John Grant "Jack" Duncan-Hughes (1 September 1882 – 13 August 1962) was an Australian politician. He was 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 ...

for Boothby from 1922 to 1928, of the

Australian Senate The Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives (Australia), House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Chapter ...

for South Australia from 1932 to 1938, and of the House of Representatives for

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

from 1940 to 1943. He represented the Nationalist Party (1922–28) and its successor the

United Australia Party The United Australia Party (UAP) was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. The party won four federal elections in that time, usually governing in coalition with the Country Party. It provided two prim ...

(1932–38, 1940–43).

Early life

Duncan-Hughes was born at "Hughes Park" near

Watervale, South Australia Watervale is a town on the Horrocks Highway in the Clare Valley, South Australia, approximately 9 kilometres north of Auburn and 15 kilometres south of Clare. It is surrounded by a number of small wineries and several B&Bs. The ''Rieslin ...

, the son of colonial and state politician Sir

John Duncan John Duncan may refer to: Arts and entertainment * John Duncan (painter) (1866–1945), Scottish painter * John Duncan (artist) (born 1953), American artist and musician * Big John Duncan (born 1958), Scottish punk musician * John Duncan (harpist) ...

; his surname was changed to Duncan-Hughes as a child in honour of his great-uncle Sir

Walter Watson Hughes Sir Walter Watson Hughes (22 August 1803 – 1 January 1887),Dirk Van Dissel,Hughes, Sir Walter Watson (1803 - 1887), ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Volume 4, MUP, 1972, pp 440-441. Retrieved 11 August 2009 who before his knighthood wa ...

. He was educated at St Peters College 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 ...

and

Cheltenham College ("Work Conquers All") , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent School Day and Boarding School , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Head , head = Nicola Huggett ...

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 ...

and then

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

, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (1905), Bachelor of Laws (1906) and Master of Arts (1910). He was admitted to the Bar at the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...

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 ...

in January 1907 and upon returning to Australia was admitted to the South Australian Bar in December 1908. He practised as a solicitor in

from 1909 until 1914 in partnership with a colleague as Jessop and Duncan Hughes. He was a director of the Wallaroo and Moonta Company and was a member of the state council of the Boy Scouts Association.

Military service

In July 1915, Duncan-Hughes left Australia for England with the intention of serving in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and was commissioned as a lieutenant in the

Royal Field Artillery The Royal Field Artillery (RFA) of the British Army provided close artillery support for the infantry. It came into being when created as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery on 1 July 1899, serving alongside the other two arms of t ...

of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

in September 1915. He served in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

and was awarded both the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC i ...

and the

Croix de Guerre The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...

in 1918. He returned to Australia in July 1919. He was appointed aide-de-camp to

Governor-General of Australia The governor-general of Australia is the representative of the monarch, currently King Charles III, in Australia.Ronald Munro Ferguson Ronald Craufurd Munro Ferguson, 1st Viscount Novar, (6 March 1860 – 30 March 1934) was a British politician who served as the sixth Governor-General of Australia, in office from 1914 to 1920. Munro Ferguson was born in Kirkcaldy, Fife, S ...

in January 1920 and was attached to the personal staff of the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...

(the future

King Edward VIII Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire and Emperor of India from 20 January 1 ...

) as the representative of the Governor-General on his Australian tour in mid-1920. Duncan-Hughes was promoted to private secretary to the Governor-General in August 1920.

Politics

Duncan-Hughes was elected to the House of Representatives at the 1922 federal election, defeating incumbent fellow Nationalist William Story during a bitter split in the Nationalist Party in South Australia. The federal Nationalist Party in South Australia consisted of members of two separate state parties, the Liberal Union and National Party, which had had a bitter falling out around the 1921 state election. This led the more dominant Liberal Union to oppose all federal Nationalist MPs who were members of the state National Party at the 1922 election. Story, the incumbent Boothby MP, was a member of the National Party, and Duncan-Hughes was selected to challenge him. In the resulting three-cornered contest, Duncan-Hughes topped the poll on primaries, narrowly ahead of Labor, with Story finishing third, and Duncan-Hughes then won the seat on Story's preferences. Duncan-Hughes and his colleague Malcolm Cameron were invited to participate in the first post-election meeting of the Nationalist caucus on 17 January 1923. In reference to the position of Prime Minister

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 ...

, he reportedly "explained that he would support the Nationalist party, but he held no reservations on the question of leadership". Duncan-Hughes held Boothby until his defeat in 1928. In 1932, he was elected to the Senate as a

Senator for South Australia, but retired at the end of that term in 1938. He came out of retirement at the 1940 federal election in an attempt to win back the Wakefield seat after it had been lost to Labor at a by-election following the death of

Charles Hawker Charles Allan Seymour Hawker (16 May 1894 – 25 October 1938) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Australian House of Representatives for Wakefield from 1929 until his accidental death in 1938, representing the Nationalist Pa ...

; he won the seat, but was defeated in 1943 after only one term.

Personal life

During his political career, he also served as the president of the

Adelaide Club The Adelaide Club is an exclusive gentlemen's club situated on North Terrace in the South Australian capital city of Adelaide. Founded in 1863, the club comprises members of the Adelaide Establishment. South Australian Club (1838–1843) An ea ...

from 1935 to 1937 and was a board member of the Wyatt Benevolent Institution. He died at his home at

Medindie Medindie (formerly also known as Medindee or Medindi) is an inner northern suburb of Adelaide the capital of South Australia. It is located adjacent to the Adelaide Park Lands, just north of North Adelaide, and is bounded by Robe Terrace to the ...

in 1962 and was buried at Penwortham Cemetery. In 1963, a collection of 6,200 volumes accumulated by Duncan-Hughes was donated to the

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

. His brother, Walter Gordon Duncan, was a long-serving member of the

South Australian Legislative Council The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. Its central purpose is to act as a house of review for legislation passed through the lower house, the House of Assembly. It sits in Parli ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duncan-Hughes, Jack Nationalist Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia United Australia Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Boothby Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Wakefield Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian Senate for South Australia Members of the Australian Senate 1882 births 1962 deaths Liberal Party (1922) members of the Parliament of Australia Recipients of the Military Cross Recipients of the Croix de guerre (Belgium) 20th-century Australian politicians