William Holman

William Arthur Holman (4 August 1871 – 5 June 1934) was an Australian politician who served as

In 1916, Holman supported the "Yes" vote in the referendum on overseas conscription and was consequently expelled from the Labor Party. He and his supporters remained in government with the backing of the opposition Liberal Reform Party, and the two groups subsequently merged to form the NSW branch of the new Nationalist Party, under Holman's leadership. The new party won a large majority at the 1917 election. However, it was heavily defeated at the 1920 election, in which Holman lost his own seat. After his defeat, he returned to his legal practice and was made King's Counsel. He was elected to the House of Representatives for the United Australia Party at the 1931 federal election, but was in poor health and died before completing his first term.

Early life

Holman was born in

In 1893, Holman he became Secretary of the Railways and Tramways Employees' Union, representing the union on the Sydney Trades and Labor Council. With the support of the Labor Electoral League, he unsuccessfully stood for election to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in 1894 and 1895. During that period, he was the proprietor of the Daily Post newspaper, sympathetic to the labour movement, which ended in liquidation, with Holman and four other directors convicted of fraud. He spent nearly two months in jail before the conviction was quashed. He went on to become a journalist for the Grenfell Vedette, and later its proprietor. From 1896 to 1898, he worked as an organiser for the Australian Workers' Union.^[1]

Legal profession

In 1900, Holman began to study law part-time and, in 1903, he passed the University of London's intermediate examination, being admitted to the bar as a barrister of the Supreme Court of New South Wales on 31 July 1903.^[3] In 1909, he and P.A. Jacobs co-authored Australian Mercantile Law. In the 1920s, when he resumed his legal practice, he was made a King's Counsel. After a lectureship in Brisbane in 1928, The Australian constitution : its interpretation and amendment was published.

Parliamentary career

In the late 1890s, Holman was on the central executive of the embryonic Labor Party, before being elected as the Member for Grenfell in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in 1898. When Grenfell was abolished in 1904 as part of the post-Federation downsizing of the Legislative Assembly, Holman transferred to the new seat of Cootamundra. He became deputy-leader of the Labor party in 1905.^[4] In 1910, the Labor Party first won Government in New South Wales with a slim majority of 46 seats in a parliament of 90, with James McGowen as Premier, and Holman was made Attorney General.

Premier of New South Wales

Labor government

On 30 June 1913 McGowen resigned and Holman was named leader of the New South Wales Labor Party, hence becoming Premier. During his government, many

In 1916, the issue of

At the general election held that March, the Nationalists won a huge victory, picking up a 13-seat swing which was magnified by the large number of Labor MPs who followed Holman out of the party. It proved to be a harbinger of the Nationalists' equally massive victory in the federal election held two months later.

Holman vigorously defended the state-owned enterprises from his new conservative allies. However, at the 13 March 1920 state election, Holman and his Nationalists were thrown from office in a massive swing, being succeeded by a Labor government under the short-lived John Storey. Unusually for a long-serving premier, Holman was defeated in his own seat. However, he continued outside Parliament as a senior figure in conservative politics.

Federal politics and death

Holman's later parliamentary career was less notable than might have been expected from his 1910–20 achievements. He was elected to the federal parliament as the Sydney seat of Martin in December 1931 as a member of the United Australia Party, which by this time had absorbed the Nationalists. He had an undistinguished time as a backbencher in the Joseph Lyons government. His health having deteriorated over a considerable period, he died on 5 June 1934 in the Sydney suburb of Gordon, apparently from shock and loss of blood after a difficult tooth extraction on the previous day. He was cremated at Northern Suburbs crematorium on 6 June 1934.^[5]

It is rather telling that Holman was not considered for a post in Lyons' cabinet. While Holman and Lyons had been on opposite sides of the World War I conscription debate, both were Labor defectors who had previously been state Labor leaders and premiers. The ensuing Labor split over conscription had helped Lyons ascend to the Tasmanian Labor leadership. In fact, Lyons' tenure as Tasmanian Labor leader from 1916 to 1929 briefly overlapped Holman's tenure as NSW Labor leader from 1913 to 1917. However, Holman had been in poor health for several years before his election to Canberra, which probably disqualified him for ministerial preferment in any event.

Legacy

Holman is still a controversial figure, much like Hughes. Since he followed Hughes' example in leaving the ALP and heading a conservative government, he became and remains a traitor in the eyes of Labor historians. Although Holman protected the state-owned enterprises he had helped create during his ALP days, the Australian labour movement still considers him a "rat".

Personal life

On 22 January 1901, Holman married journalist and novelist

In 1934, a portrait of Holman by John Longstaff was awarded the Archibald Prize for portraiture. It was later acquired by the Geelong Art Gallery.^[9]

Notes

References

• Australian labour leader : the story of W.A. Holman and the labour movement Herbert Vere Evatt (1940).
• The First New South Wales Labor Government 1910-1916; Two Memoirs: William Holman and John Osborne Michael Hogan (2005)
  ISBN 0-86840-880-8

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to William Holman.

• First NSW Labor Government 1910–1916
• Australian Trade Union Archives

 

New South Wales Legislative Assembly
Preceded by George Greene	Member for Grenfell 1898 – 1904	District abolished
New district	Member for Cootamundra 1904 – 1920	Succeeded by Peter Loughlin Hugh Main Greg McGirr
Political offices
Preceded by Charles Wade	Attorney General of New South Wales 1910 – 1914	Succeeded by David Hall
Preceded by John Garland	Minister for Justice 1910 – 1912
Preceded by James McGowen	Colonial Secretary of New South Wales 1913 – 1914	Succeeded by John Cann
	Premier of New South Wales 1913 – 1920	Succeeded by John Storey
Preceded by John Cann	Colonial Treasurer of New South Wales 1914 – 1918	Succeeded by John Fitzpatrick
Preceded by Campbell Carmichael	Minister of Public Instruction 1915	Succeeded by Arthur Griffith
Party political offices
Preceded by James McGowen	Leader of the Australian Labor Party in New South Wales 1913 – 1917	Succeeded by Ernest Durack
New political party	Leader of the New South Wales Nationalist Party 1917 – 1920	Succeeded by George Fuller
Australian House of Representatives
Preceded by John Eldridge	Member for Martin 1931 – 1934	Succeeded by William McCall