James Taylor Vinton Smith, (3 November 1897 – 22 July 1952) was an Australian politician. He was the Member of 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 Oakleigh from 1932 to 1937, for the

United Australia Party The United Australia Party (UAP) was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. The party won four federal elections in that time, usually governing in coalition with the Country Party. It provided two prim ...

Early life

He was born in 1897 in Parkside, a suburb of

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

, to Thomas Ladyman Home Smith and Minerva Mary Daniel. He was educated at

Adelaide High School Adelaide High School is a coeducational state high school situated on the corner of West Terrace and Glover Avenue in the Adelaide Parklands. Following the Advanced School for Girls, it was the second government high school in South Australi ...

, and on 25 April 1915, joined the

Bank of New South Wales The Bank of New South Wales (BNSW), also known commonly as The Wales, was the first bank in Australia, being established in Sydney in 1817 and situated on Broadway, New South Wales, Broadway. During the 19th century, the bank opened branches ...

in Adelaide as a bank clerk.Bank of New South Wales Roll of Honour
, Bank of New South Wales.

Military service

Vinton Smith enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force at Adelaide on 1 February 1916, and was assigned to the 113th Howitzer Battery of the 13th Brigade, with which he saw active service in France. He attained the rank of

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

on 1 March 1917. On 2 April 1919, he was awarded the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC i ...

for gallantry during a battle on the Selle River in October 1918, for which he was also

Mentioned in Despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

. The citation read:

Political career

Vinton Smith nominated as a candidate for the seat of Oakleigh in the

at the

1932 Victorian state election The 1932 Victorian state election was held in the Australian state of Victoria on Saturday 14 May 1932 to elect 44 of the 65 members of the state's Legislative Assembly. The other 21 seats were uncontested. Political changes The previous elect ...

. Although aligned with the

, he was not the endorsed UAP candidate, and ran as an independent against the official UAP candidate and the Labor candidate, incumbent member

Squire Reid Squire Horace Reid (11 September 1887 – 29 July 1949) was an Australian politician. Reid was born in Port Melbourne, Victoria to Captain John Robert Reid, a military officer from Greenock, Scotland, and Hannah Lory. He was educated in Annand ...

. When the UAP candidate was eliminated, his second preferences gave him a majority over Reid, winning him the seat. Despite having defeated the endorsed candidate, Vinton Smith was immediately admitted to the UAP parliamentary party upon his election. Vinton Smith—this time fully endorsed by the UAP—narrowly defeated Reid again in the 1935 election, but Reid regained the seat in 1937. Vinton Smith contested the federal by-election for Corio in 1940, but lost to the Labor candidate

John Dedman John Johnstone Dedman (2 June 1896 – 22 November 1973) was a Minister in the Australian Labor Party governments led by John Curtin and Ben Chifley. He was responsible for organising production during World War II, establishing the Australian N ...

Business career

After leaving politics, Vinton Smith returned to the financial sector. He founded a stock trading firm, which upon his death was left to two of his business partners, W.R. Dougall and F.J. Dean. The firm became known as Vinton Smith, Dean & Dougall, and later Vinton Smith Dougall, Ltd. He was also chairman of Edments Holdings Ltd., and company director for F. J. Walker Ltd., Sydney; M. B. John Ltd., valve manufacturers, Ballarat; Silk and Textile Printers Ltd., Hobart; Modern Permanent Building Society Ltd., Carpet Manufacturers Ltd., Sydney; and several other companies.

Suicide

On 22 July 1952, Vinton Smith told his wife he was going to the shed at their Malvern East home to chop wood. She decided to check on him when she heard the chopping stop, and found him dead from a gunshot wound, with a 22-calibre rifle underneath his body. The city coroner ruled a verdict of suicide, noting that Vinton Smith had been suffering from a serious heart complaint and was "a candidate for a very early death" who appeared to have "shot himself on a sudden impulse". When his will was lodged for probate, it was discovered that Vinton Smith had left a large estate worth £204,593 ().

References

External links

''Re-Member'' Parliamentary Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, James Vinton 1897 births 1952 deaths Military personnel from South Australia Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly United Australia Party members of the Parliament of Victoria Australian Army officers Australian military personnel of World War I Recipients of the Military Cross Australian stock traders Australian military personnel who committed suicide Australian politicians who committed suicide Suicides by firearm in Victoria (state) Politicians from Adelaide 20th-century Australian politicians Australian bankers People educated at Adelaide High School Australian stockbrokers