Street family

Street

Place of origin	United Kingdom
Members	Sir Thomas Street, MP John Rendell Street, MLC Sir Philip Street, KCMG Sir Kenneth Street, KStJ Sir Laurence Street, AC Lady Jessie Street Geoffrey Street, MC, MP Tony Street, MP
Connected members	William Lawson, MLC George Holden, MLC John Brown Watt, MLC Oswald Watt, OBE Jack Fingleton, OBE Arthur Emmett, AO
Connected families	Berkeley family House of Grey
Motto	"Fideli cum fidelis" (Faithful among the faithless)

The Street family is the only dynasty in Australian history with three consecutive vice-regal appointments to their name; Sir Philip Whistler Street, his son Sir Kenneth Whistler Street and his grandson Sir Laurence Whistler Street all having become Chief Justices of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and Lieutenant Governors of New South Wales. The appointment of Sir Kenneth as a judge of the Supreme Court on 7 October 1931 also made Australian history for the first and only time a father and son have sat on the same bench as judges together, his father Sir Philip having been Chief Justice at the time.^[1] The narrator of the ABC series Dynasties said: "Among the great and powerful of the law, no family sits higher than the Streets. They've been at the forefront of the legal establishment for over a century."^[2]

As of the marriage between Sir Thomas Street and Lady Penelope Berkeley in the 17th Century, the Street family are of direct descent from William the Conqueror via the Berkeley family.^[3][4] As of the marriage between Sir Kenneth Street and Lady Jessie Grey Lillingston in the 20th Century, the Street family are furthermore of direct descent from Anchetil de Greye, who was William the Conqueror's right-hand companion in the Norman conquest of England and patriarch of the House of Grey.^[5][6]

Ancestors

A line engraving from the 17th Century by Robert White of Sir Thomas Street, English Chief Justice, Baron of the Exchequer, and patriarch of the Street family juridical tradition

The patriarch of the family’s juridical tradition is Sir Thomas Street, an Oxford man whose ancestors belonged to the establishment in Worcester, his father George Streete having been Mayor of Worcester. Sir Thomas also became Mayor of Worcester in 1667, before becoming Chief Justice for Brecknock, Glamorgan and Radnor from 1677 to 1681, and a Baron of the Exchequer from April 1681 to 1684. He had his children with Lady Penelope Berkeley, by whom the successive generations of the Streets descend from William the Conqueror, via the Berkeley family, whose ancestor Sir Maurice de Berkeley begat his progeny by Isabella FitzRoy (married 1247), daughter of Richard FitzRoy, a feudal baron of Chilham in Kent and a son of King John of England, who was in turn a great-great-grandson of William the Conqueror.^[7] The Conqueror was furthermore the scion of two ancient lines of royalty. By his maternal line, he descended from the leaders of the Carolingian dynasty, of whom the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne is best known. By his paternal line, he descended from a dynasty of Norse kings, of whom the Viking Rollo is best known.^[3][4][8] In reference to Sir Thomas, the 1769 Biographical History of England notes: "The singularity of his being - faithful found among the faithless † - is recorded on his tomb. To say any more of his integrity in his public character would be superfluous. To say anything greater is impossible."^[9]

Since the 4th Australian generation, the Streets have also descended from the House of Grey via Lady Street (née Lillingston, commonly known as Jessie Mary Grey Street; 18 April 1889 – 2 July 1970). Her father Charles Alfred Gordon Lillingston was the son of Mary Grey Mason, daughter of Mary Grey (1796—1863), who was in turn the first child of Sir George Grey, 1st Baronet.^[10] She was thus a direct descendant of Charles Grey, 1st Earl Grey, and ultimately a descendant of Anchetil de Greye, patriarch of the House of Grey, who was the right-hand military companion and vassal of William the Conqueror in the Norman conquest of England, named in the Domesday Book.^[7] Anchetil's origins were in France. It is generally believed that he was of Frankish-Scandinavian descent. Although uncertain, some researchers believe he was the son of one Hugh FitzTurgis, whose name means "Turgis'son" (from Thorgisl "hostage of Thor"), another clue he was from Normandy.^[11]

Commandant William Lawson (2 June 1774 – 16 June 1850) was an English-born explorer, military officer and politician who migrated to Sydney, New South Wales in 1800. His granddaughter Susanna Caroline Lawson married into the first generation of the Street dynasty by wedding John Rendell Street.^[12] With Gregory Blaxland and William Charles Wentworth, Lawson participated in the first successful crossing of the Blue Mountains by European settlers. After the crossing, Lawson, like Blaxland and Wentworth, was rewarded with a grant of 1,000 acres (4 km²) of land by Governor Macquarie.^[13] He selected his land along the Campbells River, part of the Bathurst settlement for which he was appointed commandant until his retirement in 1824. Whilst commandant he continued to undertake expeditions, and in 1821, with Constable Blackman, discovered the Cudgegong River and further explored Mudgee and its outlying regions.^[14] After Lawson retired from the army he entered politics and became a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council for County of Cumberland from 1843 to 1848. He died at his estate, Veteran Hall in Prospect, on 16 June 1850. The town of Lawson in the Blue Mountains is named after him.^[15] In 1963 Lawson was honoured, together with Blaxland and Wentworth, on a postage stamp issued by Australia Post depicting the Blue Mountains crossing.^[16]

In Australian politics

1st generation

The Streets of Australia entered Australian politics in the year 1887, upon John Rendell Street’s election to the NSW Legislative Assembly in the electoral district of East Sydney, succeeding and preceding the first and second tenures in that seat of Sir Edmund Barton, the first Prime Minister of Australia. John Street, had seven children by Susanna Caroline Lawson, a granddaughter of the explorer William Lawson. The second son of John and Susanna was Philip Whistler.^[17]

2nd generation

A portrait of Sir Philip Whistler Street, KCMG, first Australian Chief Justice of the Street family, age 61

Sir Philip Whistler Street, KCMG (1863–1938) was the eighth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and Lieutenant Governor of New South Wales. On 24 July 1906 he was appointed as an acting judge of the Supreme Court and on 11 February 1907 he was made a full judge. He became Chief Justice on 28 January 1925 and occupied that office until his seventieth birthday in 1933. He is the second longest serving judge in New South Wales history. He was appointed Lieutenant Governor of New South Wales in 1930, and administered the state in the absence of the Governor of New South Wales from May to October 1934, January to February 1935, and January to August 1936, as per the duty of the Lieutenant Governor. He was buried in South Head cemetery after a state funeral at St Andrew's Cathedral. The second son Sir Philip and Belinda Maud (née) Poolman, was Lawrence Whistler, and the eldest was Kenneth Whistler.^[18]

Lady Jessie Street as the only female delegate from Australia at the post-war establishment of the United Nations conference at San Francisco in 1945

3rd generation

A portrait of Lieutenant Laurence Whistler Street, an ANZAC officer who fought and died in the Battle of Gallipoli, age 21

Lieutenant Laurence Whistler Street (namesake of his great-nephew Sir Laurence Whistler Street, AC, KCMG, KStJ, QC) was 21 years of age when he was killed in action May 1915 at Gallipoli fighting for the Allied forces in World War I. He was an officer of the 3rd Battalion of the 1st Infantry Brigade. He volunteered for active wartime service in August 1914, making him one of the first of his generation to do so.^[19]

Sir Kenneth Whistler Street, KCMG, KStJ in his Chief Justice attire, age 59

Sir Kenneth Whistler Street, KCMG, KStJ (1890–1972) was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court on 7 October 1931. He thus joined the bench of which his father, Sir Philip Street, was then Chief Justice. This is the only known case in Australian history of a father and a son sitting as judges alongside each other on the same bench. In 1949, as senior puisne judge, Street acted as Chief Justice when Sir Frederick Richard Jordan KCMG died. He was confirmed in that office from 6 January 1950 and was sworn in on 7 February. Street was Lieutenant Governor from 1950-1972. Prior to his career as a judge, he served the Allied forces in World War One, having been commissioned on 29 September 1914 in the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry and sent to France. Like his father before him, he was buried with a state funeral. Street House at Cranbrook School, Sydney is named in his honour. His wife Lady Jessie Street was a prominent human rights activist.^[20]

Lady Street (née Lillingston, commonly known as Jessie Mary Grey Street; 18 April 1889 – 2 July 1970) was an Australian suffragette and an extensive campaigner for peace and human rights. Dubbed Red Jessie by her detractors in Australia's right-wing media for her efforts to promote diplomacy with the USSR and to ease tensions during the Cold War, Jessie was a champion of the progressive cause.^[21] By blood she was a member of the ancient English noble family, the House of Grey, and by marriage she was a member of the Street family, making Lady Street a maverick among the historically conservative establishment which she defied. She was a key figure in Australian and international political life for over 50 years, from the women's suffrage struggle in England to the removal of Australia's constitutional discrimination against Aboriginal people in 1967. Jessie was Australia's only female delegate to the establishment of the United Nations conference in San Francisco in 1945, where she played a key role alongside the likes of Eleanor Roosevelt in ensuring that gender was included as a non-discrimination clause alongside race and religion in the United Nations Charter. She is recognised both in Australia and internationally for her activism. The Jessie Street Centre, the Jessie Street National Women's Library and the Jessie Street Gardens are named in her honour. ^[22]

Major Geoffrey Austin Street, MC, MP (21 January 1894 – 13 August 1940) was a cousin of Sir Kenneth's who served as Australia's Minister of Defence in the First Menzies Government during World War II. He was recognised with a Military Cross for his courage in serving the First Australian Imperial Force at the Battle of Gallipoli, where he was wounded before returning to active service in France during World War I. At the request of his friend Sir Robert Menzies, KT, AK, CH, PC, QC, FAA, FRS, Australia's longest serving Prime Minister, Street stood for and won the seat of Corangamite in 1934. He became Minister of Defence in November 1938 and played a major role in the expansion of the military and munitions production prior to the outbreak of World War II and pushed the National Registration Act (1939) through parliament despite strong opposition. Following the outbreak of war he worked energetically to put Australia on a war footing, although from November 1939, Menzies abolished the position of Minister of Defence and appointed Street Minister for the Army and Minister for Repatriation. Street died while holding office in the 1940 Canberra air disaster along with two other Cabinet ministers.^[23]

A portrait of Major Geoffrey Austin Street, MC, MP, an ANZAC officer who fought in the Battle of Gallipoli and went on to die as Australia's Minister of Defence during World War II

4th generation

Commander Sir Laurence Whistler Street, AC, KCMG, KStJ, QC (born 3 July 1926) is an Australian jurist; formerly the 2nd youngest Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and Lieutenant Governor of New South Wales. He was first appointed as a judge of the NSW Supreme Court in the Equity Division. He became the state's second-youngest Chief Justice and Lieutenant Governor when he was appointed in 1974. He also served the Allied forces when World War II came around. He first joined the Royal Australian Navy at age 17 and he ultimately attained the rank of Commander and Senior Officer of the Royal Australian Navy Reserve Legal Branch.^[24] Sir Laurence’s sister Philippa “Pip” Street married the Australian Test cricketer and journalist John "Jack" Henry Webb Fingleton, OBE in 1942.^[25]

The son of Geoffrey Street, Anthony "Tony" Austin Street, MP, also represented the seat of Corangamite from 1966 to 1983 and served as Australia's Foreign Minister in the Fourth Fraser Ministry, from 1980 until 1983. From 14 September 1971, during the McMahon Ministry, he was Assistant Minister assisting the Minister for Labour and National Service. In the First Fraser Ministry he became the Minister for Labour and Immigration. In the Second Fraser Ministry he served as Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations, and Minister assisting the Prime Minister for Public Service Matters. During the Third Fraser Ministry he served as minister in several posts, including Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations and Minister for Industrial Relations.^[26][27]

The Watt family

A portrait of Commander Sir Laurence Whistler Street, AC, KCMG, KStJ, QC, age 52

Susan Gai Watt, AM was the first wife of Sir Laurence Street and the first female chair of the Eastern Sydney Health Service (now amalgamated with Illawarra). She is the daughter of Ernest Alexander Stuart Watt (1874-1954), a Cambridge-educated shipowner, pastoralist and patron of the arts. Ernest was born on 8 December 1874 in Sydney, the third son of Scottish-born Australian John Brown Watt, MLC, a politician and businessman, and his native-born wife Mary Jane, the daughter of another Australian politician and businessman, George Holden, MLC. ^[28]

Ernest’s older brother Lieutenant Colonel Walter Oswald Watt, OBE (11 February 1878 – 21 May 1921) was an Australian flying ace in World War I, and later a businessman. A recipient of France's Legion of Honour and Croix de Guerre, and twice mentioned in despatches during the war, Watt was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1919. He left the military to pursue business interests in Australia. He is commemorated by the Oswald Watt Gold Medal for outstanding achievement in Australian aviation, and the Oswald Watt Fund at the University of Sydney.^[29]

The father of Ernest and Oswald, John Brown Watt, MLC (1826–1897), was an Australian politician and businessman, born on 16 May 1826 in Edinburgh, the eldest son of Alexander Hamilton Watt and his wife Margaret, née Gilchrist. Between 1874–90 Watt was a member of the NSW Legislative Council. In 1881 he sat on the royal commission on military defences. He was a commissioner for New South Wales at the exhibitions at Philadelphia (1876), Paris (1878), Sydney (1879), Amsterdam (1883) and at Calcutta (1883-84).^[30]

Alexander Hamilton Watt belonged to the Watt family of Scotland to which also belonged James Watt FRS FRSE, inventor of the steam-engine and namesake of the Watt energy metric.^[31]

Recent generations

By his first wife, Sir Laurence had four children: Kenneth, Sylvia, Alexander and Sarah; and by his second wife, one: Jessie, a Sydney Law School student. Kenneth Street, is a NSW-based businessman. Kenneth has three children: Hamish Street, Isabella Street, a solicitor, and Matilda Street. The Honourable Judge Sylvia Emmett is a judge of the Federal Circuit Court of Australia and a Lieutenant-Commander of the Royal Australian Naval Reserve. She married The Honourable Justice Arthur Emmett, AO, Challis Lecturer in Roman Law at Sydney Law School. Justice Emmett was appointed to the New South Wales Court of Appeal at a formal ceremony on Thursday, 7 March 2013 after serving as a judge of the Federal Court of Australia. Sylvia has four children: James Emmett, a barrister at 12 Wentworth Chambers in Sydney; Robert Emmett, who pleaded guilty on 1 May 2015 to child sex offences committed while working as a teacher at St Andrew's Cathedral School; Charles Emmett, and Phoebe Emmett. The Honourable Judge Alexander Whistler Street, SC, is also a judge of the Federal Circuit Court of Australia and a Commander of the Royal Australian Naval Reserve. He has four children: Charles Street, a maritime lawyer at Norton Rose Fulbright Australia; Jack Street, Lucy Street, and Heidi Street. Sarah Whistler Farley is another Sydney Law School graduate who works in health care and human resources. She has four children: Tatiana Farley, Thomas Farley, Venetia Farley and Felix Farley.^[32]

Further details

The emblem of the Street family is a 'lion rampant'. The lion traditionally symbolises bravery, nobility, royalty, strength, stateliness and valour, because it has historically been regarded as the king of beasts.^[33] The particular character of the Street family emblem relates to the Lion of Judah (as is reflective of the family's Judeo-Christian heritage), albeit without the crown of the Lion of Judah, as per the family's absence from any throne since its descent from King John of England.^[34][35]

References