James Menzies (Australian politician)
James Menzies | |
---|---|
![]() Menzies in 1939 | |
Member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly | |
In office 16 November 1911 – 21 October 1920 | |
Preceded by | Robert Stanley |
Succeeded by | Marcus Wettenhall |
Constituency | Lowan |
Personal details | |
Born | 9 August 1862 Ballarat West, Victoria, Australia |
Died | 1 November 1945 (aged 83) Kew, Victoria, Australia |
Resting place | Box Hill Cemetery |
Spouse |
Kate Sampson (m. 1885) |
Relations | Hugh Menzies (brother) Douglas Menzies (nephew) Sydney Sampson (brother-in-law) |
Children | 5, including Frank and Robert |
Profession | Businessman, politician |
James Menzies (9 August 1862 – 1 November 1945) was an Australian businessman and politician who served in the
Early life
Menzies was born in
Menzies had little formal schooling, but was a keen reader.[3] At the time of his father's death, he had just begun an apprenticeship as a coach-painter. After a period as a journeyman, he was able to open his own coach-painting firm. One of his neighbours around that time was Hugh Victor McKay, the inventor of the Sunshine Harvester (the first commercially viable combine harvester).[2] He painted McKay's first model, and some accounts credit him with suggesting the name "Sunshine". In the late 1880s, Menzies closed his own business and joined the Phoenix Foundry as its chief locomotive painter.[4]
In 1893, Menzies moved to the small
Public life
Menzies "occupied every presidential chair Jeparit had to offer, political, civic, social, and sporting", and endeared himself to the local farming community by extending generous lines of credit. He was a Methodist lay preacher, having previously been a Presbyterian elder in Ballarat.[7] In 1898, he was elected to the Dimboola Shire Council, where served two terms as shire president. Both his older brother Hugh Menzies and brother-in-law Sydney Sampson preceded him into politics.[8]
At the
Menzies was re-elected to Lowan unopposed in 1914 and 1917, but at the 1920 election lost to the Victorian Farmers' Union candidate, Marcus Wettenhall. He made unsuccessful attempts to reclaim his seat in 1921, losing by only 25 votes, and in 1924.[10]
Later years
Menzies lived permanently in Melbourne after 1912; his family had relocated there in 1909, to advance the children's education.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/9b/Grave_of_James_and_Kate_Menzies%2C_Box_Hill_Cemetery_2017.jpg/220px-Grave_of_James_and_Kate_Menzies%2C_Box_Hill_Cemetery_2017.jpg)
Menzies died at his home in Kew on 1 November 1945, aged 83. His funeral was held at Kew Presbyterian Church and he was buried in Box Hill Cemetery.[8]
Personal life
On 25 December 1889, Menzies married Kate Sampson (1865–1946), the daughter of a Cornish miner who had settled in Creswick. The couple would have five children together: James Leslie (called "Les"; b. 1890), Frank Gladstone (b. 1892), Isabel Alice ("Belle"; b. 1893), Robert Gordon ("Bob" or "Rob"; b. 1894), and Sydney Keith (b. 1905). The first three were born in Ballarat and the last two in Jeparit. Robert became the longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia, while Frank was Crown Solicitor for Victoria and Isabel managed the Royal Exhibition Building.[4]> Menzies's children remembered him as a strict disciplinarian who had high expectations for his children.[15] In his memoir Afternoon Light, Robert recalled him as:
...a strongly built man of little more than medium height. His hair was prematurely grey, and became a splendid silver. He had a fairly full moustache, in which he took some pride. The nervous tension which he had tended to make him both dogmatic and intolerant; in a very modified sense, a "Barrett of Wimpole Street". His temper was quick. We, his sons, got know that "whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth". We were not a little frightened of him.[16]
References
- ^ Martin (1993), p. 2.
- ^ a b Martin (1993), p. 3.
- ^ Martin (1993), p. 12.
- ^ a b Martin (1993), p. 4.
- ^ Martin (1993), p. 5.
- ^ Martin (1993), p. 7.
- ^ Martin (1993), p. 9.
- ^ a b c "Death of Mr James Menzies". The Argus. 2 November 1945. p. 3. Retrieved 29 August 2022 – via Trove.
- ^ Martin (1993), p. 16.
- ^ a b "James Menzies". Re-Member: a database of all Victorian MPs since 1851. Parliament of Victoria. Archived from the original on 23 April 2023. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
- ^ "German Schools". Dimboola Banner and Wimmera and Mallee Advertiser. 25 August 1916. Retrieved 29 August 2022 – via Trove.
- ^ "Lutheran Schools". Dimboola Banner and Wimmera and Mallee Advertiser. 1 September 1916. Retrieved 29 August 2022 – via Trove.
- ^ Martin (1993), pp. 16–17.
- ^ The Menzies Home for Boys (1943 - 1961), Find & Connect. Retrieved 13 April 2018.
- ^ Martin (1993), p. 11.
- ^ Martin (1993), p. 10.