Oswald Robinson Snowball (18 July 1859 – 16 March 1928) was an English-born Australian politician. Snowball was born in

Wolsingham Wolsingham is a market town in Weardale, County Durham, England. It is situated by the River Wear, between Crook and Stanhope. History Wolsingham sits at the confluence of the River Wear and Waskerley Beck. It is a small settlement and one ...

, England, and arrived in Australia in 1868 where his family spent three years on the land. He studied at Carlton College and the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...

where he qualified as a solicitor and was admitted to practice in 1883. He was a partner in the firms Briggs & Snowball and later Snowball & Kaufmann.Snowball, Oswald Robinson
Parliament of Victoria. Snowball was elected to the Victorian parliament representing the

Commonwealth Liberal Party The Liberal Party was a parliamentary party in Australian federal politics between 1909 and 1917. The party was founded under Alfred Deakin's leadership as a merger of the Protectionist Party and Anti-Socialist Party, an event known as the Fus ...

in the seat of Brighton in a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

on 8 October 1909. He was a prominent advocate of divorce law reform, in which he was supported by Rev.

William Bottomley Rev. Victor Montgomery Keeling James (19 March 1897 – 1984) was a Unitarian minister in Melbourne, Victoria from 1947 to 1969. He was the target of right-wing hostility in the 1950s and 1960s due to his activities in the peace movement and link ...

and the Melbourne Unitarian Church. "Infidelity" here refers to anti-Christians ("infidels"), rather than to those who break marriage vows. He served on various royal commissions, until he was voted

Speaker of the Victorian Legislative Assembly The Speaker of the Victorian Legislative Assembly is the presiding officer of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, the lower house of the Parliament of Victoria. The presiding officer of the upper house of the Parliament of Victoria, the Victorian ...

at the commencement of the 29th Parliament on 6 July 1927. Snowball died in office on 16 March the next year.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Snowball, Oswald 1859 births 1928 deaths Speakers of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Australian solicitors Melbourne Law School alumni English emigrants to Australia People from Wolsingham