Charles Alexander Harris

“ Probably he was the only man who had sufficient prestige to cope with such a crisis and save a war. On 11 Aug. 1896 he was made a baron in the peerage of England, by the style of Baron Rosmead of Rosmead in Ireland, and of Tafelberg in South Africa. Immediately afterwards he returned to the Cape, where he proceeded with the work of conciliating all parties among the Dutch and British. But the failure of his health compelled him to ask to be relieved of his government. On 21 April 1897 he left the Cape for England. ”

“ In this position he did the work for which his name will be remembered: he brought the annual returns of statistics of the colony of Victoria into an elaborate and perfect shape, which formed a model for the whole of the Australian colonies. At a conference held in Tasmania in 1875, at which he represented Victoria, his model was adopted as the basis of a uniform system of official statistics. Consequently there is probably no country in the world that can produce an annual series of statistics of cultivation, production, industry, and exchange so perfect as those of the Australian colonies. ”

“ He arrived in Cape Town on 22 Jan. 1881. In February he was called upon to negotiate terms of peace in circumstances which were a source of deep indignation throughout the greater part of the British Empire. When peace was concluded he had to face an extremely difficult situation. British and Boers were entirely out of sympathy. The antagonism was not only between the British colonies and the free republics, but between British and Dutch throughout South Africa wherever they came into contact. The native races also were restless and discontented. ”

“ HART, JOHN (1809–1873) , pioneer colonist and premier of South Australia, was born in Great Britain on 25 Feb. 1809, and apparently went to sea as a boy; he first sighted South Australia when in 1834 and 1835 he was employed on a sealer along the south coast of the colony. His seamanship attracted the notice of a Tasmanian merchant, who early in 1836 sent him to London to buy a vessel for the colonial trade. On 1 Sept. 1836 he left England for Launceston, Tasmania, as captain of the Isabella, and on arriving shipped for South Australia the first livestock landed in the new colony ”

“ Gisborne describes Robinson's regime in this colony as that of a man prudent in counsel and energetic in action, who was still busy gathering materials for his own judgment when his administration was cut short by his transfer, in August 1880, to be governor of the Cape Colony and high commissioner of South Africa. The dual office demands peculiar ability; for the holder has his ministers to consider in the colony itself, while his position of high commissioner throws upon him the personal responsibility for action outside the Cape Colony. ”

“ When, at the beginning of 1900, the home government invited delegates from Australia to come to London and discuss the project for the Australian commonwealth, Dickson came over to represent Queensland; on his return he was selected as minister of defence for the first government of United Australia. He was the only minister in the new cabinet who had not been born in Australia. ”

“ BINNS, Sir HENRY (1837–1899) , third prime minister of Natal, son of Henry Binns of Sunderland and Croydon, a quaker, was born at Sunderland, Durham, on 27 June 1837, and educated at Ackworth from 1847 to 1852, and then at York. In 1858 he migrated with some relatives to Natal, arriving on 14 Sept., and thus he was connected with Natal almost from its first existence as a separate colony. He decided to devote himself to agriculture, and bought a property called Umhlanga at Riet River, near Phoenix, in Victoria county, which in 1860 he turned into a sugar estate. ”

“ In November 1863 Brand was elected by the burghers of the Orange Free State, then at a very low ebb, to be their president, and he migrated to the new sphere thus opened to him, taking the oaths, on 2 Feb. 1864, and thus nominally relinquishing British citizenship. The burghers' choice was amply justified. From the first Brand handled their finances with prudence, and organised the service of the state on an economical and efficient basis. ”

“ The period was a stormy one in colonial politics. Sir John Robertson came into power only to be defeated on a vote of censure; Sir Henry Parkes [q. v. Suppl.] was condemning severely all parties without having strength to form a government. ”

“ HIGINBOTHAM, GEORGE (1826–1892) , chief justice of Victoria, was the sixth son of Henry T. Higinbotham of Dublin, and Sarah, daughter of Joseph Wilson, at one time American consul in Dublin. He was born in Dublin on 19 April 1826, and educated at the Royal School, Dungannon, whence he went to Trinity College, Dublin, with a Queen's scholarship in 1844, graduating B.A. in 1848 and M.A. in 1853. ”

“ In 1865, when Kaffraria was incorporated with the Cape Colony, Mills retired on a pension. Subsequently, in 1866, he was elected to represent Kingwilliamstown in the parliament of the Cape, where he supported the government, opposing the party which at that time demanded responsible government. Sir Philip Wodehouse [q. v. Suppl.] , who was then governor, eventually persuaded him to resign political life and enter the colonial service, and in 1867 appointed him chief clerk for finance in the colonial secretary's office. ”

“ William Wilkins of Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucester, was born at Birmingham on 19 March 1823, and educated at King Edward the Sixth's school in that city until 1839, when he left England with his father to settle in South Australia. Here he entered into business under his father in Adelaide as an ironmonger; the firm ultimately became well known under the style of Blyth Brothers. His brother Neville was also a member of assembly, and held office in South Australia. Blyth soon commenced to take an interest in public life. ”

“ Archibald entered public life in 1851, when he was elected to the House of Assembly of Nova Scotia as member for Colchester, and during the years which followed he took an active part in promoting legislation. He was especially interested in measures for the management of goldfields, for dealing with free education, and for restricting the franchise to ratepayers. In 1855 he became Q.C., and in August 1856 he was appointed solicitor-general for the province. ”

“ In Victoria Higinbotham again combined the law and journalism; he was admitted to the local bar on 27 March 1854, and after a brief period of anxiety began to get briefs regularly, writing occasionally at the same time for the 'Morning Herald.' In August 1856 he became editor of the 'Argus,' and for a time did little or nothing at the bar. In 1859 he resigned the editorship in order to devote himself more fully to his profession.
In May 1861 Higinbotham entered upon political life, being elected a member for Brighton in the legislative assembly. He described himself as an independent liberal. ”

“ Jennings is described by a contemporary as 'a clear-headed, cultured Irishman' who 'turned every honest opponent who came into contact with him into an admiring friend' (Sydney Mail, 17 July 1897, p. 115) . He did much to promote the cultivation of music in New South Wales, and gave large sums for the erection of the organ at Sydney University, of which he was a member of senate. ”

“ Hart first entered political life when he supported the indignation meetings against Governor Robe's land policy; he was member for the Victoria district in the old legislative council of 1851, and, after a visit to England in 1853, returned to take part in the discussions on reform in 1854 and 1855. ”

“ An excellent appreciation of him is that of Sir Henry Parkes, the Australian statesman (Fifty Years, &c., i. 296) . He was knighted in 1859, became K.C.M.G. in 1869, G.C.M.G. in 1875, and a privy councillor in 1882.
Lord Rosmead, besides being a good man of business and a good speaker, was a sportsman, and a great lover of horses and of horse-racing (Lang, History of New South Wales, i. 422) . ”

“ In June 1892 Ellis proceeded on a punitive expedition to the Tambaku country in the Sierra Leone protectorate, and captured Tambi. Almost immediately afterwards he was called to the Gambia to undertake the operations which ended in the taking of Toniataba: for the conduct of these he received the C.B. (9 Aug. 1892) and the West African medal with special clasp. At the end of 1893 he was called upon to conduct the expedition against the Sofas, in the course of which occurred the unfortunate incident at Waima, when two British officers were shot by the French in error. ”

“ In 1886 he was executive commissioner for South Australia at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition; in 1887 he was associated with the Hon. Thomas Playford, the premier, in the representation of the colony at the first colonial conference held in London in April-May in that year. He died at Bournemouth on 7 Dec. 1891, and the South Australian parliament, on hearing the news, moved a vote of condolence with his widow and suspended their sitting. Blyth's career had been eminently that of the official. He was constantly called into office by ministers of different type ”

“ In 1886 Gorrie became chief justice of Trinidad, arriving in that island on 8 Feb. He was not long in identifying himself with the interest of the negroes. He set himself, in his judgments in the court, against the system of forming cocoa plantations on what was known as the 'contract system,' thereby, in the view of the capitalists, gravelyimperilling much of the capital embarked in the industry. ”

“ In 1887-8 Escombe was in England for some time, but hurried out to Natal to defend Dinizulu against the charge of rebellion, conducting the case with entire success. Soon after this he was asked to return to England and enter parliament in the liberal interest, but declined. Later, in 1888, he was elected again to the council as member for Klip River district, but in 1890 became member for Durban, which he continued to represent in future. ”

“ In August 1886 he was appointed by the governor, Sir William Robinson, to be chairman of a commission on the trade and taxes of the colony, in which he showed very clearly his leaning towards easing the burden for the negro ”

“ He had been for several years a vice-president of the Melbourne Benevolent Asylum and president of the Australian Health Society. In 1887 he was appointed president of the executive committee of the Melbourne centennial exhibition, and as such went to Adelaide for the jubilee exhibition and to Sydney for the centenary celebrations in January 1888. In this same year he began his second consolidation of the laws of Victoria, and a remarkably successful work resulted, for which he was publicly thanked in parliament on 16 Dec. ”

“ In 1889 he went with part of his regiment to the Bahamas, and remained in command of the troops in that colony till he became lieutenant-colonel on 4 Feb. 1891, when he returned to West Africa, and was placed in command of all the troops on the west coast, being stationed at Freetown, Sierra Leone; on 2 March 1892 he received the local rank of colonel in West Africa. For a few days in May 1892 he administered the government of Sierra Leone in the absence of the governor. ”

“ He was on the coast of East Africa in 1867, and saw service in the Abyssinian campaign of 1868, where he earned a medal. He was afterwards employed in the suppression of the slave trade in East Africa, and his experiences made a deep impression on him. About 1870 he was put on the steam reserve at Sheerness.
As soon as Cameron found himself in so quiet a berth as Sheerness, he volunteered to the Royal Geographical Society to go in search of Livingstone, attracted by a project which was then in many men's minds ”

“ ARCHIBALD, Sir ADAMS GEORGE (1814–1892) , Canadian statesman, the son of Samuel Archibald and Elizabeth, daughter of Matthew Archibald, came of an old Scottish family which had settled in the north of Ireland, and thence migrated to Nova Scotia in 1761. His grandfather, James Archibald, had been judge of the court of common pleas for the county of Colchester in Nova Scotia. He was born at Truro, Nova Scotia, on 18 May 1814, and educated at Pictou College ”

“ Shortly after his return to Durban he died suddenly on 27 Dec. 1899.
Escombe was tall and of commanding mien. In speech he was eloquent; in argument quick and searching. He was a chess player, and fond of astronomy, on which, as well as other subjects, he occasionally lectured at the Durban institute and elsewhere. (See Sir John Robinson, Life and Times in South Africa, p. xxix.) He was a keen volunteer, joined the royal Durban rifles in 1860, and became cornet in 1868; he was one of the founders and the first commander of the Natal naval volunteers ”

“ COLEBROOKE, Sir WILLIAM MACBEAN GEORGE (1787–1870) , soldier and colonial governor, son of Colonel Paulet Welbore Colebrooke, R.A. (d. 1816; see Gent. Mag. 1816, ii. 466) , and a daughter of Major-general Grant, was born in 1787, and educated at Woolwich, entering the royal artillery as a first lieutenant on 12 Sept. 1803. In 1805 he was ordered to the East Indies first to Ceylon, then in 1806 to Malabar, and back to Ceylon in 1807. He went to India in 1809, and served with the field army there through 1810, becoming a captain on 27 Sept. ”

“ McILWRAITH, Sir THOMAS (1835–1900) , premier of Queensland, son of John Mcllwraith of Ayr, Scotland, and his wife Janet Hamilton, daughter of John Howat, was born at Ayr on 17 May 1835, and educated at the academy in that town and at Glasgow University for the profession of an engineer. In 1854 he followed an elder brother to Victoria and obtained employment on the Victorian railways, and afterwards with the well-known contractors, Cornish & Bruce. ”

“ In August 1890 he became colonial treasurer in Griffith's ministry. At this time he received an invitation from Scotland to return thither and contest Ayr, his native city, but he declined. In March 1891 he represented Queensland at the federation convention held at Sydney. In November 1892 he took another voyage for his health, this time to Northern India, returning in March 1893 to find that the premier had resigned and the ministry was in a manner in commission. ”