William Alfred Jolly CMG (11 September 1881, Spring Hill,

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

– 30 May 1955, Windsor, Brisbane) was an Australian politician who was the Mayor of the

Town of Windsor The Town of Windsor is a former local government area of Queensland, Australia, located in northern Brisbane. History On 11 February 1887, a portion of the Ithaca Division was proclaimed a municipality to be known as the Shire of Windsor. On ...

from 1918 to 1923, the first

Lord Mayor of Brisbane The Lord Mayor of Brisbane is the chief executive of the City of Brisbane, the capital of the Australian state of Queensland, and the head of the Brisbane City Council. Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner of the Liberal National Party was sworn in on ...

from 1925 to 1931, and a member of the

Australian Parliament The Parliament of Australia (officially the Federal Parliament, also called the Commonwealth Parliament) is the legislature, legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch (represented by the ...

for the

Division of Lilley The Division of Lilley is an Australian Electoral Divisions, Australian Electoral Division in Queensland. History The division was first proclaimed in 1913. The division is named after Charles Lilley, Sir Charles Lilley, a former Premier of Q ...

from 1937 to 1943.

Public life

In 1914, he began to practice as a public accountant. Upon the establishment of the

Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia (the institute) was the professional accounting body representing Chartered Accountants in Australia before it merged with the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants to become Charter ...

Jolly was elected a member of the first Board. He was the director of the

National Bank of Australia The National Bank of Australasia was a bank based in Melbourne. It was established in 1858, and in 1982 merged with the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney to form National Australia Bank. History In 1858, Alexander Gibb, a Melbourne gentleman ...

after it merged with the

Queensland National Bank The Queensland National Bank is a former bank in Queensland, Australia. History In 1872, the bank was established in Brisbane. In December 1914, the bank had its head office in Brisbane with branches throughout Queensland at Allora, Aramac, A ...

. He was councillor of Kings College at the

University of Queensland , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = B ...

, a member of the Board for the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

and a long-term member of the Brisbane

Rotary Club Rotary International is one of the largest service organizations in the world. Its stated mission is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through hefellowship of business, profe ...

. He was elected an alderman of the Windsor Town Council in 1912, becoming the Mayor between 1918 and 1923. In 1925, the present

City of Brisbane The City of Brisbane is a local government area (LGA) which comprises the inner portion of the metropolitan area of Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, Australia. Its governing body is the Brisbane City Council. Unlike LGAs in the other mainl ...

was created through the amalgamation of the city (which previously covered only the innermost suburbs) with all of the local government areas that contained its suburbs (known as the Greater Brisbane scheme). Jolly was elected the first

in 1925 and held that role until 1931. After seven years of agitation, Brisbane's tram service was extended to Grange in July 1928. The opening ceremony was attended by Jolly, and two Members of the

Queensland Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembly ...

James Stevingstone Kerr James Stevingstone Kerr (1889Family history research
& ...

and Charles Taylor. The mayor had previously threatened not to attend any ceremony for the opening of the tram service because two rival groups were organising separate celebrations; he would only attend if there was a single ceremony. In 1928, artist

Caroline Barker Caroline Barker (born 1981) is a British sports journalist and broadcaster who works in television and radio. She currently presents mainly for BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC World Service, Sky Sports and Premier League Productions. Barker was the fir ...

painted a portrait of

William Jolly in his mayoral robes and exhibited it at the

Royal Queensland Art Society The Royal Queensland Art Society is an organisation for practicing artists and those who appreciate art in Queensland, Australia. It is the oldest art society in Queensland. History A meeting was held in the Brisbane School of Arts on Thursday ...

. Charles Herbert Gough was so impressed by the work that he initiated a public subscription to purchase the portrait as a gift for the mayor from the citizens of Brisbane. As Jolly was a popular mayor, the public were generous in their donations and the portrait was presented to the mayor in December 1928 together with a string of pearls for his wife, the Lady Mayoress. During his time as Lord Mayor, Jolly was responsible for many civic developments, especially the

arterial road An arterial road or arterial thoroughfare is a high-capacity urban road that sits below freeways/motorways on the road hierarchy in terms of traffic flow and speed. The primary function of an arterial road is to deliver traffic from collector ro ...

network in Brisbane. The Grey Street Bridge (renamed the

William Jolly Bridge The William Jolly Bridge is a heritage-listed road bridge over the Brisbane River between North Quay in the Brisbane central business district and Grey Street in South Brisbane, within City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed ...

shortly after his death) was built during his time in office. In 1937 and 1940, he stood and was elected the UAP member for the Federal

. William Jolly retired from politics following his defeat in the 1943 general election. He was a director of the Queensland National Bank and at the time of his death a director of the National Bank of Australasia.

Personal life

Lillie Maude Moorhouse Jolly (wife of Lord Mayor William Jolly), 1930

William Jolly was born on 11 September 1881 at Spring Hill, Brisbane, the son of Alexander Jolly, a gardener from Scotland, and his Irish wife Mary Kelly. His father was the gardener at the Glen Lyon Estate in Ashgrove. Later his father became the landscape gardener of the

Ithaca Town Council The Town of Ithaca is a former local government area of Queensland, Australia, located in inner western Brisbane. History The Ithaca Division was first proclaimed in 1879, and originally covered an area that stretched from Windsor, Kelvin Gr ...

and created the parkland surrounding the Ithaca War Memorial and the Ithaca Embankments (both of which are now heritage-listed). William Jolly Grave

Jolly was described as a family man who was active in church activities. He attended Ashgrove State School. He began working as law clerk with at a small law firm and then moved to the larger Atthow & MacGregor while studying

accountancy Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the measurement, processing, and communication of financial and non financial information about economic entities such as businesses and corporations. Accounting, which has been called the "language ...

. On 8 January 1907, he married Lillie Maude Moorhouse, the second daughter of Rev. James Moorhouse, at her parents' residence in

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...

. They had seven sons: Douglas, Frank, Arthur, William, Stanley, Harold and Norman. Jolly died in

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places Australia * Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area * Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...

on 30 May 1955 aged 73 years. He was buried on 31 May 1955 in

Toowong Cemetery Toowong Cemetery is a heritage-listed cemetery on the corner of Frederick Street and Mt Coot-tha Road, Toowong, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was established in 1866 and formally opened in 1875. It is Queensland's largest cemet ...

Legacy

The following were named after him: *

, crossing the

Brisbane River The Brisbane River is the longest river in South East Queensland, Australia, and flows through the city of Brisbane, before emptying into Moreton Bay on the Coral Sea. John Oxley, the first European to explore the river, named it after the Go ...

between

South Brisbane South Brisbane is an inner southern suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , South Brisbane had a population of 7,196 people. Geography The suburb is on the southern bank of the Brisbane River, bounded to the north-west, ...

and the

Brisbane CBD Brisbane City is the central suburb and central business district of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia. It is colloquially referred to as the "Brisbane CBD" or "the city". It is located on a point on the northern bank of the ...

* Jollys Lookout, a locality in the

Moreton Bay Region The Moreton Bay Region is a local government area in the north of the Brisbane metropolitan city in South East Queensland, Australia. Established in 2008, it replaced three established local government areas, the City of Redcliffe and the Shires ...

, named after his visit in 1927 * W.A. Jolly Park, 50 Wesley Street,

Lutwyche Lutwyche is a northern suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Lutwyche had a population of 3,454 people. Lutwyche is north of the city's central business district. Geography Lutwyche Road, a busy thoroughfare that ...

, Brisbane On 6 April 2013, William Jolly's grandson Warren Jolly was a guest speaker at the reopening of the newly refurbished

Brisbane City Hall Brisbane City Hall, in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, is the seat of the Brisbane City Council. It is located adjacent to King George Square, where the rectangular City Hall has its main entrance. The City Hall also has frontages and entranc ...

, which was first opened by William Jolly on 8 April 1930.Channel 9 news story which shows Warren Jolly speaking at reopening of Brisbane City Hall on 6 April 2013
/ref>

References

External links

''Australian Dictionary of Biography''
Jolly, William Alfred
– Brisbane City Council Grave Location Search {{DEFAULTSORT:Jolly, William 1881 births 1955 deaths Mayors and Lord Mayors of Brisbane United Australia Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Lilley Australian Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Burials at Toowong Cemetery 20th-century Australian politicians