Francis Grayson (2 September 1849 – 27 July 1927) was a

shopkeeper A shopkeeper is a retail merchant or tradesman; one who owns or operates a small store or shop. Generally, shop employees are not shopkeepers, but are often incorrectly referred to as such. At larger companies, a shopkeeper is usually referred t ...

and member of the

Queensland Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembly ...

Biography

Grayson was born at

Lurgan Lurgan () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, near the southern shore of Lough Neagh. Lurgan is about south-west of Belfast and is linked to the city by both the M1 motorway and the Belfast–Dublin railway line. It had a population ...

County Armagh County Armagh (, named after its county town, Armagh) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the southern shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and ha ...

, to parents John Grayson and his wife Jane (née Irwin) and educated at the Church of England School in Lurgan. He left Ireland at age fourteen to come to Australia, arriving in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

in 1864. Almost immediately he set out for the

Darling Downs The Darling Downs is a farming region on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range in southern Queensland, Australia. The Downs are to the west of South East Queensland and are one of the major regions of Queensland. The name was generall ...

and began work at Glengallan Station which at the time was owned by the Deuchar family.Mr. Francis Grayson
—

Warwick Daily News The ''Warwick Daily News'' is an online newspaper serving Warwick, Queensland, Australia. The newspaper is published by The Warwick Newspaper Pty Ltd and owned by News Corp Australia. The ''Warwick Daily News'' is circulated to the residents ...

. Retrieved 14 March 2016. In 1870 he took up a

selection Selection may refer to: Science * Selection (biology), also called natural selection, selection in evolution ** Sex selection, in genetics ** Mate selection, in mating ** Sexual selection in humans, in human sexuality ** Human mating strategie ...

of his own and named it ''Silverwood''. After five years there he moved to

Warwick Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined with Leamington Spa and Whi ...

where he opened a general and produce store which successfully operated for the next 27 years. In 1872, Grayson married Jane BellFamily history research
— Queensland Government births, deaths, marriages, and divorces. Retrieved 13 March 2016. and together had two sons and four daughters. He died in 1927 after suffering a short illness and was buried in the Warwick General Cemetery.Funeral Notice
—

. Retrieved 14 March 2016.

Political career

Grayson became an alderman on the

Warwick Town Council The City of Warwick was a local government area administering the regional centre of Warwick in the Darling Downs region of Queensland. The City covered an area of , and existed as a local government entity from 1861 until 1994, when it was dis ...

in 1879 and, except for a three-year break was on the council until 1905. He was Mayor on three occasions - 1892, 1896, and 1904. At the 1904 state elections, standing as a Ministerialist, Grayson defeated the sitting member,

Duncan Watson Duncan P. Watson (born 1963) is an American assistant director and former child voice actor, who is known for voicing Charlie Brown from 1975 to 1977. Early life Duncan P. Watson was born in Montclair, New Jersey in 1963, he spend most of his l ...

for the seat of

Cunningham Cunningham is a surname of Scottish origin, see Clan Cunningham. Notable people sharing this surname A–C *Aaron Cunningham (born 1986), American baseball player *Abe Cunningham, American drummer * Adrian Cunningham (born 1960), Australian ...

in the Queensland Legislative Assembly.Cunningham (1)
—

The Courier-Mail ''The Courier-Mail'' is an Australian newspaper published in Brisbane. Owned by News Corp Australia, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, ...

. Retrieved 14 March 2016. He was later a member of successive parties the

Kidstonites The Kidstonites or Kidston party were a political party in the Australian state of Queensland in 1907 to 1908, formed by William Kidston. The party resulted from a split in the Queensland Labor Party and spent most of its existence in government, ...

, the Liberals, the National Party, and ended up as an

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

. He retired from his seat at the 1920 state elections.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grayson, Francis Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly 1849 births 1927 deaths Colony of Queensland people National Party (Queensland, 1917) members of the Parliament of Queensland