August 1863 East Maitland colonial by-election

A by-election was held for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly electorate of East Maitland on 11 August 1863 because John Darvall QC had been appointed Attorney General in the third Cowper ministry.[1] Such ministerial by-elections were usually uncontested however on this occasion the appointment of Darvall was controversial, not only was he a conservative appointed to the liberal ministry, but because John Hargrave, who had been Attorney General since March 1860, accepted the lesser role of Solicitor General to allow Darvall to be appointed.[2]

Dates
DateEvent
31 July 1863 Writ of election issued by the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.[3]
1 August 1863 John Darvall appointed Attorney General.[4]
10 August 1863 Nominations.[5]
11 August 1863 Polling day
15 August 1863 Return of writ

Campaign

Darvall was challenged by his friend Henry Parkes who denounced the appointment as an unprincipled alliance.[6] Darvall strongly criticised Parkes at the nomination, saying Parkes was voting against a ministry as liberal as himself to embarrass the government and that while he had traveled to England on his own money, Parkes had traveled there on public money, "enjoying his pleasure at your expense and seemed quite renovated from the effects of ease and comfort, and of the exceedingly good society into which he had found his way".[5] Further Parkes' failure in business had ruined his creditors and caused his best friend, James Wilshire, to die of a broken heart.[5] Parkes responded with similar personal attacks, recounting Darvall's opposition to Cowper and accusing Darvall of accepting the position as Attorney General because he had aspirations of being appointed Chief Justice to replace Sir Alfred Stephen.[5]

Result
August 1863 East Maitland by-election
Tuesday 11 August [7]
Candidate Votes %
John Darvall (elected) 314 55.2
Henry Parkes 255 44.8
Total formal votes 569 100.0
Informal votes 0 0.0
Turnout 569 74.1

Aftermath

Following the declaration of the poll, Parkes said that his election expenses did not exceed £28 and that Darvall "had gone with his friends to solicit votes with the electoral roll in the right hand and the grog bottle in the left".[8][9]

Six days after the appointment of Darvall QC as Attorney General, Harvgrave, who had stepped down to permit the appointment, was himself made Queen's Counsel.[10]

See also

References
  1. "Sir John Bayley Darvall MA, QC (1809-1883)". Former members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
  2. A barrister of England, New South Wales and Victoria (4 August 1863). "To the editor: Mr Darvall's appointment as Attorney General". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 5. Retrieved 5 September 2020 – via Trove.
    Holroyd, Arthur (5 August 1863). "To the editor: Mr Darvall's appointment as Attorney General". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 3. Retrieved 5 September 2020 – via Trove.
    A barrister of England, New South Wales and Victoria (6 August 1863). "To the editor: Mr Darvall's appointment as Attorney General". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 5. Retrieved 5 September 2020 – via Trove.
  3. "Writ of election: East Maitland". New South Wales Government Gazette. No. 150. 3 August 1863. p. 1695. Retrieved 5 September 2020 – via Trove.
  4. "Appointment John Darvall as Attorney General". New South Wales Government Gazette. No. 149. 1 August 1863. p. 1693. Retrieved 5 September 2020 – via Trove.
  5. "Nomination for East Maitland". The Sydney Morning Herald. 12 August 1863. pp. 2–3. Retrieved 5 September 2020 – via Trove.
  6. "Parkes and Darvall". Australian Town and Country Journal. 2 May 1896. p. 14. Retrieved 5 September 2020 – via Trove.
  7. Green, Antony. "August 1863 East Maitland by-election". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
  8. "East Maitland election". The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser. 13 August 1863. p. 2. Retrieved 5 September 2020 – via Trove.
  9. Rathbone, R W. "Darvall, Sir John Bayley (1809 - 1883)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
  10. "Supreme Court sitting in Banco". The Sydney Morning Herald. 20 October 1863. p. 5. Retrieved 5 September 2020 – via Trove.
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