William Irvine (Australian politician)

Former Attorney-General of Australia
William Irvine

21st Premier of Victoria
In office 1902 – 1904
Preceded by	Alexander Peacock
Succeeded by	Thomas Bent
In office 1913 – 1914
Preceded by	Billy Hughes
Succeeded by	Billy Hughes

Born	6 July 1858 Newry, County Down, Ireland
Died	20 August 1943
Constituency	Flinders (Federal)
Political party	Commonwealth Liberal Party
Religion	Presbyterian (Christianity)

Sir William Hill Irvine GCMG (6 July 1858 - 20 August 1943), Australian politician and judge, was the 21st Premier of Victoria. Irvine was born in Newry in County Down, Ireland, into a Scottish-Presbyterian family. He was educated in Armagh and Dublin, graduating in law in 1879 before migrating to Melbourne, where he taught in Presbyterian schools and read law at Melbourne University, gaining a masters degree in arts and law. He soon became a leading Melbourne barrister.

In 1894 Irvine was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly as a liberal. He was Attorney-General 1899-1900 and 1902-03 and Solicitor-General in 1903. He succeeded George Turner as leader of the Victorian Liberals, but was much more conservative than either Turner or the federal Protectionist Party leader, Alfred Deakin. In 1903 he displaced the more liberal Alexander Peacock and became Premier and Treasurer, holding office until 1904, when he was succeeded by Thomas Bent.

In 1906 Irvine was elected to the Australian House of Representatives for the seat of Flinders. First elected as an independent Protectionist, he became a member of Deakin's Commonwealth Liberal Party in 1908. He was Attorney-General in Joseph Cook's Liberal government of 1913-14. He was considered a potential Prime Minister of Australia, but his abrupt manner and hard-line conservatism made him unacceptable to many Liberals: he was known in Parliament as "Iceberg Irvine."

Recognising this, Irvine accepted the appointment as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria in 1918, and held this position until 1935. He was knighted in 1914 and made GCMG in 1936. A keen motorist, he was a founding member of the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV) and was its patron 1938-43.

In 1932 a painting of Irvine by Ernest Buckmaster won the Archibald Prize, Australia's best-known portrait prize.

[edit] References

Geoff Browne, A Biographical Register of the Victorian Parliament, 1900-84, Government Printer, Melbourne, 1985
Don Garden, Victoria: A History, Thomas Nelson, Melbourne, 1984
Kathleen Thompson and Geoffrey Serle, A Biographical Register of the Victorian Parliament, 1856-1900, Australian National University Press, Canberra, 1972
Raymond Wright, A People's Counsel. A History of the Parliament of Victoria, 1856-1990, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1992

Preceded by Alexander Peacock	Premier of Victoria 1902-1904	Succeeded by Thomas Bent
Preceded by Billy Hughes	Attorney-General of Australia 1913-1914	Succeeded by Billy Hughes