John Mark Davies

Sir John Mark Davies

Born in Halstead, Essex, England in 1840, Davies was the fifth eldest of the six boys and six girls of Ebenezer Davies and Ruth Bartlett. Two of the younger boys were educated at Geelong Grammar School. John was articled in 1852 and in 1863 was admitted to the Supreme Court of Victoria as a solicitor. He worked as a partner in a law firm for some years, and was President of the Law Institute of Victoria in 1885–86; he was made the group's first honorary life member in 1919.^[1]

Political career

Davies served in the Victorian Legislative Council from 1889 to 1919, representing first the South Yarra Province (1889–1895)^[2] then Melbourne Province (1899–1919).^[3] and was Minister for Health for two months in 1891. He was the Solicitor-General under both Allan McLean (1899–1900) and William Irvine (1902–1903), and later Irvine's Minister for Public Instruction (1903) and Attorney-General (1903–1904). Under Thomas Bent, he was both Attorney-General (1903–1909) and Solicitor-General (1904–1909), although John Mackey was briefly Solicitor-General in 1908. Davies was the President of the Victorian Legislative Council from 1910 to 1919.^[3] He resigned from the Parliament on 6 July 1919, after suffering a stroke and dies a few months later aged 79.^[4]

Honours

Davies was made a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in January 1918. He was given a state funeral.^[5]

Residence

The home he had purchased in 1892, Valentine's Mansion, became the site of Malvern Grammar School (now the Malvern Campus of Caulfield Grammar School), and was placed on the Victorian Heritage Register in 1975.^[6] The Davies family lived in Valentines until 1919 when they moved to Little Valentines in Wattletree Road, Glen Iris.

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