James B. Griffiths (26 June 1872 – 21 June 1916) was an Australian trade unionist and Labor Party politician. He was elected to the Legislative Council of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

in May 1916, representing North-East Province, but died after less than a month in office. Griffiths was born in

Kangaroo Flat, Victoria Kangaroo Flat is a suburb of Bendigo in Victoria, Australia. It is located 5 kilometres (3 miles) South-West of the Bendigo CBD. Kangaroo Flat is neighbours with Golden Square, Big Hill, Lockwood, Maiden Gully and Mandurang. Kangaroo Flat de ...

, to Rebecca (née Watts) and James Griffiths.James Griffiths
Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 15 January 2017. He came to Western Australia in 1895, during the

gold rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New Z ...

, and subsequently worked as a

prospector Prospector may refer to: Space exploration * Prospector (spacecraft), a planned lunar probe, canceled in 1962 * ''Lunar Prospector'', a NASA spacecraft Trains * Prospector (train), a passenger train operated by the Denver & Rio Grande Western ra ...

in the

Mount Margaret Mount Margaret was an abandoned town located northeast of Perth and southwest of Laverton in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia. The first European to visit the area was government surveyor John Forrest who passed throug ...

district. Griffith had a long involvement with the Miners' Union, at various points serving as a branch secretary in Mount Margaret, Murrin Murrin, and Gwalia. He first ran for parliament at the 1911 election, but lost a Labor

preselection Preselection is the process by which a candidate is selected, usually by a political party, to contest an election for political office. It is also referred to as candidate selection. It is a fundamental function of political parties. The presele ...

ballot to

George Foley George James Foley (28 November 1872 – 27 October 1945) was an Australian politician from Western Australia. He was the member for the Western Australian seat of Electoral district of Mount Leonora, Mount Leonora from 1911 until 1920, initial ...

in the seat of Mount Leonora. He also contested Labor preselection for North-East Province in 1912 and

1914 This year saw the beginning of what became known as World War I, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. It als ...

, losing to Dick Ardagh and Harry Millington, respectively. Griffiths was eventually preselected for North-East Province in 1916, and was elected with a large majority. He had suffered from heart trouble for some time, and died in

Boulder In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In c ...

less than a month after his term began, without ever taking his seat."Death of Mr J Griffiths, M.L.C."
''The Leonora Miner'', 24 June 1916. Griffiths had married Elizabeth Evelyn Lalor in 1912, with whom he had one daughter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Griffiths, James 1872 births 1916 deaths Australian gold prospectors Trade unionists from Western Australia Members of the Western Australian Legislative Council People from Bendigo