John Booth (27 February 1822 – 11 April 1898) was an English-born Australian politician. He was born in

Bermondsey Bermondsey () is a district in southeast London, part of the London Borough of Southwark, England, southeast of Charing Cross. To the west of Bermondsey lies Southwark, to the east Rotherhithe and Deptford, to the south Walworth and Peckham, a ...

London London is the capital and 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 down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

; his father, Henry Booth, was a corn-factor. He went to sea in 1833, settled 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 1839 and learned shipbuilding on

Brisbane Water Brisbane Water is a wave-dominated barrier estuary located in the Central Coast region, north of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Brisbane Water has its origin at the confluence of the Narara and Coorumbine Creeks, to the south–east ...

, before moving to Balmain around 1854. In 1850 he married Susannah Wetherall, with whom he had eleven children. He was Balmain's first mayor in 1867 and by 1870 owned successful sawmills at Balmain and on the

Manning River Manning River (Birpai language, Biripi: ''Boolumbahtee''), an open and Breakwater (structure), trained mature wind wave, wave dominated estuary#Lagoon-type or bar-built, barrier estuary, is located in the Northern Tablelands and Mid North Coast ...

. He went to England in 1870, and in 1872 was elected to the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

for West Sydney. Defeated in 1874, he was elected for East Macquarie later in the election period in 1875. In 1874 his mills were burned down, and despite only having partial insurance he rebuilt them. He was defeated running for re-election in 1877. Booth died at

Bundanoon Bundanoon is a town in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, in Wingecarribee Shire, on Gandangarra and Dharawal Country (where these two countries meet). It is an Aboriginal name meaning "place of deep gullies" and was forme ...

, where he owned property, in 1898.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Booth, John 1822 births 1898 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Mayors of Balmain 19th-century Australian politicians British emigrants to the Colony of New South Wales