John Darvall

Sir John Bayley Darvall KCMG, QC (19 November 1809 – 28 December 1883)[1][2] was an Australian barrister, politician and beneficiary of slavery. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council between 1844 and 1856 and again between 1861 and 1863.[1] He was also a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for three periods between 1856 and 1865. He held the positions of Solicitor General and Attorney General in a number of short-lived colonial governments.[1]

Sir

John Darvall

KCMG, QC
Solicitor General
In office
6 June 1856  25 August 1856
Preceded byWilliam Manning
Succeeded byAlfred Lutwyche
In office
3 October 1856  23 May 1857
Preceded byAlfred Lutwyche
Succeeded byEdward Wise
8th Attorney General of New South Wales
In office
26 May 1857  7 September 1857
Preceded byWilliam Manning
Succeeded byJames Martin QC
In office
1 August 1863  15 October 1863
Preceded byJohn Hargrave
Succeeded byJames Martin QC
In office
3 February 1865  20 June 1865
Preceded byJames Martin QC
Succeeded byJohn Plunkett QC
Personal details
Born
John Bayley Darvall

(1809-11-19)19 November 1809
Felixkirk, Yorkshire, England
Died28 December 1883(1883-12-28) (aged 74)
London, England

Early life

Darvall was born into an upper-middle-class Yorkshire family and was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge.[2] Subsequently, he was articled to his uncle, Sir John Bayley at the Middle Temple and was called to the English Bar in 1838. He was an awardee of a compensation claim made for 264 slaves totalling £3,461.[3]

He emigrated to Sydney in 1839 and established a large, private legal practice. Darvall accrued significant agricultural and pastoral interests and was a director of several colonial companies, a number of which failed in the depression of the early 1840s. He declined a judgeship in Victoria in 1851 and was appointed as a Queen's Counsel in 1857,[4] a CMG in 1869 and a KCMG in 1877. Darvall returned to England in 1865 and continued in legal practice. He was a great-uncle of Banjo Paterson and related through his sister Emily Mary Barton.

Parliament

On 24 July 1844,[1] prior to the establishment of responsible self-government, Darvall was appointed to the New South Wales Legislative Council.[5] He was a loyal supporter of the government until, unable to support the continuing nomination of members, he resigned in 1848. He was then elected to the Council, initially for the seat of County of Bathurst and between 1851 and 1856 as the member for County of Cumberland. Darvall styled himself as a "Patrician Liberal" and was a supporter of John Dunmore Lang and Charles Cowper. He opposed the 1853 Constitution Bill of William Charles Wentworth because of its provision for an hereditary upper house.

Following the granting of self-government, Darvall was elected to the first Legislative Assembly as one of the two members for the seat of Cumberland (North Riding).[1] He was surprisingly appointed as the Solicitor General in the conservative and short-lived government of Stuart Donaldson. He was also Solicitor General 6 June to 25 August 1856 and 3 October 1856 to 23 May 1857 then Attorney-General 26 May to 7 September 1857[1] in the government of Henry Parker. Darvall became concerned by the effects of manhood suffrage and the colony's liberal land distribution schemes and resigned from the Assembly in November 1857. He subsequently joined the conservative Constitutional Association and was elected in their interest for the seat of Hawkesbury at the 1859 election. His opposition to the Free Selection of Crown Lands led to significant dissension in the electorate and he did not contest the 1860 election.

While opposed to parliamentary nominations, he nevertheless accepted a nomination to the Legislative Council in 1861. He used his period in the Council to press for its conversion into an elected house and for a limitation on its powers over money bills. However, at the same time, he also expressed concerns at the excesses of colonial democracy. He resigned from the Council in June 1863 to successfully contest a by-election for the seat of East Maitland and on re-entering the assembly he almost immediately accepted the position of Attorney-General in the liberal government of Charles Cowper. Cowper's government fell in October of that year and at the subsequent election he was elected as one of the four members for West Sydney. He was again made Attorney-General on 3 February 1865 by Cowper but resigned on 20 June 1865[1] to return to England.

References

  1. "Sir John Bayley Darvall MA, QC (1809-1883)". Former Members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  2. Rathbone, R W. "Darvall, Sir John Bayley (1809 - 1883)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Melbourne University Press. ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 8 September 2014 via National Centre of Biography, Australian National University.
  3. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/claim/view/308
  4. "NSW silk appointments". NSW Bar Association. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  5. "Proclamation: appointment of John Darvall to the Legislative Council". New South Wales Government Gazette (68). 26 July 1844. p. 953. Retrieved 23 April 2019 via Trove.

 

New South Wales Legislative Council
Preceded by
Hastings Elwin
Appointed Member
24 Jul 1844  20 Jun 1848
Succeeded by
Edward Hamilton
Preceded by
Francis Lord
Member for County of Bathurst
Jul 1848  Jun 1851
Succeeded by
James William Bligh
Preceded by
James Byrnes
Member for County of Cumberland
Sep 1851  Feb 1856
With: Robert Fitzgerald
Original Council
abolished
New South Wales Legislative Assembly
Preceded by
First Election
Member for Cumberland (North Riding)
4 Apr 1856  26 Nov 1857
With: James Pye
Succeeded by
Thomas Smith
Preceded by
New Seat
Member for Hawkesbury
25 Jun 1859  10 Nov 1860
With: William Piddington
Succeeded by
James Cunneen
Preceded by
James Dickson
Member for East Maitland
18 Jun 1863  10 Nov 1864
Succeeded by
Alexander Dodds
Preceded by
Geoffrey Eagar
Member for West Sydney
24 Nov 1864  22 Jun 1865
With: John Lang
John Robertson
Samuel Joseph
Succeeded by
Geoffrey Eagar
Political offices
Preceded by
William Manning
as non-parliamentary appointment
Solicitor General
6 Jun 1856  25 Aug 1856
Succeeded by
Alfred Lutwyche
Preceded by
Alfred Lutwyche
Solicitor General
3 Oct 1856  23 May 1857
Succeeded by
Edward Wise
Preceded by
William Manning
Attorney-General
26 May  7 Sep 1857
Succeeded by
James Martin QC
Preceded by
John Hargrave
Attorney-General
1 Aug  15 Oct 1863
Succeeded by
James Martin QC
Preceded by
James Martin QC
Attorney-General
3 Feb  20 Jun 1865
Succeeded by
John Plunkett QC
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