Sir John George Davies (17 February 1846 – 12 November 1913), generally known as (Sir) George Davies, was a

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

n politician, newspaper proprietor and

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

er. Davies' Jewish father John Snr. and grandfather had been

transported ''Transported'' is an Australian convict melodrama film directed by W. J. Lincoln. It is considered a lost film. Plot In England, Jessie Grey is about to marry Leonard Lincoln but the evil Harold Hawk tries to force her to marry him and she w ...

to Australia as convicts and Davies was born in

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 ...

to John Snr. and Elizabeth Davies (née Ellis) following Davies Snr's release. The Davies family moved to Tasmania, where Davies Snr co-founded the ''

Hobart Mercury ''The'' ''Mercury'' is a daily newspaper, published in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, by Davies Brothers Pty Ltd (DBL), a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of News Corp. The weekend issues of the paper are called ''Mercury ...

'' and became a prominent citizen of Hobart, including serving in the

Tasmanian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or Lower House, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. The other is the Legislative Council or Upper House. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Hobart. The Assembly has 25 m ...

. Davies and his brother Charles were educated at

Melbourne Grammar School (Pray and Work) , established = 1849 (on present site since 1858 - the celebrated date of foundation) , type = Independent, co-educational primary, single-sex boys secondary, day and boarding , denomination ...

and

The Hutchins School , motto_translation = Character lives after death , city = Hobart , state = Tasmania , country = Australia , coordinates = , type = Independent, day & boarding , de ...

in Hobart, where he showed great promise as a sportsman.

Sporting career

Davies' cricketing skills led him to play against the touring H.H. Stephenson's English side in 1862, aged 16, scoring six. He continued to represent Tasmania in non-first-class matches throughout the 1860s. Davies made his first-class cricket debut for Tasmania against

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 24 February 1871. Davies captained Tasmania, opened the batting and kept wicket. He was the only batsman from either side to reach double figures in each innings. Due to work pressures and the small number of matches Tasmania were involved in, Davies only played seven first-class matches. Four of those matches came when he captained a Tasmanian team on a tour of the South Island of New Zealand in February 1884. He made his highest score of 42 on that tour, against

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

in Christchurch. His best bowling figures were two wickets for no runs against

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

in November 1877. Davies' final first-class match was in New Zealand in 1884 but he continued to be heavily involved in cricket, founding the Southern Tasmanian Cricket Association and serving as a senior administrator for many years,''The Mercury'', "The late Sir George Davies", 17 November 1913, p. 5. writing on cricket for the ''Tasmanian Mail'' as well as umpiring, including one first-class match, Tasmania against Victoria in 1890. Davies' final senior match was in February 1899, when, aged 52, he captained the Southern Tasmania Cricket Association against the touring

New Zealanders New Zealanders ( mi, Tāngata Aotearoa), colloquially known as Kiwis (), are people associated with New Zealand, sharing a common history, culture, and language (New Zealand English). People of various ethnicities and national origins are citiz ...

. In a team including

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players Charles Eady and Kenny Burn, Davies made 65. In recognition of his role in Tasmanian cricket, Davies was made an honorary life member of the Tasmanian Cricket Association in 1907 and the Sir George Davies Memorial Cup is played for by year nine and ten high school cricketers in southern Tasmania. Davies was also involved in other sports, including Australian rules football, where he served as a senior administrator, horse racing (as an owner) and rifle shooting, holding office in Tasmanian and National Rifle Associations for many years, culminating in his captaining of the Australian team which won the Kolapore Cup at Bisley, England, in 1902.

Business career

After leaving school, Davies trained as a journalist at ''The Mercury'', eventually becoming general manager. In 1871 Davies and his brother took over the company from their father and established ''The Mercury'' as Tasmania's preeminent newspaper and started the weekly ''Tasmanian Mail'' in 1877.

Politics

Davies was elected as an

alderman An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members t ...

of Hobart City Council in 1883, and first served as mayor of Hobart in 1885. A justice of the peace, Davies served three terms as mayor before his retirement in 1901. He was in charge of the Tasmanian industrial court at the Melbourne Centennial Exhibition of 1888, and was honorary commissioner for Tasmania at the 1889 Paris Exhibition. Chief magistrate of Hobart in the 1890s, he was appointed first chairman of the Metropolitan Drainage Board in 1899 and was also for many years chairman of the Public Cemetery Trust and of the Hobart Licensing Bench. Politically

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

, Davies was first elected to the

Electoral district of Fingal The Electoral district of Fingal was a single-member electoral district of the Tasmanian House of Assembly. It was located in Fingal in Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Austra ...

in the

on 27 August 1884, and was still serving in parliament at his death, switching to in the newly formed

division of Denison The Division of Denison was an Australian electoral division in Tasmania, before being replaced by the Division of Clark as part of a 2016–17 redistribution. History The division was one of the five established when the former Division o ...

in 1909. In parliament, Davies was chairman of committees from 1892 to 1903''Mercury'', "Sir George Davies", 13 November 1913, p. 4. and

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

from 1903 to his death in 1913. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) on 15 May 1901, in recognition of his service as Mayor of the City of Hobart and in preparation of the royal visit by the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York (later

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Qu ...

and Queen Mary) He was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) on 25 June 1909 for his services as Speaker of the Tasmanian House of Assembly.

Personal life

Davies married twice, the first to Sarah Ann Pearce on 27 January 1869 at St John's Church of England, New Town, with whom he had seven children. Following Sarah's death in 1888, Davies married Constance Charlotte Giblin (22 June 1854 – 2 December 1929), sister of William Giblin, on 19 November 1891 at New Town. Together they had two sons. Davies was a leading member of Tasmanian society, becoming deputy grand master of Tasmanian Freemasons in 1896 and made past grand master in 1910, as well as being a member of the Royal Society of Tasmania and serving in the Tasmanian Rifle Regiment for over thirty years, reaching the rank of

lieutenant-colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colo ...

. Davies died of kidney disease on 12 November 1913 at New Town. He was buried alongside his brother at

Cornelian Bay Cemetery Cornelian Bay Cemetery is a cemetery in Cornelian Bay, Tasmania, Australia. It is the oldest cemetery in Tasmania that remains in use. History The cemetery location, a section of the former Government Farm site, was selected in the late 1860s ...

.''The Brisbane Courier'', "Late Sir George Davies", 15 November 1913, p. 5.

References

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Footnotes and citations