William Turner (1837 – 24 April 1916) was an English-born politician and miner in Victoria and New South Wales, Australia.

Early life

Turner was born in Wickham in

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

to bootmaker William Turner and Ann White. His date of birth is uncertain: his biographies list him as born in 1837, which would make him aged at his death, while the notice of his death lists his age as 82, which would mean he was born in . He migrated to Victoria in 1857 and worked on the goldfields. On 15 February 1861 he married Margaret Elliott, with whom he had five children. He became a

temperance Temperance may refer to: Moderation *Temperance movement, movement to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed *Temperance (virtue), habitual moderation in the indulgence of a natural appetite or passion Culture *Temperance (group), Canadian danc ...

lecturer and

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

preacher in the

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands (Victoria), Central Highlands of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria. Estimated resid ...

and Scarsdale districts.

Politics

He ran for 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 presiding ...

in 1871, contesting the district of Grenville but was narrowly defeated for the second seat by 13 votes (0.2%). Around 1873 moved to

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where he was a foreman at one of the coal mines. He 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

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at the by-election in July 1877, comfortably defeating Thomas Hungerford with a margin of 1,077 votes (44.2%). Members of parliament were unpaid at the time and Turner was supported by the local miners under the banner of the political reform league with funds raised by a subscription, said to be £ per person. He was considered to be the first direct representative of labour to sit in the Legislative Assembly. He was defeated by Hungerford at the general election in October 1877, with a margin of 46 votes (1.4%). Northumberland was expanded to two members in 1880 and Turner defeated Hungerford to win the second seat with a margin of 425 votes (8.0%). He resigned from parliament in 1881. Turner stated that he was unable to support himself as a member of parliament. His obituaries stated that the miners had failed to renew their subscriptions, while the ''

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'' states that Turner denied that the financial support of the miners had been promised before the 1880 election. He stood a final time as the

Protectionist Party The Protectionist Party or Liberal Protectionist Party was an Australian political party, formally organised from 1887 until 1909, with policies centred on protectionism. The party advocated protective tariffs, arguing it would allow Australi ...

candidate at the 1889 election for The Hunter, but was defeated with a margin of 72 votes (6.4%).

Later life and death

From 1882 to 1887 he was a school attendance officer, and he then worked as a florist and horticulturist at Belmore. Turner retired in 1903 and moved to

Hurstville Hurstville is a suburb in Southern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is 16 kilometres south of the Sydney CBD and is part of the St George area. Hurstville is the administrative centre of the local government area of the Georges Riv ...

where he died in 1916. He was survived by his wife Margaret, two daughters and three sons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turner, William 1837 births 1916 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly