Francis Tait (1838 – 21 April 1888) was an English-born Australian politician. He was born in

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county *Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in No ...

to builder Edward Tait and Jane Briggs. He studied in

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

to become a

Wesleyan Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan– Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charles W ...

missionary, and spent ten years in

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

. In 1860 he married Eleanor Saint, with whom he had six children. Around 1871 he moved to

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, and the following year was appointed a minister at

Armidale Armidale is a city in the Northern Tablelands, New South Wales, Australia. Armidale had a population of 24,504 as of June 2018. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. It is the administrative centre for the Northern Tablelands region. It ...

. In 1872 Prince Joseph Celua of Fiji came to Australia and was in Tait's care until he was enrolled at

Newington College , motto_translation = To Faith Add Knowledge , location = Inner West and Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales , country = Australia , coordinates = , pushpin_map = A ...

. His subsequent posts were at Chippendale (1875) and

Goulburn Goulburn ( ) is a regional city in the Southern Tablelands of the Australian state of New South Wales, approximately south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Canberra. It was proclaimed as Australia's first inland city through letters pate ...

(1878), but he resigned from the ministry in 1883. From 1884 he was a Goulburn alderman, serving as mayor in 1887.Francis Tait - Ravensworth - a brief history
Retrieved 14 October 2017. A building society manager, he was elected to the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

for Argyle in 1885, but did not re-contest in 1887. Tait died at Goulburn in 1888.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tait, Francis 1838 births 1888 deaths Wesleyan Methodists Australian Methodist ministers Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 19th-century Australian politicians English emigrants to Australia 19th-century Australian Methodist ministers