Charles Kingston

The Honourable Charles Kingston
20th Premier of South Australia Elections: 1893, 1896, 1899
In office 16 June 1893 – 1 December 1899
Monarch	Victoria
Governor	Earl of Kintore Sir Thomas Buxton
Preceded by	John Downer
Succeeded by	Vaiben Louis Solomon
Personal details
Born	(1850-10-22)22 October 1850 Adelaide, South Australia
Died	11 May 1908(1908-05-11) (aged 57) Adelaide, South Australia
Political party	Liberalism, Protectionist Party
Spouse(s)	Lucy May McCarthy

Charles Cameron Kingston, (22 October 1850 – 11 May 1908) Australian politician, was an early radical liberal Premier of South Australia serving from 1893 to 1899 with the support of Labor led by John McPherson from 1893 and Lee Batchelor from 1897 in the House of Assembly, winning the 1893, 1896 and 1899 colonial elections against the conservatives. He was a leading proponent of and contributed extensively on the Federation of Australia, and was elected to the federal House of Representatives with the most votes amongst the seven elected in the single statewide Division of South Australia at the 1901 election, serving under the Protectionist Party, going on to represent the Division of Adelaide at the 1903 election. A radical liberal in state politics, his government introduced such progressive measures as: electoral reform including the first law to give votes to women in Australia (and second in the world only to New Zealand), a legitimation Act, the first conciliation and arbitration Act in Australia, establishment of a state bank, a high protective tariff, regulation of factories, a progressive system of land and income taxation,^[1] a public works programme, and more extensive workers’ compensation.^[2]

Early life

Kingston was born in Adelaide, the son of Sir George Kingston, a Protestant Irish-born surveyor, architect and landowner in the early days of British settlement in South Australia and later a member of the first Parliament of South Australia. His mother, Ludovina Cameron, was of Portuguese descent. George Kingston boasted that he was "the first Irishman to set foot in the colony"^[3] and it is true that the Kingstons were among Adelaide's founding families. Charles was educated at the Adelaide Educational Institution (schoolmate S. J. Magarey was born just one day later than him) and served his articles with Sir Samuel Way, Adelaide's leading lawyer and later Attorney-General of South Australia. He was called to the bar in 1873, despite the objection of the elder brother of his future wife, Lucy May McCarthy on the grounds of Kingston's alleged seduction of her. He became a QC in 1889.^[1][4]

Members of the South Adelaide Football Club, premiers 1885; Charles Cameron Kingston is standing in the back row, far right, wearing a top hat.

In 1873 Kingston married Lucy McCarthy. Lucy was an invalid for much of her life and they had no children. In a remarkable gesture, however, Lucy took in a child, Kevin Kingston, whom Kingston had fathered with another woman, Elizabeth Watson, in 1883. As a result of this scandal, Kingston was ostracised by Adelaide "society," his contempt for whom he never troubled to conceal. Kevin died in 1902.^[5]

Kingston and his older brother Strickland Gough "Pat" Kingston (1848-3 October 1897) formed a business partnership Kingston & Kingston in 1879 which they dissolved in July 1884. S. G. Kingston was a brilliant lawyer, but unstable. He was jailed for the gunshot wounding of a cabdriver in June 1884^[6] and killed himself after losing an important case in Port Augusta.^[7]

Kingston had a passion for Australian rules football in South Australia; he helped formulating its code and was President of the South Australian Football Club.^[8]

Colonial politics

In April 1881 Kingston was elected to the South Australian House of Assembly as a radical liberal for the seat of West Adelaide. He favoured reform of the Legislative Council (which was dominated by wealthy landowners) and other radical reforms. He was described by William Maloney as the originator of the White Australia Policy, although this policy was supported by virtually all Australian politicians at the time of federation.^[1]

Kingston was Attorney-General of South Australia 1884-85 in the government of John Colton and again in 1887-89 in the government of Tom Playford. In 1893 he succeeded Playford as leader of the South Australian liberals and defeated conservative Premier John Downer to become Premier 1893-99, a record at the time of six and a half years, not to be broken until Thomas Playford IV, as well as Chief Secretary and Attorney-General, and also Minister for Industry 1895-99. Kingston came to office with the support of a new third party, the South Australian division of the Labor Party led by John McPherson, which held the balance of power. A big, imposing man with a full beard, a booming voice and a violent, cutting debating style, Kingston dominated the small world of South Australian colonial politics in the 1890s. He was a great hero to liberals and working class voters, and much hated by conservatives. In 1892, Richard Baker called him a "coward, a bully and a disgrace to the legal profession" in the Legislative Council and Kingston replied by calling Baker "false as a friend, treacherous as a colleague, mendacious as a man, and utterly untrustworthy in every relationship of public life". Kingston arranged for a duel but Baker had him arrested and as a result Kingston was bound over to keep the peace for a year.^[1]

Kingston had not supported votes for women at the 1893 elections but he was subsequently persuaded by his ministerial colleagues, John Cockburn and Frederick Holder of its political advantages and lobbied by the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. Women's suffrage in Australia took a leap forward – enacted in 1895 and taking effect from this election, South Australia was the first in Australia and only the second in the world after New Zealand to allow women to vote, and the first in the world to allow women to stand for election.^[9]

Kingston's government also established the state bank of South Australia, regulated factories, imposed death duties and increased land tax and progressive income taxes.^[1][4]

When Tom Buxton was appointed Governor of South Australia, Kingston was angry that the government had not been involved in the decision about who should be the new Governor, so made life as hard as possible for Buxton and his family. The governor's allowance was reduced and customs duty was charged on their household items (including his wife's invalid carriage).

A leading supporter of Federation, Kingston was a delegate to the Constitutional Conventions of 1891 and 1897-98 which worked to draft an Australian Constitution. In 1897 he travelled to London for the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria, where he was made a Privy Councillor and awarded an honorary Doctor of Civil Laws degree by Oxford University. He also turned down the offer of a knighthood, to the distress of his wife. While there he lobbied senior British politicians in favour of Australian federation.^[1]

In 1899 Kingston's government was defeated in the House on a bill relating to the reform of the Legislative Council, leading to Kingston's resignation as Premier. By this time, however, he was more interested in federal politics, as the six Australian colonies moved towards federation. He was a leading figure in the popular movement for federation, and in 1900 he travelled to London with Edmund Barton and Alfred Deakin to oversee the passage of the federation bill through the Parliament of the United Kingdom.^[1]

The Liberal and Democratic Union would not be formed until the 1906 election.

Federal politics

Charles Kingston (standing, second from right) as a member of the first federal Cabinet, January 1901

When the Constitution came into effect on 1 January 1901, Barton formed the first federal ministry, and Kingston was appointed Minister for Trade and Customs. In March 1901 he was elected as one of seven statewide members of the Division of South Australia in the first Australian House of Representatives. Kingston topped the poll with 65% of the vote. South Australia was not divided into electoral divisions in time for the election. In 1903 he became the first member for the Division of Adelaide.^[1] His Central District seat in the Legislative Council was won by George Brookman.

Kingston was a "high protectionist": he favoured very high tariffs to protect Australia's fledgling manufacturing industries. Most of his time as minister was spent negotiating a customs bill through both houses of the Parliament since no one party had a majority in either House and the forces of the Free Trade Party resisted his bill at every stage. Negotiating with his opponents was not among Kingston's many talents, and his bullying style made him many enemies. He also insisted on involving himself in the administrative details of his department and insisted on prosecutions of businesses to enforce his high-tariff policies.^[1]

In July 1903, Kingston resigned suddenly in a fit of anger due to the opposition of John Forrest and Edmund Barton to his attempt to impose conciliation and arbitration on British and foreign seamen engaged in the Australian coastal trade. He never held office again, and although Labor offered him a position in Chris Watson's ministry, he turned this down, presumably because of ill health. He remained as Member for Adelaide, being allowed to run unopposed at both the 1903 and 1906 elections.^[1][4]

Kingston died in Adelaide of a sudden stroke in May 1908 and was buried at the local West Terrace Cemetery, survived by his increasingly eccentric wife.^[1] An Adelaide by-election was held to elect a new MP. The Division of Kingston is named after him.

Exhumation

Kingston's body was exhumed in March 2008 because two people thought they may be his direct descendants from an illegitimate child of his.^[10] It is claimed that Kingston was ostracised by Adelaide society for his sexual indiscretions,^[11][12] having fathered at least six illegitimate children.^[13][14]

References

External links

• Parliament Profile

Premiers of South Australia B. T. Finniss John Baker Robert Torrens Richard Hanson Thomas Reynolds George Waterhouse Francis Dutton Henry Ayers Arthur Blyth Francis Dutton Henry Ayers John Hart James Boucaut Henry Ayers John Hart Henry Ayers Henry Strangways John Hart Arthur Blyth Henry Ayers Arthur Blyth James Boucaut John Colton James Boucaut William Morgan John Cox Bray John Colton John Downer Thomas Playford II John Cockburn Thomas Playford II Frederick Holder John Downer Charles Kingston Vaiben Solomon Frederick Holder John Jenkins R. Butler Thomas Price Archibald Peake John Verran Archibald Peake Crawford Vaughan Archibald Peake Henry Barwell John Gunn Lionel Hill R.L. Butler Lionel Hill Robert Richards R.L. Butler Thomas Playford IV Frank Walsh Don Dunstan Steele Hall Don Dunstan Des Corcoran David Tonkin John Bannon Lynn Arnold Dean Brown John Olsen Rob Kerin Mike Rann Jay Weatherill

Barton Cabinet (1901–03) Prime Minister: Edmund Barton Alfred Deakin James Dickson James Drake John Forrest Philip Fysh Charles Kingston William Lyne Richard O'Connor George Turner