Jump to content

James Francis Smith (politician)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

James Francis Smith (c. 1844 – 27 October 1908) was an Australian politician.

He was born in Wellington to pastoralist William Smith and Mary Ann Williamson. He attended Christ Church School in Sydney and worked as a solicitor's clerk and then cattle dealer before establishing a butchery business around 1868. On 25 May 1868 he married Clara Linda Potter Leslie; they would have thirteen children.[1]

Smith was a Newtown alderman from 1871 to 1908, serving four separate terms as mayor.[2] In 1885 he was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly as the member for Newtown. With the emergence of the first party system in the next few years, Smith gravitated to the Protectionist Party. He lost his seat in 1887 and continued to regularly contest elections until he was successful at winning the seat of Newtown-Camperdown in 1901. In 1904 he was re-elected as a Progressive in Camperdown, but he was defeated as an independent in 1907. Smith died at Newtown the following year.[1]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "Mr James Francis Smith (1844-1908)". Former members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
  2. ^ "James Francis Smith". Sydney's Aldermen. Retrieved 8 May 2021.

 

Civic offices
Preceded by
William Bailey
Mayor of Newtown
1877 – 1878
Succeeded by
Alfred Fallick
Preceded by
Alfred Fallick
Mayor of Newtown
1879 – 1880
Succeeded by
Daniel Wildman
Preceded by
Charles Boots
Mayor of Newtown
1884 – 1886
Succeeded by
Charles Whately
Preceded by
Harold Thomas Morgan
Mayor of Newtown
1896 – 1897
Succeeded by
William Cox
New South Wales Legislative Assembly
Preceded by Member for Newtown
1885 – 1887
Served alongside: William Foster, Frederick Gibbes
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member for Newtown-Camperdown
1901 – 1904
District abolished
New district Member for Camperdown
1904 – 1907
Succeeded by