Sir Frederick William Holder (12 May 185023 July 1909) was an Australian politician. He was

Premier of South Australia The premier of South Australia is the head of government in the state of South Australia, Australia. The Government of South Australia follows the Westminster system, with a Parliament of South Australia acting as the legislature. The premier is ...

from June to October 1892 and again from 1899 to 1901. He was a prominent member of the inaugural

Parliament of Australia The Parliament of Australia (officially the Federal Parliament, also called the Commonwealth Parliament) is the legislature, legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch (represented by the ...

following

Federation A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-govern ...

in 1901, and was the first

Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives The Speaker of the House of Representatives is the presiding officer of the House of Representatives, the lower house of the Parliament of Australia. The counterpart in the upper house is the President of the Senate. The office of Speaker was ...

Life

Holder was born in

Happy Valley, South Australia Happy Valley is a metropolitan suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It is located 20 km south of the Central Business District of Adelaide. Within the suburb is the Happy Valley Reservoir accompanied by South Australia's largest water trea ...

, the son of James Morecott Holder and his wife, Martha Breakspear Roby. He was educated at

Pulteney Grammar School Pulteney Grammar School is an independent, Anglican, co-educational, private day school. Founded in 1847 by members of the Anglican Church, it is the second oldest independent school in South Australia. Its campuses are located on South Terrace ...

and

St Peter's College, Adelaide , other_name = The Collegiate School of St Peter , seal_image = St Peter's College, Adelaide Logo.svg , seal_size = 150 , image = SPSC chapel and memorial hall.jpg , image_size ...

before first becoming a teacher, schoolmaster, and

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

preacher, and later the editor and proprietor of the Burra ''Record''; he also wrote for the Adelaide ''Register''. Holder married Julia Maria Stephens in 1877. His wife proved to be a great boon to his career, providing political advice and serving as South Australian President of the influential

Women's Christian Temperance Union The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is an international temperance organization, originating among women in the United States Prohibition movement. It was among the first organizations of women devoted to social reform with a program ...

. Speculating that it contributed to his poor health, Holder had failed to seek suitable medical attention following an accident involving a mule in 1899.Speaker of the House of Representatives, second edition: APH

South Australian politics

With considerable experience as a Councillor and Town Clerk, and just five months after his election as mayor of the

Corporate Town of Burra The Corporate Town of Burra was a local government area in South Australia from 1876 to 1969. The municipality was proclaimed on 29 June 1876 following the necessary petition of residents in the townships of Aberdeen, Kooringa and Redruth, severi ...

, Holder was elected to the

South Australian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the South Australian Legislative Council, Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House, Adelaide, Parliament House in the st ...

in 1887 as the member for Burra, and soon gained a sound reputation in parliament. As a result, he served as

Treasurer of South Australia The Treasurer of South Australia is the Cabinet minister in the Government of South Australia who is responsible for the financial management of that state's budget sector. The Urban Renewal Authority, trading as Renewal SA, lies within the T ...

from 1889–90 in the J. A. Cockburn ministry, and Leader of the Opposition from 1890–92. He again served as Opposition Leader in 1899. He sat on many royal commissions during his parliamentary career in South Australia, and his reasonableness and sincerity made him a very valuable committee man. In June 1891 he carried a vote of want of confidence in the Playford ministry, and took office as Premier and

Treasurer A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance. Government The treasury ...

. He had only a small majority and it was a time of great financial difficulties due to a severe drought and Holder was forced out as Premier after just four months. Holder then served as Commissioner of Public Works in

Charles Kingston Charles Cameron Kingston (22 October 1850 – 11 May 1908) was an Australian politician. From 1893 to 1899 he was a radical liberal Premier of South Australia, occupying this office with the support of Labor, which in the House of Assembly ...

's government from 1893–94, followed by a third stint as Treasurer from 1894 until his re-election as Premier and Treasurer in late 1899. As Premier, his most notable innovation was to introduce one standard time zone throughout South Australia, while he also played a prominent role in the movement towards a federal union, and, as such, was a member of the Australasian Federal Convention that framed the Commonwealth constitution in 1897–98. He opposed to Convention's decision to transfer postal and telegraphic services to the new Commonwealth.

Holder took over the liberal leadership from

and was again Premier, this time from 1899 to 1901. He was succeeded in both roles by John Jenkins. The

Liberal and Democratic Union The Liberal and Democratic Union (LDU) was a South Australian political party formed by early liberals, as opposed to the conservatives. It was formed in 1906 when liberal party structures were becoming more solid. Its leader, Archibald Peake, ...

would not be formed until the 1906 election.

Federal politics

As Premier, Holder considered himself to be the logical choice for a ministerial position in the new federal cabinet, and was offered a cabinet position by

William Lyne Sir William John Lyne KCMG (6 April 1844 – 3 August 1913) was an Australian politician who served as Premier of New South Wales from 1899 to 1901, and later as a federal cabinet minister under Edmund Barton and Alfred Deakin. He is best kno ...

after Lyne was invited by the Governor-General, Lord Hopetoun to form a government and become the inaugural

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

. Holder initially accepted, and was in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

en route to Sydney to officially accept his ministry when he was convinced by Alfred Deakin to refuse Lyne and instead support Edmund Barton's claim to the premiership. Assured by Richard O'Connor, Barton's righthand man, that he would be invited to join the ministry if he supported Barton, Holder was furious when Barton instead chose Kingston. Nonetheless, Holder resigned as Premier to successfully contest the 1901 federal election for the Free Trade Party and entered the new federal

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

in the single statewide

Division of South Australia The Division of South Australia was an Australian electoral division covering South Australia.The Northern Territory was part of South Australia until 1911. Its area was covered by the Division of Grey from 1903 to 1910. The seven-member state ...

. Elected Speaker of the House of Representatives, Holder followed traditional Westminster convention and resigned from his party upon his elevation as Speaker, and (again in accordance with traditional convention) was re-elected to parliament unopposed as an independent in the

1903 Events January * January 1 – Edward VII is proclaimed Emperor of India. * January 19 – The first west–east transatlantic radio broadcast is made from the United States to England (the first east–west broadcast having bee ...

election in the

Division of Wakefield The Division of Wakefield was an Australian electoral division in the state of South Australia. The seat was a hybrid rural-urban electorate that stretched from Salisbury in the outer northern suburbs of Adelaide at the south of the seat right ...

. Labor did not observe the convention in the

1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...

election, however, and contested the

, but Holder was re-elected as an independent candidate. As speaker, he largely eschewed partisan politics, guided by the convention that the Speaker of the Westminster Parliament is strictly nonpartisan.

Death

Knighted in 1902, Holder served as Speaker until his death on 23 July 1909. A 14-hour parliamentary session had started the previous afternoon. At 5 am the House was in committee, but Holder was present, having been called to the chamber to receive the committee's report, and was seated on the front bench, next to the Minister for Home Affairs, George Fuller. During a rowdy exchange, he exclaimed "Dreadful, dreadful!", then slumped sideways in his seat. He was taken to his room, where a cerebral hemorrhage was diagnosed by three members with medical qualifications and a doctor from outside the house. He died at 4:18 pm that same day without having gained consciousness.Gavin Souter, ''Acts of Parliament'', 1988, p. 115 He was given a state funeral in Adelaide.

Legacy

The Canberra suburb of Holder was named in his honour when gazetted in 1970.

Family

On 29 March 1877, he married Julia Maria Stephens. She was president of the

in South Australia, and a vice-president of the National Council of Women.

Notes

References

* Harry, R. (1983)
Sir Frederick William Holder
, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 9, MUP, Melbourne. * * * Parliament of South Australia profil

Accessed 26 May 2005.

External links

* , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Holder, Frederick Premiers of South Australia Independent members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Wakefield Australian federationists Australian Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Australian politicians awarded knighthoods Speakers of the Australian House of Representatives 1850 births 1909 deaths People educated at St Peter's College, Adelaide Leaders of the Opposition in South Australia Treasurers of South Australia Free Trade Party members of the Parliament of Australia Politicians from Adelaide 19th-century Australian politicians 20th-century Australian politicians Mayors of places in South Australia