William Oliver Archibald (3 June 1850 – 28 June 1926) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the

South Australian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide. Overview The House of Assembly was creat ...

from 1893 to 1910, representing

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is the main port for the ...

, and a member of the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. The term of members of the ...

from 1910 to 1919, representing Hindmarsh. Archibald was a Labor member until resigning in the 1916 Labor split; he subsequently served as a

Nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

until his defeat at the 1919 federal election.

Early life

Born in St Pancras,

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 ...

, Archibald was orphaned at 10 and educated to primary school level in England, then worked as an apprentice piano builder before emigrating first to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in 1879 and thence to

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

and

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 ...

in 1881 before arriving in

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 1882. Archibald was initially employed on the

wharves before working for the South Australian Government Railway workshop, where he was elected to the executive council of the Railway Services Mutual Association.

Political career

A foundation member of the United Labor Party (the predecessor of the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms the f ...

), Archibald gained pre-selection for the South Australian House of Assembly

Electoral district of Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a single-member electoral district for the South Australian House of Assembly. Named after Port Adelaide, which it surrounds, it is a 118.8 km² suburban and industrial electorate on Adelaide's Lefevre Peninsula, and stre ...

and was comfortably elected at the 1893 election. Archibald rose to prominence in parliament and gained a reputation as a "hard-working member who always thoroughly mastered his subject". He also successfully introduced a number of important bills into parliament, including legislation on social issues like the establishment of public libraries, worker's compensation and rent relief. Archibald also served as President of the South Australian branch of the Labor Party from 1901–02 and Caucus chairman from 1905–08. Archibald retired from state parliament in 1910 in order to stand as the Labor candidate for the safe federal seat of Hindmarsh at the 1910 federal election. He was elected unopposed. After travelling to

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 ...

as an official Australian parliament representative to the coronation of

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 Que ...

in 1911, Archibald was re-elected in

1913 Events January * January 5 – First Balkan War: Battle of Lemnos (1913), Battle of Lemnos – Greek admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis forces the Turkish fleet to retreat to its base within the Dardanelles, from which it will not ven ...

and

1914 This year saw the beginning of what became known as World War I, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. It als ...

and appointed

Minister for Home Affairs An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergenc ...

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Andrew Fisher Andrew Fisher (29 August 186222 October 1928) was an Australian politician who served three terms as prime minister of Australia – from 1908 to 1909, from 1910 to 1913, and from 1914 to 1915. He was the leader of the Australian Labor Party ...

. In 1916, an internal party row over

conscription Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...

led to a split in the ALP and Archibald, along with Prime Minister and Labor leader

Billy Hughes William Morris Hughes (25 September 1862 – 28 October 1952) was an Australian politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Australia, in office from 1915 to 1923. He is best known for leading the country during World War I, but ...

, left the ALP to form the

National Labor Party The National Labor Party was formed by Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes in 1916, following the 1916 Labor split on the issue of World War I conscription in Australia. Hughes had taken over as leader of the Australian Labor Party and Pri ...

. For his support, Hughes appointed Archibald Minister for Trade and Customs in the short lived Second Hughes Ministry. Archibald followed Hughes into the

Nationalist Party of Australia The Nationalist Party, also known as the National Party, was an Australian political party. It was formed on 17 February 1917 from a merger between the Commonwealth Liberal Party and the National Labor Party, the latter formed by Prime Mini ...

later in 1917. He narrowly won reelection as a Nationalist in the election held later that year. However, Hindmarsh was naturally a Labor seat, and he was defeated by Labor's

Norman Makin Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

in the 1919 general election.

Late life

The three-times-married Archibald worked as a book-seller in Semaphore until his retirement and died in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

in 1926. He was survived by his third wife and a son and daughter from his first marriage.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Archibald, William Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia English emigrants to colonial Australia Members of the Cabinet of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Hindmarsh Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the South Australian House of Assembly Australian trade unionists Politicians from Adelaide People from St Pancras, London 1850 births 1926 deaths National Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Nationalist Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia 20th-century Australian politicians