Francis Stacker Dutton CMG (18 October 1818 – 25 January 1877) was the seventh

Premier of South Australia The premier of South Australia is the head of government in the state of South Australia, Australia. The Government of South Australia follows the Westminster system, with a Parliament of South Australia acting as the legislature. The premier i ...

, serving twice, firstly in 1863 and again in 1865.

Early life and education

Francis Dutton was born at

Cuxhaven Cuxhaven (; ) is a town and seat of the Cuxhaven district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town includes the northernmost point of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the shore of the North Sea at the mouth of the Elbe River. Cuxhaven has a footprint o ...

, Germany, where his father was

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vice-consul, in 1818. He was educated at Hofwyl College, near

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in Switzerland, and afterwards at the high school at

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in Germany. At 17, he went to Brazil as a junior clerk and was there for about five years, in

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and

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Career

In 1839, Francis joined his older brothers Hampden, Pelham and Frederick in

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, went overland to

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, and followed mercantile pursuits for about 18 months He then joined his brother Frederick at

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

, in the

colony of South Australia A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their '' metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often or ...

, and in 1842 or early in 1843, discovered

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

at Kapunda, 45 miles north of

. He showed the specimen he had found to Captain Charles Bagot, who produced a similar specimen that his son had found in the same locality. The land was purchased and samples were sent to England, which showed a high percentage of copper. Dutton visited England in 1845 and sold his interest in the mine for a large sum. While in

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, he prepared for publication his ''South Australia and its Mines'', a work of 360 pages, a valuable contemporary account of the new colony published in 1846. Dutton returned to South Australia in 1847, and in 1849 became a member of the Adelaide board of city commissioners. In 1850 Dutton wrote "Constitution fuer Suedaustralien: Gesetz zur bessern Regierung der australischen Colonien Ihrer Majestaet" (In English: ''Constitution for South Australia: Act for the better government of Her Majesty's Australian Colonies'') to bring discussions on the formation of a constitution in South Australia to the attention of German settlers. He was elected a member of the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

for East Adelaide in 1851 and sat until 1857, when he was elected to the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible g ...

as member for

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(9 March 1857 to 18 March 1860) and then for

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(19 March 1860 to 22 Apr 1862; and 17 November 1862 to 28 September 1865). He was Commissioner of Crown Lands and Immigration in the Hanson government from 30 September 1857 to 2 June 1859, and was premier from 4 to 15 July 1863. He formed his second cabinet on 22 March 1865 and was premier and commissioner of public works until 20 September of the same year, when he became

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for South Australia in London. He was a good linguist, able to speak French, German, and Portuguese, and had an excellent knowledge of business.

Death

Dutton died on 25 January 1877.

Recognition

Dutton was made a Commander of the

Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III ...

(CMG) in 1872. He was also a Fellow of the Geographical Society, Associate of the Institute of Civil Engineers, and a Member of both the

Royal Institution of Great Britain The Royal Institution of Great Britain (often the Royal Institution, Ri or RI) is an organisation for scientific education and research, based in the City of Westminster. It was founded in 1799 by the leading British scientists of the age, inc ...

and Colonial Institute. Dutton's Bluff, later Dutton Bluff, a hill some 66 km north-west of Quorn, was named for him and the Victorian government botanist named '' Eremophila duttonii'' in his honour.

Family

Dutton married Caroline MacDermott (ca.1822 – 1 June 1855), a daughter of Marshall MacDermott on 7 November 1849; they had two sons and a daughter: :*Francis "Frank" MacDermott Dutton (1850 – c. 9 May 1932) :*Caroline Birch Dutton (15 August 1852 – 1950) married barrister Charles Thomas Mitchell in Norland,

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on 17 August 1878. Her portrait was painted by Carlile Henry Hayes Macartney :*Sir Frederick Dutton (14 April 1855 – c. 10 October 1930), solicitor of Wilkins, Blyth, Dutton and Hartley, married Beatrice Aimee Bridger MBE (1863 – 1 August 1928) in 1883. William Hampden Dutton (1805–1849), pastoralist of Anlaby Station and miner at Kapunda, was a brother, as was pastoralist and parliamentarian Frederick Hansborough Dutton (1812–1890). Note: William Dutton (1811–1878), sometimes referred to as "William Pelham Dutton", ship's captain, whaler and pioneer of

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, was not closely related. Author Geoffrey Dutton, great-grandson of W. H. Dutton, warned against this confusion in his article on F. S. Dutton in the

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

. For his relationship to other people prominent in the history of South Australia see separate article.

References

Sources

Parliament of South Australia - Dutton
*''

South Australian Register ''The Register'', originally the ''South Australian Gazette and Colonial Register'', and later ''South Australian Register,'' was South Australia's first newspaper. It was first published in London in June 1836, moved to Adelaide in 1837, and ...

'' and '' South Australian Advertiser'', 29 January 1877. *F. Dutton (1846)
''South Australia and its Mines''
London: T. and W. Boone. * * , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Dutton, Francis Stacker Premiers of South Australia Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George 1818 births 1877 deaths People from Cuxhaven 19th-century Australian politicians Members of the South Australian House of Assembly Members of the South Australian Legislative Council