| Sir Henry John Wrixon1839-1913
President: 1901-1910 Legislative Assembly: 1868-1877, 1880-1894 Legislative Council: 1896-1910 Henry Wrixon followed in the footsteps of his two predecessors as President by serving first in the Legislative Assembly and then in the Legislative Council. He was born in Ireland and arrived in Melbourne with his family in 1850. As a young man he studied law in both Ireland and Victoria before being admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1863 and setting up a law practice.
In 1894 he was a delegate to the Colonial Conference in Canada, and was also commissioned by the Victorian Government to investigate socialist movements in the Pacific, Canada, the United States and England. On his return to Victoria in 1896 Wrixon entered the Legislative Council as a member for the South-Western Province. In 1901 he was elected President but, consistent with his radical principles, continued his opposition to class privilege. Throughout his public career he supported political equality, although opposing socialism. He was also a devout Anglican. In 1903 he published an autobiographical novel, Jacob Shumate: or the People's March, a voice from the ranks. Wrixon resigned from the Legislative Council in 1910, and died three years later at Kew. He was survived by his wife and two children. |
He was elected to the Legislative Assembly in 1868, campaigning as a
reformer of the controversial land laws and of the Legislative Council. He was
Solicitor-General in the McCulloch ministry in 1870-71. In 1872 he married a wealthy
widow, Charlotte Anderson, and in 1877 he did not stand for election. In 1880, however, he
stood successfully for the seat of Portland and held it until his resignation in 1894.
During his period in the Legislative Assembly Wrixon was Attorney-General from 1886 to
1890 and a delegate to the Federal Convention in 1891, and was narrowly defeated by Thomas
Bent for the Speakership. He was knighted in 1892.