| John Basson Humffray | |
|---|---|
| Born | 17 April 1824 Newtown, Montgomeryshire, Wales |
| Died | March 18, 1891 (aged 66) Ballarat, Victoria, Australia |
| Known for | Leader of the Ballarat Reform League, defender of those arrested at the Eureka Stockade and Politician |
John Basson Humffray (17 April 1824 – 18 March 1891) was born in Newtown, Montgomeryshire, Wales and became active in the Chartist movement before migrating to Victoria, Australia in 1853, arriving in Ballarat in November that year.
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At the meeting of over 10,000 diggers at Bakery Hill on Saturday, 11 November, 1854, Humffray was elected inaugural President of the Ballarat Reform League. He was a member of the three person delegation which met with Governor Hotham in Melbourne on Monday, 27 November 1854. The miners' demands for economic and political reforms were rejected. After a particularly vicious licence hunt, a meeting of the Ballarat Reform League was held on Thursday, 30 November 1854 in which the miners rejected those such as Humffray who advocated "moral force" and embarked on the "physical force" route by electing Peter Lalor and deciding to meet force with force and build the Eureka Stockade.
Humffray was not part of the rebellion but played the role of peacemaker in the lead up to the battle on 3 December 1854. He represented the interests of aggrieved diggers at the Commission of Enquiry into the discontent on the goldfields.[1] Humffray was a vocal defender of the 13 miners who were charged with High Treason for their role in the rebellion. He was the editor of the short-lived Ballarat Leader, first president of the Ballarat Mechanics' Institute; and passed first-year law, University of Melbourne (1860). Humffray was an Anglican and died a pauper on 18 March 1891.[1] He was buried in the Old Ballarat Cemetery near those who had died in the Eureka rebellion, a headstone was erected by the people of Ballarat.[1]
When the miners were granted the right to vote and representation in 1855 Humffray was elected unopposed as the member of the Victorian Legislative Council for Ballarat (1855-1856); then Member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly for North Grant(1856-1864) then Ballarat East (1868-1871). He served as Minister for Mines (1860-1861) and Chairman of the Royal Commission on Mining (1862).