Henry Copeland, (6 June 1839 – 22 June 1904) was a member of 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 ...

Copeland was born in Hull,

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

, England. Aged 18 years, he arrived in

Williamstown, Victoria Williamstown is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Hobsons Bay local government area. Williamstown recorded a population of 14,407 at the 2021 census. H ...

and spent around 15 years on the goldfields as a digger, farmer and contractor. In 1863 he visited England where he married Hannah Beecroft on 20 April. He would later marry her sister Mary and had 4 sons and 7 daughters from both marriages. He moved to New South Wales in 1872. Copeland was elected unopposed to the New South Wales Mining Board in 1874. He entered the New South Wales Legislative Assembly and represented six different seats between 1877 and 1900. He was briefly Secretary for Public Works in the

Stuart ministry The Stuart ministry was the 20th ministry of the Colony of New South Wales, and was led by Sir Alexander Stuart. Stuart was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in 1874. The title of Premier was widely used to refer to the Leader ...

appointed in January 1883, defeated in the resulting ministerial by-election and was returned to the assembly at the East Sydney by-election held the following week, before resigning from the ministry in March 1883 following a speech he made, whilst intoxicated, at the St Patrick's day banquet. He was Secretary for Lands in the

Jennings ministry The Jennings ministry was the 23rd ministry of the Colony of New South Wales, and was led by the eleventh Premier, Sir Patrick Jennings, and the first Roman Catholic to hold the office of Colonial Premier. Jennings was first elected to the Ne ...

from February 1886 to January 1887. In October 1891, when the third Dibbs ministry Government was formed, he was again appointed Secretary for Lands from October 1891 until August 1894. He was appointed

Agent-General for New South Wales The Agent-General for New South Wales is the representative of the State of New South Wales in the United Kingdom. The position is appointed by and the expenses and salaries paid by the state government to represent their commercial, legal, and ...

in London in May 1900, serving until 18 July 1903. Copeland died in Twickenham, London, England on , survived by 2 sons and 2 daughters. His brother was the Rev. G.D. Copeland of St Stephen's, London.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Copeland, Henry 1839 births 1904 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 19th-century Australian politicians Agents-General for New South Wales Politicians from Kingston upon Hull English emigrants to colonial Australia