Frank Skeffington Carroll (c. 1837–1887) was a salesman, mapmaker, journalist, editor, and, briefly, politician in the colony of South Australia. Carroll was born in Ireland, the second son of Bernard Carroll of Dublin. He emigrated to Australia, perhaps around 1870, and had a chequered career in Victoria and New South Wales. Around 1875, as "Frank O'Reilly" he was a popular society figure in Tasmania, and left that colony owing money to investors in Hiscock & Co.'s "Map of Tasmania", in which he had a stake, and which was never published. In 1876 he was a candidate for the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Sturt. He took over as proprietor and editor of ''The Lantern'', a satirical weekly, with Alfred Clint, scenic artist of the Theatre Royal, his cartoonist. He published an atlas of South Australia late in this same year (see Bibliography below). He was elected to one of three seats for the district of Light in the House of Assembly in April 1878, despite public accusations that he had spent time in Pentridge prison, which he strenuously denied. It turned out the accusations were "

straw men A straw man (sometimes written as strawman) is a form of logical argument, argument and an informal fallacy of having the impression of refuting an argument, whereas the real subject of the argument was not addressed or refuted, but instead repla ...

" set up by himself or a friend: he had not used the alias "O'Sullivan" in New Zealand, and had not been sent to Pentridge, but he had called himself "O'Reilly" in Tasmania, and had been sent to Melbourne Gaol. After the '' Register'' revealed that Carroll had been sentenced to two years' in Darlinghurst Gaol for uttering a valueless cheque, citing the ''

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...

'' of 22 August 1871, Carroll was forced to resign his seat in May 1878. He was tried by Judge Boucaut and jury for malicious libel in ''The Lantern'' of 23 August 1879 against James Hurst and the Mutual Trade Protection Association. Carroll defended himself without distinction, was found guilty and sentenced to six months' jail and a fine of £500. Duncan Moodie, editor of ''

The Portonian ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in E ...

'', another Adelaide satirical paper, described Carroll as having "a hide like a rhinoceros" and producing "an effete and harmless paper". Carroll made various attempts to improve ''The Lantern'': in 1881 he and partner John Roche enlarged it to

tabloid Tabloid may refer to: * Tabloid journalism, a type of journalism * Tabloid (newspaper format), a newspaper with compact page size ** Chinese tabloid * Tabloid (paper size), a North American paper size * Sopwith Tabloid, a biplane aircraft * ''Ta ...

format, included serious articles by F. H. Linklater and Henry Cargill, and dropped the cartoons. Roche died at the end of 1881 and publication lapsed for six months before reappearing in its old format. In July 1882 Carroll was charged with republishing an article from ''Pasquin'' without permission. Carroll sold the paper to Charles F. Stansbury, who with Charles A. Murphy in 1884 took over and absorbed Adelaide Punch. In 1890 The Lantern was taken over by Quiz. He died in Melbourne.

Family

He married Emma Hogarth, née Homburg, (c. 1844 – ) of Adelaide on 28 April 1877.

Bibliography

*Carroll, F. S. The New counties, hundreds and district atlas of South Australia and Northern Territory : together with map of South Australia, indicating roads, distances, relative position of counties, etc., etc. Published E. S. Wigg 1876. Available as facsimile and microfiche editions: * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carroll, Frank Skeffington Members of the South Australian House of Assembly Australian newspaper editors 1837 births 1887 deaths 19th-century Australian politicians Australian cartographers 19th-century cartographers