James Fletcher (August 1834 – 19 March 1891) was an Australian coalminer and owner, newspaper proprietor and politician, a member of the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House ...

Early life and migration

Fletcher was born in

Dalkeith Dalkeith ( ; , ) is a town in Midlothian, Scotland, on the River Esk. It was granted a burgh of barony in 1401 and a burgh of regality in 1541. The settlement of Dalkeith grew southwestwards from its 12th-century castle (now Dalkeith Pala ...

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Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

to parents of William Fletcher and Anne Fletcher. Migrated to Australia in February 1851, first working in the goldfields and later in the

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

area as a coalminer.

Union organisation and mine management

He married Isabella Birrell in 1854. He was responsible in setting up Australia's Agricultural Co's sick and accident fund. In 1860 he was elected chairman of the new ''Hunter River Miners' Association'', which soon became involved in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

's first serious industrial action, when the mine owners tried unsuccessfully to reduce payments to miners by twenty percent. The union then attempted to establish a mining cooperative, ''New South Wales Co-operative Coal Co'', under Fletcher's leadership, but it failed. He then managed a mine at

Minmi Michiko Evwana (born December 8, 1974), better known by her stage name , is a Japanese hip-hop and reggae musician,, United Daily News (in Chinese), August 22, 2008 as well as a singer-songwriter and record producer. She is the first soca art ...

, but returned to manage the cooperative—which had been revived—until 1880. He also managed the Wickham and Bullock Island Coal Co. and was part-owner of Ferndale Colliery.

Political career

He was mayor of Wallsend in 1874 and 1875 and nearby

Plattsburg Plattsburg may refer to: * Plattsburg, Indiana, U.S. *Plattsburg, Missouri Plattsburg is a city in and the county seat of Clinton County, Missouri and is part of the Kansas City metropolitan area in the western part of the state, within the Un ...

in 1878. In 1876-89 he owned the

Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate The ''Newcastle Herald'' (formerly branded as ''The Herald'') is a local tabloid newspaper published daily, Monday to Saturday, in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. It is the only local newspaper that serves the greater Hunter Region and C ...

. In 1884 he ran into financial difficulties and was sued by James Brown to recover loss and his friends helped him raise the £4,000. Fletcher was elected as a

Protectionist Party The Protectionist Party, also known as the Protectionist Liberal Party or Liberal Protectionist Party, was an Politics of Australia, Australian political party, formally organised from 1887 until 1909, with policies centred on protectionism. T ...

member for

in the

, serving from 1880 until his death in 1891. He was appointed

Secretary for Mines The position of Secretary for Mines was an office in the United Kingdom Government, associated with the Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for ...

in February 1886 in the

Jennings ministry The Jennings ministry was the 23rd ministry of the New South Wales, Colony of New South Wales, and was led by the eleventh Premier of New South Wales, Premier, Patrick Jennings, Sir Patrick Jennings, and the first Roman Catholic to hold the offi ...

, but resigned in December. He was Secretary for Public Works from January to March 1889 in the second Dibbs ministry. In the 1880s and 1890s he was a successful mediator of strikes and was appointed

royal commissioner A royal commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue in some monarchies. They have been held in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Malaysia, Mauritius and Saudi Arabia. In republics an equiv ...

on strikes in 1890.

Death

Due to poor health he visited Victoria and Tasmania. Fletcher died from

heart disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is any disease involving the heart or blood vessels. CVDs constitute a class of diseases that includes: coronary artery diseases (e.g. angina pectoris, angina, myocardial infarction, heart attack), heart failure, ...

and

apoplexy Apoplexy () refers to the rupture of an internal organ and the associated symptoms. Informally or metaphorically, the term ''apoplexy'' is associated with being furious, especially as "apoplectic". Historically, it described what is now known as a ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

on , survived by his wife, six sons and three daughters. FletcherParkNewcastle

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fletcher, James Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Protectionist Party politicians Colony of New South Wales people 1834 births 1891 deaths People from Dalkeith 19th-century Australian politicians History of Newcastle, New South Wales