William Irvine (Australian politician)

Sir William Hill Irvine GCMG (6 July 1858 – 20 August 1943) was an Australian politician and judge. He served as Premier of Victoria (1902–1904), Attorney-General of Australia (1913–1914), and Chief Justice of Victoria (1918–1935).

The Honourable
Sir William Irvine
GCMG
Chief Justice of Victoria
In office
9 April 1918 – 30 September 1935
Preceded byJohn Madden
Succeeded byFrederick Mann
Attorney-General of Australia
In office
24 June 1913 – 17 September 1914
Prime MinisterJoseph Cook
Preceded byBilly Hughes
Succeeded byBilly Hughes
Premier of Victoria
In office
10 June 1902 – 16 February 1904
GovernorGeorge Clarke
Reginald Talbot
Preceded byAlexander Peacock
Succeeded byThomas Bent
Member of the Australian Parliament
for Division of Flinders
In office
12 December 1906 – 5 April 1918
Preceded byJames Gibb
Succeeded byStanley Bruce
Personal details
Born(1858-07-06)6 July 1858
Newry, County Down, Ireland
Died20 August 1943(1943-08-20) (aged 85)
Toorak, Victoria, Australia
Political partyLiberal (federal)
Spouse
Agnes Wanliss
​
(m. 1891)​
RelationsJohn Mitchel (uncle)
Alma materTrinity College, Dublin
University of Melbourne.
ProfessionBarrister

Irvine was born in County Down, Ireland. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and the University of Melbourne, immigrating to Australia in 1879. He qualified as a barrister and was first elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly in 1894. Appointed attorney-general of Victoria in 1899, Irvine succeeded Alexander Peacock as premier in 1902 with the backing of the National Citizens' Reform League and retained office after the 1902 state election. He carried out democratic reforms but attracted the enmity of the labour movement for his suppression of a railway strike in 1903, resigning as premier in 1904.

At the 1906 federal election, Irvine was elected to the seat of Flinders. He served as attorney-general in the Liberal government of Joseph Cook from 1913 to 1914, and during World War I was an advocate of conscription and leading campaigner in the 1916 referendum on overseas conscription. Irvine resigned from federal parliament in 1918 to become chief justice of Victoria. He served on the court until 1935 and as lieutenant-governor also served as acting governor of Victoria for nearly three years during the Great Depression.

Early life

Irvine was born on 6 July 1858 at Dromalane near Newry in County Down, Ireland. He was the sixth of seven children born to Margaret (née Mitchel) and Hill Irvine. His father was a farmer and proprietor of a linen mill, while his uncle John Mitchel was a prominent Irish nationalist.[1]

Irvine was raised in a Presbyterian family. He was educated at the Royal School, Armagh and Trinity College, Dublin, graduating Bachelor of Arts in 1879. He subsequently entered the King's Inns with the intent of qualifying as a barrister, but the death of his father and financial difficulties led him to instead immigrate to Australia.[1]

After arriving in Australia, Irvine settled in Melbourne and undertook further studies at the University of Melbourne, graduating Master of Arts in 1882, Bachelor of Laws in 1884, and Master of Laws in 1886. He read law with Henry Hodges and was admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1884. Irvine struggled in his first years as a barrister, supplementing his income with work as an examiner at the law school and the authoring of textbooks on the powers of justices of the peace and women's property (co-authored with Frank Gavan Duffy). He also speculated unsuccessfully on gold mining ventures.[1]

Victorian politics

In 1894, Irvine was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly as a Liberal. He was Attorney-General 1899–1900 and 1902–03, and Solicitor-General in 1903. He succeeded George Turner as leader of the Victorian Liberals, but was much more conservative than either Turner or the federal Protectionist Party leader, Alfred Deakin. In 1902, supported by the National Citizens' Reform League, he displaced the more liberal Alexander Peacock and became Premier and Treasurer. He held office until 1904, when he was succeeded by the similarly-minded Thomas Bent.

Irvine's ministry was appointed on 10 June 1902:[2]

Federal politics

In 1906, Irvine was elected to the Australian House of Representatives for the seat of Flinders. First elected as an independent Protectionist, he became a member of Deakin's Commonwealth Liberal Party in 1908. He was Attorney-General in Joseph Cook's Liberal government of 1913–14. He is the only state premier to have served as attorney-general. He was considered a potential Prime Minister of Australia, but his abrupt manner and hard-line conservatism made him unacceptable to many Liberals; in Parliament he was known as "Iceberg Irvine."

Judicial career

Recognising that he was unlikely to progress further in politics, Irvine accepted appointment as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria, the highest-ranking court in that state. He held the position from 1918 until 1935.

Personal life

In 1891, Irvine married Agnes Somerville Wanliss, the daughter of colonial MP Thomas Wanliss, with whom he had three children. He died in Toorak on 20 August 1943, aged 85, after suffering a "progressively disabling disease that restricted movement and speech". He was granted a state funeral.[1]

Irvine was knighted KCMG in 1914 and made GCMG in 1936. A keen motorist, he was a founding member of the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV) and was its patron from 1938 through 1943. In 1932 a painting of Irvine by Ernest Buckmaster won the Archibald Prize, Australia's best-known portrait prize.[1]

See also

References
  1. Bennett, J. M.; Smith, Ann G. (1983). "Sir William Hill Irvine (1858–1943)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 9.
  2. "Latest intelligence - The new Victorian Cabinet". The Times. No. 36790. London. 10 June 1902. p. 7.

Sources
  • Geoff Browne, A Biographical Register of the Victorian Parliament, 1900–84, Government Printer, Melbourne, 1985
  • Don Garden, Victoria: A History, Thomas Nelson, Melbourne, 1984
  • Kathleen Thompson and Geoffrey Serle, A Biographical Register of the Victorian Parliament, 1856–1900, Australian National University Press, Canberra, 1972
  • Raymond Wright, A People's Counsel. A History of the Parliament of Victoria, 1856–1990, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1992

 

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