George Elliott Barton (20 May 1829 – 31 May 1903) was a 19th-century lawyer and practised as a barrister in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

(Ireland),

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 ...

(Victoria),

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

(New Zealand),

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

(New South Wales). He was appointed a judge in

and

, New Zealand.

Family life

George Barton married Jane Crichton Campbell, eldest daughter of the Rev. Dr. Campbell of London, on 8 April 1854 at Melbourne, Victoria. Their first child, a son, Elliott L'Estrange Barton (solicitor Patea & Hawera; Mayor Hawera), was born 13 July 1856 at South Yarra, Victoria. Their second child, another son, Edward Gustavus Campbell Barton (electrical engineer, Brisbane) was born 11 December 1857 at South Yarra. He died in Paris, France, on 31 May 1903. There appears to have been a daughter Anna who lived to adulthood.

Professional life

General

An Irish Protestant, he was described as a hot-tempered and an "exciteable Irishman" and was the subject of the "Barton Affair" of 1876-78 when he was imprisoned for a month (lawyers were usually fined) for contempt of court by Chief Justice James Prendergast (who he had probably met in the Victorian goldfields). He was known as ''"little Barton"'' to distinguish him from

George Burnett Barton George Burnett Barton (9 December 1836 – 12 September 1901) was an Australian lawyer, journalist and historian. Early life and education Barton was born in Sydney, the second son of William Barton and Mary Louise Barton, and elder brother of ...

or ''"long Barton"'' (unrelated) who was also a lawyer and the editor of the Otago Daily Times.

United Kingdom

Australia

Barton was selected to represent the 'working classes' in the district of North Melbourne for the 1859 general election, which he won. He was particularly concerned with introducing the payment of members of parliament.

New Zealand

He was appointed a judge of the Native Land Court in 1888, but according to Morris resigned and left New Zealand in 1890 following a feud with a fellow judge, dying in Paris in 1903 (although Wilson says he died in 1906).

United States

Political career

He stood unsuccessfully in the for . At the 1877 local elections he stood for

Mayor of Wellington The Mayor of Wellington is the head of the municipal government of the City of Wellington. The mayor presides over the Wellington City Council. The mayor is directly elected using the Single Transferable Vote method of proportional representati ...

. During the campaign, against former mayor Joe Dransfield, Barton decided to withdraw from election in consequence of being engaged in several legal cases pertaining to the city, meaning that if elected he would have had to appear in court against himself. He was a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

, representing the City of Wellington electorate from the 1878 City of Wellington by-election to 1879, when he retired.

External links

References

1829 births 1903 deaths New Zealand MPs for Wellington electorates Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly 19th-century New Zealand politicians 19th-century New Zealand lawyers Lawyers from Dunedin 19th-century Australian politicians {{NewZealand-politician-stub