Sir Henry John Wrixon (18 October 1839 – 9 April 1913) was an Australian

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

and politician.

Early life

Wrixon was born 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, the son of Arthur Nicholas Wrixon, later a county court judge in

Victoria, Australia Victoria is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state with a land area of , the second most populated state (after New South Wales) with a population of over 6.5 million, and the most densely populated state in Au ...

, and his wife, Charlotte Matilda (daughter of Captain William Bace who fought under Wellington). Wrixon came to Victoria with his father in 1850, was educated in

Portland, Victoria Portland is a city in Victoria, Australia, and is the oldest European settlement in the state. It is also the main urban centre in the Shire of Glenelg and is located on Portland Bay. As of the 2021 census the population was 10,016, increasing ...

, entered the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

in its inaugural year of 1855, and became one of the earliest students to matriculate there. In 1857 he returned to Ireland and entered

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

, graduating with a BA in 1861; the same year was called to the

Irish Bar The Bar of Ireland ( ga, Barra na hÉireann) is the professional association of barristers for Ireland, with over 2,000 members. It is based in the Law Library, with premises in Dublin and Cork. It is governed by the General Council of the Ba ...

Career

Wrixon returned to Victoria in 1863 and practised with success as a barrister. After an unsuccessful attempt in 1864, Wrixon was elected to the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The presiding ...

for

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on 20 February 1868. In April 1870 Wrixon became Solicitor-General in the third

McCulloch McCulloch is a Scottish surname. It's a variation of the Northern Irish surname McCullough. It's commonly found in Galloway. Notable people with the surname include: *Alan McCulloch (politician), New Zealand politician *Alan McLeod McCulloch ( ...

ministry, holding this position until the ministry resigned in June 1871. He was not a candidate at the 1877 election and soon afterwards went for a prolonged tour in Europe. Returning to Victoria he was elected for

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

in 1880, and held this seat for 14 years. He made a most effective speech on the reform bill brought in by

James Service James Service (27 November 1823 – 12 April 1899), Australian colonial politician, was the 12th Premier of Victoria, Australia. Biography Service was born in Kilwinning, Ayrshire, Scotland, the son of Robert Service. As a young man James wor ...

in 1880, but during the following stormy years there was little opportunity for a man of Wrixon's moderate views to become prominent. In February 1886, however, when the Gillies ministry was formed, he was given the portfolio of

Attorney-General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

and showed great ability in piloting bills through the house. Wrixon showed sincerity, tactfulness, good judgment and persuasiveness in dealing with opposition, and was always ready to accept amendments which would improve bills. In 1890 Wrixon went to London to represent the Victorian government in the Ah Toy case, which turned on the power of the colonies to refuse to admit aliens. He had argued the case before the Victorian full court when five judges decided against the government, with Higinbotham and Kerford dissenting. Wrixon succeeded in getting the judgment reversed by the privy council. In 1890 he became a

Q.C. QC may refer to: * Queen's Counsel, the title of a King's Counsel, a type of lawyer in Commonwealth countries, during the reign of a queen * Quality control, the process of meeting products and services to consumer expectations Places * Quebec, ...

, and in November of that year resigned with his colleagues in the Gillies government. In 1891 he was one of the Victorian representatives at the federal convention held at Sydney. There his speech on the Commonwealth bill was ''"specially remarkable for the almost prophetic insight into the modifications that would be necessary before the bill could be wholly acceptable"'' (Quick and Garran, ''The Annotated Constitution of the Australian Commonwealth'', p. 136). In 1892 Wrixon was a candidate for the Victorian speakership, but was defeated by a combination of the supporters of the opposing candidates, and

Thomas Bent Sir Thomas Bent (7 December 1838 – 17 September 1909) was an Australian politician and the 22nd Premier of Victoria. Early life Bent was born in Penrith, New South Wales the eldest of four sons and two daughters of James Bent, a hotel-keeper ...

was elected. Two years later he resigned his seat in the assembly and in 1896 was elected a member of the legislative council for South Western Province. At the election of Victorian representatives for the 1897 federal convention he was not on the ''Age'' ticket, and just failed to be elected, being eleventh on the poll. He was elected

President of the Victorian Legislative Council The President of the Victorian Legislative Council, also known as the presiding officer of the council, is the presiding officer of the Victorian Legislative Council, the upper house of the Parliament of Victoria and equivalent to the President of ...

in 1901 and held the position until his retirement in 1910. Wrixon died at

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 ...

on 9 April 1913.

Legacy

Wrixon married Charlotte, daughter of the Hon Henry Miller, and wealthy widow of M. W. Anderson on 17 December 1872, who survived him with two sons and a daughter. He was created K.C.M.G. in 1892. Wrixon was the author of ''Socialism being Notes on a Political Tour'' (1896), ''Jacob Shumate; or the People's March'', a

political novel Political fiction employs narrative to comment on political events, systems and theories. Works of political fiction, such as political novels, often "directly criticize an existing society or present an alternative, even fantast ...

(1903), (largely rewritten and issued as ''Edward Fairlie Frankfort; or Politics among the People'', in 1912), ''The Pattern Nation'', a dispassionate review of the trend towards socialism, but written from a conservative aspect (1906), ''The Religion of the Common Man'' (1909). Wrixon was vice-chancellor of the

from 1897 to 1910, was appointed a trustee of the public library, museums and national gallery in 1902, and was elected vice-president of the trustees in 1905.

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wrixon, Henry 1839 births 1913 deaths Australian Roman Catholics Australian federationists Irish emigrants to colonial Australia Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Members of the Victorian Legislative Council Presidents of the Victorian Legislative Council Attorneys-General of the Colony of Victoria Solicitors-General of Victoria 19th-century King's Counsel Melbourne Law School alumni Vice-Chancellors of the University of Melbourne Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Australian male novelists Australian King's Counsel