James Mirams (2 January 1839 – 21 June 1916) was an Australian businessman and politician who was jailed for fraud.

Early years

Mirams was born in Lambeth,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, the son of a

Congregational Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

minister, Revd. James Mirams, who had been a missionary in Berbice, British Guiana. His father was in England in 1840, where he attended the

World Anti-Slavery Convention The World Anti-Slavery Convention met for the first time at Exeter Hall in London, on 12–23 June 1840. It was organised by the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, largely on the initiative of the English Quaker Joseph Sturge. The ex ...

in London. Mirams jr. attended a school in Chishill,

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 ...

Professional life

Mirams became an ironmonger and had a business in Royston, but migrated to

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 ...

in 1857, after his father accepted the position of minister at the Independent Church, Collins Street. Mirams unsuccessfully tried dairy farming at Braybrook. He then became a schoolteacher at Fitzroy, and later a bookseller and stationer in Collingwood. In 1874 Mirams was the promoter and secretary of the Premier Permanent Building, Land, and Investment Association. In the boom years of the 1880s, he became involved in numerous speculative ventures, such as the Freehold Farms Co. and the Essendon Land and Tramway Co. Ltd. A Sabbatarian and a leading temperance advocate, he was also the co-promoter of the ornately designed Federal Coffee Palace, which was opened in time for the 1888 Centennial Exhibition.

Political involvement

After four unsuccessful attempts in the previous five years, Mirams 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 presidin ...

as the member for Collingwood in 1876, serving until 1886. He was subsequently the member for Williamstown from 1887 to 1889. Opposed to plural voting, an advocate of payment of members and of the creation of uniform electorates, he was a founder of the Liberal party, and a committed follower of the radical premier Graham Berry. Mirams was a consistent critic of the Legislative Council during the constitutional crisis in 1877-80. A committed

protectionist Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations. ...

, Mirams was secretary of the Central Council of the Victorian Protection League in 1875-76 and of the National Reform and Protection League in 1877. '' The Bulletin'' described him as one of the most 'uncompromising democrats' of the 1880s. Mirams political fortunes did not prosper, however. He was probably too doctrinaire for a Liberal party which consisted of a coalition of interests. He fell out with Berry over the compromise which settled the constitutional crisis, and he condemned the formation of the coalition Conservative-Liberal ministry in 1883.

Financial ruin

At the height of the Land Boom in the late 1880s, it was revealed that the Premier Building Society had borrowed more than the legal limit of three times its paid-up capital, and that much of the new money was borrowed on the security of the society's own loans to borrowers. As a result of his mismanagement of the society's finances, as well as his reckless involvement in other speculative ventures, Mirams resigned as secretary in November 1888. It was the first indication of the unravelling of the boom. The Premier Building Society collapsed just over a year later. In 1890 Mirams filed for insolvency. He had invested about £1,000,000 in land purchases, and his debts amounted to £373,485. His estate eventually paid 2d. in the £1. He was subsequently convicted of issuing a false balance sheet with intent to defraud, resulting in his imprisonment for a year. After his release, he protested his innocence, even unsuccessfully suing '' The Argus'' for libel.

Later years

Mirams became an accountant, and published ''A Generation of Victorian Politics'' in 1900. A year later he was unsuccessful as a candidate at the election for the first Commonwealth Parliament, and in 1912 he was the unsuccessful

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the la ...

candidate for Evelyn in the Victorian Legislative Assembly. Mirams died at

Moonee Ponds Moonee Ponds is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Moonee Valley local government area. Moonee Ponds recorded a population of 16,224 at the 2 ...

in 1916.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mirams, James 1839 births 1916 deaths Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly English emigrants to colonial Australia People from Lambeth Australian farmers Australian educators Australian booksellers Australian fraudsters