ample paunch and exclaimed "What are you going to call it, George?" to which Reid replied: "If it's a boy, I'll call it after myself. If it's a girl I'll call it Victoria. But if, as I strongly suspect, it's nothing but piss and wind, I'll name it after you."^[11] His humour, however, was not universally appreciated. Alfred Deakin detested Reid, describing him as "inordinately vain and resolutely selfish"^[11] and their cold relationship would affect both their later careers.

Reid was elected top of the poll to the

The new premier, Alexander Stuart, offered Reid the position of Colonial Treasurer in January 1883, but he thought it wiser to accept the junior office of Minister of Public Instruction. He served 14 months in this office and succeeded in passing a much improved Education Act, which included the establishment of the first government high schools in the leading towns, technical schools (which became a model for the other colonies)^[6] and the provision of evening lectures at the university.^[8]

In February 1884, Reid lost his seat in parliament owing to a technicality; The Elections and Qualifications Committee held that the Governor had already issued five proclamations prior to the appointment of

In September 1891, the Parkes ministry was defeated, the Dibbs government succeeded it, and Parkes retired from the leadership of the Free Trade Party. Reid was elected leader of the opposition in his place. In 1891, he married Florence (Flora) Ann Brumby, who was 23 years old to his 46. He managed to form his party into a coherent group although it "ran the whole gamut from conservative Sydney merchants through middle-class intellectuals to reformers who wished to replace indirect by direct taxation for social reasons."^[6]

At the 1894 election Reid made the establishment of a real free trade tariff with a system of direct taxation the main item of his policy, and had a great victory. Edmund Barton and other well-known protectionists lost their seats, Labor was reduced from 30 to 18, and Reid formed his first cabinet. One of his earliest measures was a new lands bill which provided for the division of pastoral leases into two-halves, one of which was to be open to the free selector, while the pastoral lessee got some security of tenure for the other half. Classification of crown lands according to their value was provided for, and the free selector, or his transferee, had to reside on the property.^[8]

At an early stage of the session, Parkes pressed the question of federation, and in response Reid invited the premiers of the other colonies to meet in conference on 29 January 1895. This resolved in favour of an elected Australasian Federal Convention, that would draw up a federal constitution, which would then to be subject of a referendum in each colony. Meanwhile, Reid had great trouble in passing his land and income tax bills. When he did get them through the Assembly the New South Wales Legislative Council threw them out. Reid obtained a dissolution, was victorious at the polls, and heavily defeated Parkes for the new single-member electoral district of Sydney-King. He eventually succeeded in passing his acts, which were moderate, but was strenuously opposed by the council, and it was only the fear that the chamber might be swamped with new appointments that eventually wore down the opposition. Reid was also successful in bringing in reforms in the keeping of public accounts and in the civil service generally. Other acts dealt with the control of inland waters, and much needed legislation relating to public health, factories, and mining, was also passed.^[8] In five years he achieved more than any of his predecessors.^[6]

On four occasions between December 1895 and May 1899 Reid was temporarily appointed to the vacant position of Solicitor General for New South Wales to allow him to deputise for the Attorney General of New South Wales, Jack Want, in his absence.^[15][16] Reid took on the position of Attorney-General in addition to being Premier in the last months of his government.

Federation

Reid supported the federation of the Australian colonies, but since the campaign was led by his Protectionist opponent Edmund Barton he did not take a leading role. He was dissatisfied by the draft constitution, especially the power of a Senate, elected on the basis of States rather than population, to reject money bills.

Following the Adelaide session in 1897 of the National Australasian Convention, Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain sent the Colonial Office's extensive and sometimes critical comments on the current draft of the federal constitution to Reid (then in London for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee), for his "private & independent" consideration. At the Sydney and Melbourne sessions of the Convention in 1897 and 1898, Reid moved amendments based on those comments, covertly obtaining several concessions to British wishes. He denied a suggestion that he had been "talking with ‘Joe’". Reid did copy Chamberlain's comments to a select few other delegates, but they never revealed this. They included Edmund Barton, chair of the Drafting Committee, which accommodated some of Chamberlain's more technical points.^[17]

In the aftermath of the Convention, Reid made his famous "Yes-No" speech at Sydney Town Hall, on 28 March 1898. He told his audience that he intended to deal with the bill "with the deliberate impartiality of a judge addressing a jury". After speaking for an hour and three-quarters the audience was still uncertain about his verdict. He concluded by declaring "my duty to Australia demands me to record my vote in favour of the bill".

At the general election held soon after, Barton challenged Reid in the premier's seat of Sydney-King. Reid was re-elected, receiving 761 votes to Barton's 651, but his party came back with a reduced majority.^[20] Reid fought for federation at the second referendum and it was carried in New South Wales, with 56.5 percent of valid votes cast for 'Yes'. "A bizarre combination of the Labor Party, protectionists, Federation enthusiasts and die-hard anti-Federation free traders" censured Reid for paying the expenses of John Neild who had been commissioned to report on old-age pensions, prior to parliamentary approval. Governor Beauchamp refused Reid a dissolution of parliament, and Reid was defeated in a no confidence motion, 75 to 41, in September 1899.^[6] By this time Reid had grown extremely overweight and sported a walrus moustache and a monocle, but his buffoonish image concealed a shrewd political brain.

Federal politics

Leader of the Opposition (1901–1904)

Reid was elected to the first federal Parliament as the Member for the Division of East Sydney at the 1901 Australian federal election. The Free Trade Party won 28 out of 75 seats in the Australian House of Representatives, and 17 out of 36 seats in the Australian Senate. Labor no longer trusted Reid and gave their support to the Edmund Barton Protectionist Party government, so Reid became the first Leader of the Opposition, a position well-suited to his robust debating style and rollicking sense of humour. In the long tariff debate Reid was at a disadvantage as parliament was sitting in Melbourne and he could not entirely neglect his practice as a barrister in Sydney, as his parliamentary income was less than a tenth of his income from his legal practice. In their old stronghold of New South Wales free traders had won 12 seats, but Labor won six, and the old compact between Labor and Reid was a thing of the past.^[6][8]

On 18 August 1903, Reid resigned (the first member of the House of Representatives to do so) and challenged the government to oppose his re-election on the issue of its refusal to accept a system of equal electoral districts.^[6] On 4 September he successfully contested the 1903 East Sydney by-election against a Labor opponent.^[21] He was the only person in Australian federal parliamentary history to win back his seat at a by-election triggered by his own resignation, until John Alexander in 2017.

Alfred Deakin took over from Barton as Prime Minister and leader of the Protectionists. At the 1903 election, the Free Trade Party won 24 seats, with the Labor vote increasing mainly at the expense of the Protectionists.

Prime Minister (1904–1905)

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In August 1904, when the Watson government resigned, Reid became Prime Minister. He was the first former state premier to become Prime Minister (the only other to date being Joseph Lyons). Reid did not have a majority in either House, and he knew it would be only a matter of time before the Protectionists patched up their differences with Labor, so he enjoyed himself in office while he could. In July 1905 the other two parties duly voted him out, and he left office with good grace.

Leader of the Opposition (1905–1908)

Reid adopted a strategy of trying to reorient the party system along Labor vs. non-Labor lines – prior to the 1906 election, he renamed his Free Trade Party to the Anti-Socialist Party. Reid envisaged a spectrum running from socialist to anti-socialist, with the Protectionist Party in the middle. This attempt struck a chord with politicians who were steeped in the Westminster tradition and regarded a two-party system as very much the norm.^[22] Zachary Gorman has argued that this attempt to impose clear 'lines of cleavage' in Federal politics was inspired by Reid's friend Joseph Carruthers who had achieved a political realignment in New South Wales that destroyed the Progressive middle party and created a Liberal-Labor divide.^[23] For Reid, anti-socialism was a natural product of his long-standing belief in Gladstonian liberalism.^[24]

Reid referred to Labor publicly using a damaging visual negative image of Labor as a hungry socialist tiger that would devour all.

On 24 December 1909 Reid resigned from Parliament (he was the first Member to have resigned twice), however his seat was left vacant until the 1910 election. His seat of East Sydney was won by Labor's John West, in an election which saw Labor win 42 of 75 seats, against the CLP on 31 seats. Labor also won a majority in the Senate.

Later life and legacy

In 1910, Reid was appointed as Australia's first

Reid's posthumous reputation suffered from the general acceptance of protectionist policies by other parties, as well as from his buffoonish public image. In 1989 W. G. McMinn published George Reid, a serious biography designed to rescue Reid from his reputation as a clownish reactionary and attempt to show his Free Trade policies as having been vindicated by history.[9]

Honours

In 1897 Reid was made an

One of the oldest suburbs within Canberra, the suburb of Reid, was named after George Reid.

The federal electoral Division of Reid, created in 1922, in Western Sydney bears his name.

In 1969 he was honoured on a postage stamp bearing his portrait issued by Australia Post.^[29]

Works

• The Australian Commonwealth and her relation to the British Empire (address, 1912)

See also

• Reid Ministry

Notes

References

Further reading

• Hughes, Colin A. (1976). Mr Prime Minister. Australian Prime Ministers 1901–1972. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
  ISBN 0195504712
  .

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to George Houstoun Reid.

Wikisource has the text of a 1922 Encyclopædia Britannica article about "George Reid".

• Archival records and sources held at the National Archives of Australia
• Audio lecture on the life of George Reid – National Museum of Australia
• Undated photo of George Reid and Mrs. Oliver T. Johnston from Library of Congress collection

 

New South Wales Legislative Assembly
Preceded by John Davies	Griffiths	Succeeded by Sydney Burdekin
Preceded by George Griffiths	Street, Parkes ,	Succeeded by District abolished
New district	Member for Sydney-King 1894–1901	Succeeded by Ernest Broughton
Political offices
Preceded by Francis Suttor	Minister of Public Instruction 1883–1884	Succeeded by William Trickett
Preceded by George Dibbs	Premier of New South Wales 1894–1899	Succeeded by William Lyne
Preceded by Jack Want	Attorney General of New South Wales 1899	Succeeded by Bernhard Wise
Parliament of Australia
New division	Member for East Sydney 1901–1910	Succeeded by John West
Political offices
New title	Leader of the Opposition of Australia 1901–1904	Succeeded by Alfred Deakin
Preceded by Chris Watson	Prime Minister of Australia 1904–1905
	Leader of the Opposition of Australia 1905–1908	Succeeded by Joseph Cook
Party political offices
New political party	Leader of the Free Trade Party 1901–1906	Renamed the Anti-Socialist Party
	Leader of the Anti-Socialist Party 1906–1908	Succeeded by Joseph Cook
Diplomatic posts
New title	Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom 1910–1916	Succeeded by Andrew Fisher
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Sir Alexander Henderson	Member for St George, Hanover Square 1916–1918	Succeeded by Sir Newton Moore