Sir John Bayley Darvall (19 November 1809 – 28 December 1883) was an Australian barrister and politician. He was a member of the

New South Wales Legislative Council The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. Along with the New South Wales Legislative As ...

between 1844 and 1856 and again between 1861 and 1863. He was also a member of 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 House ...

for three periods between 1856 and 1865. He held the positions of Solicitor General and

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

in a number of short-lived colonial governments.

Early life

Darvall was born into an upper-middle-class Yorkshire family and was educated at Eton and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

. Subsequently, he was articled to his uncle, Sir John Bayley at the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

and was called to the English Bar in 1838. He was an awardee as a trustee to secure an annuity for his step-grandmother, Mary Johnson, of a compensation claim made for 264 slaves totalling £3,461. He emigrated to Sydney in 1839 and established a large, private legal practice. Darvall accrued significant agricultural and pastoral interests and was a director of several colonial companies, a number of which failed in the depression of the early 1840s. He declined a judgeship in Victoria in 1851 and was appointed as a

Queen's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

in 1857, a CMG in 1869 and a KCMG in 1877. Darvall returned to England in 1865 and continued in legal practice. He was a great-uncle of Banjo Paterson and related through his sister Emily Mary Barton.

Parliament

On 24 July 1844, prior to the establishment of responsible self-government, Darvall was appointed to the

. He was a loyal supporter of the government until, unable to support the continuing nomination of members, he resigned in 1848. He was then elected to the Council, initially for the seat of County of Bathurst and between 1851 and 1856 as the member for County of Cumberland. Darvall styled himself as a "Patrician Liberal" and was a supporter of John Dunmore Lang and Charles Cowper. He opposed the 1853 Constitution Bill of William Charles Wentworth because of its provision for an hereditary upper house. Following the granting of self-government, Darvall was elected to the first Legislative Assembly as one of the two members for the seat of Cumberland (North Riding). He was surprisingly appointed as the Solicitor General in the conservative and short-lived government of Stuart Donaldson. He was also Solicitor General 6 June to 25 August 1856 and 3 October 1856 to 23 May 1857 then Attorney-General 26 May to 7 September 1857 in the government of Henry Parker. Darvall became concerned by the effects of manhood suffrage and the colony's liberal land distribution schemes and resigned from the Assembly in November 1857. He subsequently joined the conservative Constitutional Association and was elected in their interest for the seat of Hawkesbury at the 1859 election. His opposition to the Free Selection of Crown Lands led to significant dissension in the electorate and he did not contest the

1860 Events January * January 2 – The astronomer Urbain Le Verrier announces the discovery of a hypothetical planet Vulcan (hypothetical planet), Vulcan at a meeting of the French Academy of Sciences in Paris, France. * January 10 &ndas ...

election. While opposed to parliamentary nominations, he nevertheless accepted a nomination to the Legislative Council in 1861. He used his period in the Council to press for its conversion into an elected house and for a limitation on its powers over money bills. However, at the same time, he also expressed concerns at the excesses of colonial democracy. He resigned from the Council in June 1863 to successfully contest a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

for the seat of East Maitland and on re-entering the assembly he almost immediately accepted the position of Attorney-General in the liberal government of Charles Cowper. Cowper's government fell in October of that year and at the subsequent election he was elected as one of the four members for West Sydney. He was again made Attorney-General on 3 February 1865 by Cowper but resigned on 20 June 1865 to return to England.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Darvall, John 1809 births 1883 deaths People educated at Eton College Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council Attorneys general of the Colony of New South Wales Solicitors general for New South Wales 19th-century Australian politicians Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Australian King's Counsel English barristers