Alexander Mayes (1859–1941) was a builder and politician in

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( ), nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar', is a city on the border of South East Queensland and Darling Downs regions of Queensland, Australia. It is located west of Queensland's capital, Brisbane. The urban population of Toowoom ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. He was Mayor of Toowoomba.

Early life

Alexander Mayes was born on 17 July 1859 in Largo,

Fifeshire Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council area and lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the south, Perth and Kinross to the west and Clackmannanshire t ...

, Scotland. He learned his trade as a builder in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

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 ...

and

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

. Mayes moved to Toowoomba in June 1886 at the age of 26.

Business life

Mayes spent 35 years in Toowoomba, becoming a prominent builder. He is known to have worked on the

Toowoomba City Hall Toowoomba City Hall is a heritage-listed town hall at 541 Ruthven Street, Toowoomba, Queensland, Toowoomba, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Willoughby Powell and built in 1900 by Alexander Mayne. It is also known as ...

Toowoomba Post Office Toowoomba Post Office is a heritage-listed former post office at 136 Margaret Street, Toowoomba City, Queensland, Toowoomba City, Toowoomba, Queensland, Toowoomba, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Francis Drummond Gr ...

, Tooowoomba Masonic Hall, Commercial Bank, Toowoomba Technical College and Vacy Hall and many private homes. Circa 1901, he built his own home ''Largo'' (now the heritage-listed Gowrie House) based on a design by Toowoomba architect, Harry Marks.

Public service

Mayes was active in local politics, being mayor of Toowoomba in 1896, 1903 and 1917. He was honorary superintendent of the Toowoomba Fire Brigade for many decades. He was a prominent

Freemason Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

Personal life

Mayes was married twice. He married his first wife Eleanor Godsall (née Hickey)(1843-1896), the widow of Toowoomba mayor Richard Godsall (1837-1885) on 20 June 1888; she had nine children by her first marriage. Eleanor died on 23 August 1896. He married his second wife, Miss Helena Agnes (Nellie) Grieves of

Warwick Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon, Warwickshire, River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined wit ...

, on 6 October 1897 in the Warwick Presbyterian Church. He had four sons with his second wife: Bruce Toowoomba Mayes (a professor of obstetrics at

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

), Alex Mayes (a doctor and cricket player), Hector Mayes and Charles Mayes (a Presbyterian minister).

Later life

Mayes left Toowoomba in 1922 for Bilinga near

Coolangatta Coolangatta is a coastal suburb in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. It is the Gold Coast's southernmost suburb and it borders New South Wales. In the , Coolangatta had a population of 6,491 people. History Coolangatta is situat ...

and returned to Scotland in 1926. A staunch Presbyterian, he led the establishment of a Presbyterian church in Lower

Currumbin Currumbin ( ) is a coastal suburb in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. In the , Currumbin had a population of 3,278 people. Geography The suburb extends from Currumbin Creek in the north to Wyberba Street in the south. The Pa ...

, which officially opened on 8 May 1926. He died in his residence in Newmarket, Brisbane on 28 November 1940. He was cremated at the

Mount Thompson Crematorium Mount Thompson Memorial Gardens and Crematorium (formerly Brisbane Crematorium) includes a heritage-listed chapel (the West Chapel), columbaria and other features. It is located on north-western slopes of Mount Thompson (Queensland), Mount Thomp ...

on 30 November 1940. His wife Nellie died on 25 April 1948 and her cremated remains are interred with her husband's in the crematorium grounds.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mayes, Alexander 1859 births 1941 deaths Mayors of Toowoomba British emigrants to colonial Australia Colony of Queensland people