Sir John Mark Davies (8 February 184012 September 1919) was a British-born
Australian politician.
Born in
Halstead
Halstead is a town and civil parish in the Braintree District of Essex, England. Its population of 11,906 in 2011[Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...]
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
in 1840, Davies was the fifth eldest of the six boys and six girls of
Ebenezer Davies and Ruth Bartlett. Two of the younger boys were educated at
Geelong Grammar School
, motto_translation = 1 Corinthians 1:30: "For us, Christ was made wisdom"( 1 Corinthians 1:30: Christ, who has been made for us in wisdom)
, city = Corio, Victoria
, country = Australia
, coordinates =
, ...
. John was articled in 1852 and in 1863 was admitted to the
Supreme Court of Victoria as a solicitor. He worked as a partner in a law firm for some years, and was President of the
Law Institute of Victoria
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vari ...
in 1885–86; he was made the group's first honorary life member in 1919.
Political career
Davies served in the
Victorian Legislative Council
The Victorian Legislative Council (VLC) is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria, Australia, the lower house being the Legislative Assembly. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The Legislative C ...
from 1889 to 1919, representing first the
South Yarra Province
South Yarra Province was an electorate of the Victorian Legislative Council
from November 1882 until May 1904.
South Yarra Province was created in the redistribution of provinces in 1882 when the Central and Eastern Provinces were abolished. ...
(1889–1895)
then
Melbourne Province (1899–1919).
and was Minister for Health for two months in 1891. He was the
Solicitor-General under both
Allan McLean (1899–1900) and
William Irvine (1902–1903), and later Irvine's Minister for Public Instruction (1903) and
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 ...
(1903–1904). Under
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 ...
, he was both Attorney-General (1903–1909) and Solicitor-General (1904–1909), although
John Mackey was briefly Solicitor-General in 1908. Davies was the
President of the Victorian Legislative Council from 1910 to 1919.
He resigned from the Parliament on 6 July 1919, after suffering a
stroke and dies a few months later aged .
Honours
Davies was made a Knight Commander of the
Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in January 1918. He was given a
state funeral.
Residence
The home he had purchased in 1892, Valentine's Mansion, became the site of Malvern Grammar School (now the Malvern Campus of
Caulfield Grammar School), and was placed on the
Victorian Heritage Register
The Victorian Heritage Register (VHR) lists places deemed to be of cultural heritage significance to the State of Victoria, Australia. It has statutory weight under the Heritage Act 2017. The Minister for Planning is the responsible Minister. ...
in 1975.
The Davies family lived in Valentines until 1919 when they moved to Little Valentines in Wattletree Road, Glen Iris.
References
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, John Mark
1840 births
1919 deaths
Australian Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
Australian politicians awarded knighthoods
Members of the Victorian Legislative Council
Presidents of the Victorian Legislative Council
Attorneys-General of Victoria
Solicitors-General of Victoria
People educated at Geelong Grammar School
English emigrants to colonial Australia
Australian people of Welsh descent
Lawyers from Melbourne
Politicians from Melbourne