Alexander Lang Elder (18 April 1815 – 5 September 1885) was a

Scottish Australian Scottish Australians ( sco, Scots Australiens, gd, Astràilianaich Albannach) are ‌‍‍‍‍residents of Australia who are fully or partially of Scottish descent. According to the 2021 Australian census, 130,060 Australian residents were ...

businessman and politician in colonial

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

Biography

Elder was the second son of George Elder of

Kirkcaldy Kirkcaldy ( ; sco, Kirkcaldy; gd, Cair Chaladain) is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh and south-southwest of Dundee. The town had a recorded population of 49,460 in 2011, ...

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

, Scotland, by Joanna Haddo, his wife, daughter of Alexander Lang, of

Leith Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by '' Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world. The earliest ...

, born at Kirkcaldy. He was the brother of pastoralist and businessman

Thomas Elder Sir Thomas Elder, (5 August 1818 – 6 March 1897), was a Scottish-Australian pastoralist, highly successful businessman, philanthropist, politician, race-horse owner and breeder, and public figure. Amongst many other things, he is notable fo ...

. He emigrated on his father's

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...

''Minerva'' to South Australia, arriving on 2 January 1840 in

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is the main port for the ...

as the only cabin passenger, under Captain David Reid. He founded the well-known mercantile firm of

Elders Limited Elders Limited, formerly known as Elder, Stirling & Co., Elder Smith and Co. and Elder Smith & Co. Ltd, is an Australian agribusiness that provides agricultural goods and services to primary producers in Australia. History Early history (183 ...

, later Elder, Smith & Co., of

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

. He was a partner with Frederick Dutton in a pastoral lease at

Mount Remarkable Mount Remarkable is a mountain in South Australia located in the Flinders Ranges about north of the centre of the capital city of Adelaide and immediately north-west of the town of Melrose, which was once named Mount Remarkable itself, and wh ...

in 1846. He married Mary Eliza Austin, a daughter of Rev. John Baptist Austin of South Australia, on 8 April 1847. He was elected by the West Adelaide district to the first mixed franchise Legislative Council in 1851, but resigned his seat on 30 March 1853, leaving for England, where he headed of the firm of A. L. Elder & Co., of London, until his death in London on 5 September 1885.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elder, Alexander Lang 1815 births 1885 deaths Settlers of South Australia Members of the South Australian Legislative Council 19th-century Australian politicians 19th-century Australian businesspeople