John Mark Davies

Sir John Mark Davies KCMG (8 February 1840 – 12 September 1919) was a British-born Australian politician.

Born in Halstead, Essex, England in 1840, Davies was the fifth eldest of the six boys and six girls of Ebenezer Davies and Ruth Bartlett. Two of the younger boys were educated at Geelong Grammar School. John was articled in 1852 and in 1863 was admitted to the Supreme Court of Victoria as a solicitor. He worked as a partner in a law firm for some years, and was President of the Law Institute of Victoria in 1885–86; he was made the group's first honorary life member in 1919.^[1]

Political career

Davies served in the Victorian Legislative Council from 1889 to 1919, representing first the South Yarra Province (1889–1895)^[2] then Melbourne Province (1899–1919).^[3] and was Minister for Health for two months in 1891. He was the Solicitor-General under both Allan McLean (1899–1900) and William Irvine (1902–1903), and later Irvine's Minister for Public Instruction (1903) and Attorney-General (1903–1904). Under Thomas Bent, he was both Attorney-General (1903–1909) and Solicitor-General (1904–1909), although John Mackey was briefly Solicitor-General in 1908. Davies was the President of the Victorian Legislative Council from 1910 to 1919.^[3] He resigned from the Parliament on 6 July 1919, after suffering a stroke and dies a few months later aged 79.^[4]

Honours

Davies was made a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in January 1918. He was given a state funeral.^[5]

Residence

The home he had purchased in 1892, Valentine's Mansion, became the site of Malvern Grammar School (now the Malvern Campus of Caulfield Grammar School), and was placed on the Victorian Heritage Register in 1975.^[6] The Davies family lived in Valentines until 1919 when they moved to Little Valentines in Wattletree Road, Glen Iris.

References

1. Law Institute of Victoria (2006). History of the Law Institute of Victoria 23 August 2006 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 11 June 2006.
2. Mennell, Philip (1892). "Davies, Hon. John Mark" . The Dictionary of Australasian Biography. London: Hutchinson & Co – via Wikisource.
3. "Sir John Mark Davies". Re-Member: a database of all Victorian MPs since 1851. Parliament of Victoria. Retrieved 12 February 2019.
4. Freeman, R D. "Davies, Sir John Mark (1840–1919)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISSN 1833-7538.
5. "Funeral of Sir John Davies". The Argus. 15 September 1919. p. 6. Retrieved 17 February 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
6. Michael Macgeorge (2004). The Lives of Valentines. Michael Macgeorge. ISBN 0-646-43710-0.

 

Victorian Legislative Council
4th member added	Member for South Yarra Province 1899–1895 With: 3 others	Succeeded by George Godfrey
Preceded by James Service	Member for Melbourne Province 1889–1919 With: 3 others (1889–1904) 1 other (1904–1919)	Succeeded by Sir Henry Weedon
Preceded by Sir Henry Wrixon	President of the Legislative Council 1910–1919	Succeeded by Sir Walter Manifold
Political offices
Preceded by Sir Henry Cuthbert	Solicitor-General of Victoria Dec 1899 – Nov 1900	Succeeded by Agar Wynne
Preceded by Agar Wynne	Solicitor-General of Victoria Jun 1902 – Feb 1903	Succeeded by William Irvine
Preceded by William Irvine	Attorney-General of Victoria 1903–1909 Solicitor-General of Victoria 1904–1908 & 1908–1909 With: John Mackey as Solicitor-General Feb–Sep 1908	Succeeded by James Brown