David Morley Charleston (27 May 1848 – 30 June 1934) was a Cornish-born Australian politician. Born in

St Erth St Erth () is a civil parishes in England, civil parish and village in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. St Erth takes its name from Saint Erc, one of the many Irish saints who brought Christianity to Cornwall during the Sub-Roman Britain, Da ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

, he received only a primary education before becoming an apprentice engineer at

Harvey & Co John Harvey was a Cornish people, Cornishman whose career started as a blacksmith and engineer at Carnhell Green near Hayle, in west Cornwall. In 1779 he established a foundry and engineering works at Hayle called Harvey & Co. By 1800 the compan ...

ironworks, and later an engineering unionist in the

Amalgamated Society of Engineers The Amalgamated Society of Engineers (ASE) was a major British trade union, representing factory workers and mechanics. History The history of the union can be traced back to the formation of the Journeymen Steam Engine, Machine Makers' and Mi ...

in London. In 1874 he moved to San Francisco and worked as a marine engineer for

Pacific Mail Steamship Company The Pacific Mail Steamship Company was founded April 18, 1848, as a joint stock company under the laws of the State of New York by a group of New York City merchants. Incorporators included William H. Aspinwall, Edwin Bartlett (American consul ...

. Migrating to

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

in 1884, he continued his engineering work initially on the Hackney Bridge for the Road Board then with the

Adelaide Steamship Company The Adelaide Steamship Company was an Australian shipping company, later a diversified industrial and logistics conglomerate. It was formed by a group of South Australian businessmen in 1875. Their aim was to control the transport of goods be ...

, but resigned in 1887 after labour troubles. He subsequently became President of the

United Trades and Labour Council of South Australia SA Unions (originally the United Trades and Labour Council of South Australia) is the peak body for trade unions in South Australia. It coordinates political, social, economic, and industrial campaigns between its affiliate members and implements ...

for a year from February 1889. In 1891 he was elected to the

South Australian Legislative Council The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. Its central purpose is to act as a house of review for legislation passed through the lower house, the South Australian House of Assembly, H ...

as a

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

member, but he left the United Labor Party in 1897 and resigned his seat. He was re-elected as an independent at the resulting by-election. Leaving the Council in 1901, he was elected to the

Australian Senate The Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives. The powers, role and composition of the Senate are set out in Chap ...

as a

Free Trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold Economic liberalism, economically liberal positions, while economic nationalist politica ...

r. He was defeated in 1903, and was later General Secretary of the

Farmers and Producers Political Union The Farmers and Producers Political Union (FPPU) was an independent conservative agrarian political party founded in South Australia in reaction to Labor, keen to fend off a perceived threat to the FPPU's interests against a rising labour moveme ...

. Several attempts to re-enter the Senate were unsuccessful. Charleston died in 1934.

Personal

Charleston married Mary Foster (née Cooke) on 24 December 1895. Mary was the daughter of William Cooke of the Britannia Iron Works, Melbourne, and a well-known singer and widow of

Fanny Simonsen Fanny Simonsen (née Françoise De Haes or Dehaes; c. 1835 – 19 September 1896), also written Fannie Simonsen, was a French soprano singer who had a substantial career on the Australian stage, later a concert manager with her violinist husband M ...

's pianist Charles Bunbury Foster, who may have died in Queensland in 1894, but details are elusive. Charleston's sister was the suffragist

Nellie Martel Ellen Alma Martel, (; 30 September 1855 – 11 August 1940) was an English-Australian Women's suffrage, suffragist and elocutionist. She stood for the Australian Senate, Senate at the 1903 Australian federal election, 1903 federal election, ...

References

1848 births 1934 deaths Australian people of Cornish descent British emigrants to Australia Free Trade Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian Senate for South Australia Members of the Australian Senate Members of the South Australian Legislative Council Australian trade unionists Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of South Australia 20th-century Australian politicians {{Australia-FreeTrade-politician-stub

Personal

See also

References