Robert Alfred Tarlton

Robert Alfred Tarlton
Born (1828-04-21)21 April 1828
Birmingham, England
Died 29 November 1918(1918-11-29) (aged 90)
Johannesburg, Orange Free State
Occupation draper, company director, politician
Spouse(s) Caroline Walters, Sophia Walters Turner
Parent(s) Robert Tarlton and Mary Tarlton nee Green
Relatives James Jefferis (brother-in-law)[1]
member of the South Australian Legislative Council
In office
1873 - 1888

Robert Alfred Tarlton (21 April 1828 – 29 November 1918) was a businessman and politician in the early days of the colony South Australia.

History

Tarlton was born in Birmingham, England and trained for the Ministry. He married Caroline Walters in 1854 and emigrated to South Australia in 1858. In 1860 he had a draper's shop on Rundle Street and by 1861 was a director of G. & R. Wills & Co. Ltd., a position he held until 1869.[2] He was in 1865 a founder of the Bank of Adelaide, along with Henry Ayers, Fred. C. Bayer, John Dunn, Thomas Magarey, William Morgan, William Peacock, Robert Barr Smith, Thomas Greaves Waterhouse and others. He was chairman of directors, Commercial Bank of South Australia in 1886 when manager Alexander Crooks and accountant Alexander McKenzie Wilson were charged with embezzlement.[3] The bank's liquidators subsequently sued him and fellow Directors James Crabb Verco, Alfred Tennant, Charles Rischbieth and Maurice Salom for £320,000 damages, claiming negligence.

Tarlton was a devout Congregationalist, and one of the first deacons of the North Adelaide Congregational Church, whose pastor, the Rev. Dr. James Jefferis,was a close friend, and later his brother-in-law, when the two married sisters[1] (Jefferis's second wife). Two of Jefferis's children were given "Tarlton" as a middle name: Nellie Tarlton Jefferis (1874–1959) and (Arthur) Tarlton Jefferis (1884–1965), father of Barbara Jefferis. And Tarlton's daughter Louie married J(ames) Eddington Jefferis (1860–1901), Jefferis's eldest son, by his first marriage.

Tarlton was elected to the South Australian Legislative Council in 1873 and retired in 1888.

They moved to Launceston, Tasmania, where he was appointed J.P. in 1890, then in 1893 moved to "Willowdene", Frankfort, Orange Free State, where he died; Mrs. Tarlton died at her daughter's residence in Johannesburg.

Tarlton Street, Somerton may have been named for him.

Family

Tarlton married Caroline Walters ( – 20 March 1865) on 22 June 1854 and emigrated to South Australia in 1858. Caroline died at Somerton (then spelled Summerton). He married again, to Caroline's niece, Sophia Walters (died 21 March 1913) on 11 April 1866 and lived at Somerton. He had one son and four daughters by his first wife and six sons and three daughters by the second. Most of the Tarlton family moved to Launceston, Tasmania in 1889, then to South Africa in 1893.


References

  1. 1 2 "Family Notices". The Argus (Melbourne) (6,193). Victoria, Australia. 13 April 1866. p. 4. Retrieved 7 October 2016 via National Library of Australia.
  2. "Obituary". South Australian Register. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 11 April 1893. p. 3. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
  3. "The Late Manager and Accountant in Court". South Australian Weekly Chronicle. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 20 March 1886. p. 22. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.