James Forsyth (1852 – 14 October 1927) was a
company director
A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...
and member of the
Queensland Legislative Assembly.
Early days
Forsyth was born in West Plean,
Stirling,
Scotland, to parents John Forsyth, farmer, and his wife Janet (née Munnock). After receiving his education in West Plean he worked for Henderson Bros, Merchants in Stirling and spent five years with Arnott and Co. in
Glasgow. He arrived in
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 ...
in early 1875 where he stayed almost a year, moving to
Brisbane in December of the same year. In 1880 he was the manager at
Normanton for James Burns & Co. and was mainly responsible for the company's expansion in the North Queensland area. When the businesses of Burns and
Robert Philp were amalgamated in 1883, he became a director of
Burns Philp.
Political career
At the
1899 Queensland colonial election
Elections were held in the Australian state
The states and territories are federated administrative divisions in Australia, ruled by regional governments that constitute the second level of governance between the federal government ...
s, Forsyth, for the Ministerialists, won the seat of
Carpentaria. He changed allegiance to the Opposition Party in 1904, led by his close friend, Robert Philp. He was defeated at the
1907 state elections.
Two years later, he won the seat of
Moreton. By now, he was back with the Ministerialists. Forsyth held this seat for three years, switching to
Murrumba. He held the seat until his retirement from politics in 1918.
Forsyth was the only MP to oppose the provision of the ''Elections Act 1915'' that granted women the right to stand for parliament in Queensland. He stated that "I do not think myself that this is a place for a woman at all, and I hope that when we get into Committee we shall be able to have that innovation knocked out".
From 1919 until 1927 Forsyth was the honorary Consulate for Queensland in Japan.
Personal life
In 1882, Forsyth married Helen Morrison Campbell (daughter of prominent Brisbane businessman
James Campbell). They had no children. He died in 1927 and his funeral proceeded from ''Braelands'', his former residence in
Toowong to the
Toowong Cemetery.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Forsyth, James
Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly
1852 births
1927 deaths
Burials at Toowong Cemetery