George Elliott Barton (20 May 1829 – 31 May 1903) was a 19th-century lawyer and practised as a barrister in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

(Ireland),

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),

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

(New Zealand),

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 ...

(New South Wales). He was appointed a judge in

and

, New Zealand.

Family life

George Barton married Jane Crichton Campbell, eldest daughter of the Rev. Dr. Campbell of London, on 8 April 1854 at Melbourne, Victoria. Their first child, a son, Elliott L'Estrange Barton (solicitor Patea & Hawera; Mayor Hawera), was born 13 July 1856 at South Yarra, Victoria. Their second child, another son, Edward Gustavus Campbell Barton (electrical engineer, Brisbane) was born 11 December 1857 at South Yarra. He died in Paris, France, on 31 May 1903. There appears to have been a daughter Anna who lived to adulthood.

Professional life

General

An Irish Protestant, he was described as a hot-tempered and an "exciteable Irishman" and was the subject of the "Barton Affair" of 1876-78 when he was imprisoned for a month (lawyers were usually fined) for contempt of court by Chief Justice James Prendergast (who he had probably met in the Victorian goldfields). He was known as ''"little Barton"'' to distinguish him from George Burnett Barton or ''"long Barton"'' (unrelated) who was also a lawyer and the editor of the Otago Daily Times.

Australia

Barton was selected to represent the 'working classes' in the district of North Melbourne for the 1859 general election, which he won. He was particularly concerned with introducing the payment of members of parliament.

New Zealand

He was appointed a judge of the Native Land Court in 1888, but according to Morris resigned and left New Zealand in 1890 following a feud with a fellow judge, dying in Paris in 1903 (although Wilson says he died in 1906).

Political career

He stood unsuccessfully in the for . At the 1877 local elections he stood for

Mayor of Wellington The mayor of Wellington is the head of the municipal government of Wellington, the city of Wellington. The mayor presides over the Wellington City Council. The mayor is directly elected using the Single Transferable Vote method of proportional ...

. During the campaign, against former mayor

Joe Dransfield Joseph Dransfield (1827 – 21 September 1906) was the Mayor of Wellington, New Zealand, from 1870 to 1872. He was the first mayor of the reconstituted Wellington City since William Guyton was (briefly) mayor of the previous Wellington Borough ...

, Barton decided to withdraw from election in consequence of being engaged in several legal cases pertaining to the city, meaning that if elected he would have had to appear in court against himself. He was a Member of Parliament, representing the City of Wellington electorate from the 1878 City of Wellington by-election to 1879, when he retired.

References

External links

* 1829 births 1903 deaths New Zealand MPs for Wellington electorates Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly 19th-century New Zealand politicians 19th-century New Zealand lawyers Lawyers from Dunedin 19th-century Australian politicians {{NewZealand-politician-stub