Ernest Percival Henshaw (4 September 1870 – 11 June 1950) was a Labor Party

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

who became a Member of the

Western Australian Legislative Assembly The Western Australian Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Western Australia, an Australian state. The Parliament sits in Parliament House in the Western Australian capital, Perth. The Legisla ...

. Born in

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

on 4 September 1870, Henshaw was the son of cabinet maker John Henshaw and Frances née Lamb. Nothing is known of his childhood, except that he was apprenticed as a

carpenter Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, Shipbuilding, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. ...

. By 1892 he was working as a carpenter and living in Clifton Hill, and on 17 August of that year he married Julia Emma Wildy. They had a son and two daughters. Around 1894, Henshaw emigrated to

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

along with his brother and two sisters. Henshaw settled in Subiaco, working as a carpenter and

joiner A joiner is an artisan and tradesperson who builds things by joining pieces of wood, particularly lighter and more ornamental work than that done by a carpenter, including furniture and the "fittings" of a house, ship, etc. Joiners may work in ...

. He became active in the labour movement, becoming secretary of the Industrial Union of Carpenters and Joiners, and later president of the Coastal

Trades and Labour Council A labour council, trades council or industrial council is an association of labour unions or union branches in a given area. Most commonly, they represent unions in a given geographical area, whether at the district, city, region, or provincial or ...

. On 24 June 1904 he was elected to the Western Australian Legislative Assembly seat of Collie on a Labor ticket. He held the seat until the election of 27 October 1905, when he was defeated by John Ewing. Henshaw held numerous official positions in the Australian Labor Party over the next five years. He contested the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. The term of members of the ...

seat of Perth in the election of 13 April 1910 but was unsuccessful. In 1911 he was heavily involved in the design and construction of the

Perth Trades Hall The Perth Trades Hall is a historic trades hall building in Perth, Western Australia that has been occupied by various organisations of the Western Australian trade union movement. The building is now the WA headquarters of the Construction, F ...

, but later that year he left the party over a dispute. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Henshaw was the foreman carpenter for the Henderson Naval Base project. He later became a

building surveyor Construction surveying or building surveying (otherwise known as "staking", "stake-out", "lay-out", "setting-out" or "BS") is to stake out reference points and markers that will guide the construction of new structures such as roads or buildings. T ...

, and in the late 1930s he helped form the Institute of Quantity Surveyors. In 1947 he rejoined the Labor party. He died at Subiaco on 11 June 1950, and was cremated at

Karrakatta Cemetery Karrakatta Cemetery is a metropolitan cemetery in the suburb of Karrakatta in Perth, Western Australia. Karrakatta Cemetery first opened for burials in 1899, the first being that of wheelwright Robert Creighton. Managed by the Metropolitan Ce ...

. His grandson, David Henshaw, was a member of the

Victorian Legislative Council The Victorian Legislative Council (VLC) is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria, Australia, the lower house being the Legislative Assembly. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The Legislative Co ...

from 1982 to 1996, representing

Geelong Province Geelong Province was an electorate of the Victorian Legislative Council until 2006, located around Geelong. It was abolished from the 2006 state election in the wake of the Bracks Labor government's reform of the Legislative Council. The a ...

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Henshaw, Ernest 1870 births 1950 deaths Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly Politicians from Geelong Australian carpenters Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Western Australia