William Arthur Holman (4 August 1871 – 5 June 1934) was an Australian politician who served as

Premier of New South Wales The premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Government of New South Wales follows the Westminster system, Westminster Parliamentary System, with a Parliament of New South Wales actin ...

from 1913 to 1920. He came to office as the leader of the Labor Party, but was expelled from the party in the split of 1916. He subsequently became the inaugural leader of the NSW branch of the Nationalist Party. Holman was born in London and arrived in Australia at the age of 17, becoming a cabinet-maker in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. Before being elected to parliament, he was active in the

labour movement The labour movement is the collective organisation of working people to further their shared political and economic interests. It consists of the trade union or labour union movement, as well as political parties of labour. It can be considere ...

as a journalist and union official. He was elected to 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 ...

in 1898. He began studying law part-time, and was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

in 1903. In 1910, Holman became

Attorney-General of New South Wales The attorney general of New South Wales, in formal contexts also attorney-general or attorney general for New South Wales See, e.g. Attorney General for New South Wales v Burns & Ors', ''Leahy v Attorney-General for New South Wales'' and ''Makin ...

in the state's first Labor government, under Premier James McGowen. He succeeded McGowen as premier in June 1913, and later that year led his party to victory at the 1913 state election. In 1916, Holman supported the "Yes" vote in the referendum on overseas conscription and was consequently expelled from the Labor Party. He and his supporters remained in government with the backing of the opposition Liberal Reform Party, and the two groups subsequently merged to form the NSW branch of the new Nationalist Party, under Holman's leadership. The new party won a large majority at the 1917 election. However, it was heavily defeated at the 1920 election, in which Holman lost his own seat. After his defeat, he returned to his legal practice and was made

King's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

. He was elected to the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

for the

United Australia Party The United Australia Party (UAP) was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. The party won four Elections in Australia, federal elections in that time, usually governing Coalition (Australia), in coalition ...

at the 1931 federal election, but was in poor health and died before completing his first term.

Early life

Holman was born in St Pancras,

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

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in 1871, the son of William Holman, an actor. His mother was also on the stage under the name of May Burney. He was educated at an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

school and was apprenticed as a cabinetmaker. He attended night classes and literary societies. He attributed his success and love of learning to the teaching of Matilda Sharpe who taught Latin to classes of up to 80. There were bad times in the British theatre during the 1880s, and the Holmans were glad to obtain an engagement with Brough and Boucicault in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. The family migrated to

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 ...

, Victoria in October 1888. The burning of the Bijou Theatre in Melbourne in 1889 resulted in their move to

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 ...

Trade union activity

As a cabinet maker in Sydney, Holman was interested in the ideas of

John Stuart Mill John Stuart Mill (20 May 1806 – 7 May 1873) was an English philosopher, political economist, politician and civil servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of liberalism and social liberalism, he contributed widely to s ...

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was an English textile designer, poet, artist, writer, and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts movement. He was a major contributor to the revival of traditiona ...

Herbert Spencer Herbert Spencer (27 April 1820 – 8 December 1903) was an English polymath active as a philosopher, psychologist, biologist, sociologist, and anthropologist. Spencer originated the expression "survival of the fittest", which he coined in '' ...

and

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...

, and became very active in the

Australian labour movement The Australian labour movement began in the early 19th century and since the late 19th century has included industrial (Australian unions) and political wings (Australian Labor Party). Trade unions in Australia may be formed on the basis of cra ...

. He joined the Single Tax League, the Australian Socialist League, and the newly formed Labor Electoral League, a forerunner of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). In the Australian Socialist League, he mixed with

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

s and

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

s, and met future Prime Minister

Billy Hughes William Morris Hughes (25 September 1862 – 28 October 1952) was an Australian politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Australia from 1915 to 1923. He led the nation during World War I, and his influence on national politics s ...

, as well as Creo Stanley, Ernie Lane,

Henry Lawson Henry Archibald Hertzberg Lawson (17 June 1867 – 2 September 1922) was an Australian writer and bush poet. Along with his contemporary Banjo Paterson, Lawson is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial period ...

and J. D. Fitzgerald. Holman and Hughes were associated with Arthur Desmond on the scandal sheet paper, ''The New Order''. In 1893, Holman he became Secretary of the Railways and Tramways Employees' Union, representing the union on the Sydney Trades and Labor Council. With the support of the Labor Electoral League, he unsuccessfully stood for election to the

in 1894 and 1895. During that period, he was the proprietor of the ''Daily Post'' newspaper, sympathetic to the labour movement, which ended in liquidation, with Holman and four other directors convicted of fraud. He spent nearly two months in jail before the conviction was quashed. He went on to become a journalist for the ''Grenfell Vedette'', and later its proprietor. From 1896 to 1898, he worked as an organiser for the

Australian Workers' Union The Australian Workers' Union (AWU) is one of Australia's largest and oldest trade unions. It traces its origins to unions founded in the pastoralism, pastoral and mining industries in the late 1880s and it currently has approximately 80,000 ...

Legal profession

In 1900, Holman began to study law part-time and, in 1903, he passed the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

's intermediate examination, being admitted to the bar as a barrister of the Supreme Court of New South Wales on 31 July 1903. In 1909, he and P.A. Jacobs co-authored ''Australian Mercantile Law''. In the 1920s, when he resumed his legal practice, he was made a

. After a lectureship in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

in 1928, ''The Australian constitution : its interpretation and amendment'' was published.

Parliamentary career

In the late 1890s, Holman was on the central executive of the embryonic Labor Party, before being elected as the Member for Grenfell in the

in 1898. When Grenfell was abolished in 1904 as part of the post-Federation downsizing of the Legislative Assembly, Holman transferred to the new seat of

Cootamundra Cootamundra, nicknamed Coota, is a town in the South West Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia and within the Riverina. It is within the Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council. At the 2016 Census, Cootamundra had a population of 6,782. I ...

. He became deputy-leader of the Labor party in 1905. In 1910, the Labor Party first won Government in New South Wales with a slim majority of 46 seats in a parliament of 90, with James McGowen as Premier, and Holman was made Attorney General.

Premier of New South Wales

Labor government

On 30 June 1913 McGowen resigned and Holman was named leader of the New South Wales Labor Party, hence becoming Premier. During his government, many

state-owned enterprise A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a business entity created or owned by a national or local government, either through an executive order or legislation. SOEs aim to generate profit for the government, prevent private sector monopolies, provide goo ...

s were established to compete with private businesses, as a compromise to the Labor policy on

nationalisation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with priv ...

. The Labor Party had a policy commitment to abolishing the

New South Wales Legislative Council The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. Along with the New South Wales Legislative As ...

, and Holman moved a motion to that effect in 1893. Only 47 per cent of Government bills were passed by the Upper House for the period between 1910 and 1916. However, in 1912, without consultation with the party machine or the Trades and Labor Council, Holman contradicted his position by making nine appointments to the Upper House, some of whom were not members of the Labor Party. Other issues placing him at odds with the labour movement included the government's failure to control prices and profiteering during the war, and its attitudes to pay and conditions of public servants.

Nationalist government

In 1916, the issue of

conscription Conscription, also known as the draft in the United States and Israel, is the practice in which the compulsory enlistment in a national service, mainly a military service, is enforced by law. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it conti ...

for overseas service divided the Labor Party and the wider Australian community. While much of the Australian labour movement and general community were opposed to conscription, Holman strongly supported it, as did federal Prime Minister

. Both Holman and Hughes were expelled from the Labor Party for that stance. On 15 November 1916, Holman and 17 other pro-conscription Labor MPs formed a coalition with the opposition Liberal Reform Party. Holman remained as Premier. Early in 1917, Holman and his supporters merged with Liberal Reform to form the state branch of the new Nationalist Party. Although the new party was dominated by former Liberal Reformers, Holman was chosen as the merged party's leader, with former Liberal Reform leader Charles Wade as his deputy. Holman hence remained as premier. At the general election held that March, the Nationalists won a huge victory, picking up a 13-seat swing which was magnified by the large number of Labor MPs who followed Holman out of the party. It proved to be a harbinger of the Nationalists' equally massive victory in the federal election held two months later. Holman vigorously defended the state-owned enterprises from his new conservative allies. However, at the 13 March 1920 state election, Holman and his Nationalists were thrown from office in a massive swing, being succeeded by a Labor government under the short-lived John Storey. Unusually for a long-serving premier, Holman was defeated in his own seat. However, he continued outside Parliament as a senior figure in conservative politics.

Federal politics and death

Holman's later parliamentary career was less notable than might have been expected from his 1910–20 achievements. He was elected to the federal parliament as the Sydney seat of

Martin Martin may refer to: Places Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Europe * Martin, Croatia, a village * Martin, Slovakia, a city * Martín del Río, Aragón, Spain * M ...

in December 1931 as a member of the

, which by this time had absorbed the Nationalists. He had an undistinguished time as a backbencher in the

Joseph Lyons Joseph Aloysius Lyons (15 September 1879 – 7 April 1939) was an Australian politician who served as the tenth prime minister of Australia, from 1932 until his death in 1939. He held office as the inaugural leader of the United Australia Par ...

government. His health having deteriorated over a considerable period, he died on 5 June 1934 in the Sydney suburb of Gordon, apparently from shock and loss of blood after a difficult tooth extraction on the previous day. He was cremated at Northern Suburbs crematorium on 6 June 1934. It is rather telling that Holman was not considered for a post in Lyons' cabinet. While Holman and Lyons had been on opposite sides of the World War I conscription debate, both were Labor defectors who had previously been state Labor leaders and premiers. The ensuing Labor split over conscription had helped Lyons ascend to the Tasmanian Labor leadership. In fact, Lyons' tenure as Tasmanian Labor leader from 1916 to 1929 briefly overlapped Holman's tenure as NSW Labor leader from 1913 to 1917. However, Holman had been in poor health for several years before his election to Canberra, which probably disqualified him for ministerial preferment in any event.

Legacy

Holman is still a controversial figure, much like Hughes. Since he followed Hughes' example in leaving the ALP and heading a conservative government, he became and remains a traitor in the eyes of Labor historians. Although Holman protected the state-owned enterprises he had helped create during his ALP days, the

still considers him a "rat". Holman Park in the Sydney suburb of Hornsby on the corner of Northcote and Sherbrooke Roads is named after him.

Personal life

On 22 January 1901, Holman married journalist and novelist Ada Augusta Kidgell, niece of James Kidgell, a Member of the

Queensland Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembly h ...

. Their one child, Portia Holman, was born on 20 November 1903. After tertiary studies in England and France, she qualified as a doctor at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, specialising in psychiatry, and worked in various positions in England. In 1934, a portrait of Holman by John Longstaff was awarded the

Archibald Prize The Archibald Prize is an Australian portraiture art prize for painting, generally seen as the most prestigious portrait prize in Australia. It was first awarded in 1921 after the receipt of a bequest from J. F. Archibald, J. F. Archib ...

for portraiture. It was later acquired by the Geelong Art Gallery.

Notes

References

* ''Australian labour leader : the story of W.A. Holman and the labour movement'' Herbert Vere Evatt (1940). * ''The First New South Wales Labor Government 1910-1916; Two Memoirs: William Holman and John Osborne'' Michael Hogan (2005)

External links

First NSW Labor Government 1910–1916

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holman, William Arthur 1871 births 1934 deaths English emigrants to colonial Australia Nationalist Party of Australia members of the Parliament of New South Wales United Australia Party members of the Parliament of Australia Premiers of New South Wales Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Martin People from St Pancras, London Treasurers of New South Wales Attorneys-general of New South Wales Australian cabinetmakers Alumni of the University of London Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales Members of the Australian House of Representatives Australian MPs 1931–1934 Ministers for justice (New South Wales) Ministers for education (New South Wales)