Henry John Saunders (16 February 1855 – 13 October 1919) was an Australian engineer, businessman and politician. He was a prominent mining entrepreneur during the

Western Australian gold rush In the latter part of the nineteenth century, discoveries of gold at a number of locations in Western Australia caused large influxes of prospectors from overseas and interstate, and classic gold rushes. Significant finds included: * Halls C ...

and served on the

Western Australian Legislative Council The Western Australian Legislative Council is the upper house of the Parliament of Western Australia, a state of Australia. It is regarded as a house of review for legislation passed by the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, Legislative A ...

(1894–1902), as mayor of Perth (1895–1898), and briefly as a

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

for

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

(1903).

Early life

Saunders was born on 16 February 1855 in

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 ...

, England, the son of Thomas Bush Saunders, a barrister and

chief magistrate A chief magistrate is a public official, executive or judicial, whose office is the highest in its class. Historically, the two different meanings of magistrate have often overlapped and refer to, as the case may be, to a major political and admi ...

Bradford-on-Avon Bradford-on-Avon (sometimes Bradford on Avon) is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in west Wiltshire (district), Wiltshire, England, near the border with Somerset. The town's canal, historic buildings, shops, pubs and restauran ...

, and Maria Albers (née Pedder). He attended

Clifton College Clifton College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in the city of Bristol in South West England, founded in 1862 and offering both boarding school, boarding and day school for pupils aged 13–18. In its early years, unlike mo ...

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, then trained as a civil engineer.

Engineering career

Saunders immigrated to Western Australia in 1884 and settled in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, where he became the chief engineer of the

Midland Railway Company The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It ama ...

. He subsequently went into partnership with James Barratt in the firm of Saunders and Barratt. In 1887, Saunders and Barratt developed a plan for Perth's first metropolitan water supply scheme. Their proposal envisioned a dam of 140 million gallons on Munday Brook in Canning Mills, connected by a 12-inch pipeline with the reservoir at Mount Eliza feeding in to the Perth townsite and also connecting to

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia located at the mouth of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australi ...

. Although their proposal was initially rejected by both the

and

local governments, a virtually identical scheme was proceeded with a few years later and resulted in the construction of the Victoria Dam. Saunders had previous experience in

hydraulic engineering Hydraulic engineering as a sub-discipline of civil engineering is concerned with the flow and conveyance of fluids, principally water and sewage. One feature of these systems is the extensive use of gravity as the motive force to cause the move ...

and chose the design for the dam wall.

Mining interests

During the

, Saunders made a fortune as a mining entrepreneur. He floated the West Australian Goldfields Company in London in 1894 which paid a 40 percent

dividend A dividend is a distribution of profits by a corporation to its shareholders, after which the stock exchange decreases the price of the stock by the dividend to remove volatility. The market has no control over the stock price on open on the ex ...

in its first year. He was also involved with the Lady Shenton and Florence mines on the

Menzies Menzies is a Scottish surname, with Gaelic forms being Méinnearach and Méinn, and other variant forms being Menigees, Mennes, Mengzes, Menzeys, Mengies, and Minges. Derivation and history The name and its Gaelic form are probably derived f ...

goldfields. In 1900, Saunders acquired the

Leinster Leinster ( ; or ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland. The modern province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige, which existed during Gaelic Ireland. Following the 12th-century ...

mine which produced 34,813 ounces of gold over the next seven years. He also acquired pastoral leases around the mine and established Leinster Downs station.

Politics

Saunders was elected to the Perth City Council in 1889 and served as mayor of Perth from 1895 to 1898. He first stood for parliament at the 1890 inaugural election for the

Western Australian Legislative Assembly The Western Australian Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Western Australia, an Australian state. The Parliament sits in Parliament House, Perth, Parliament House in the Western Australian capi ...

, but was defeated in the seat of

East Perth East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that eas ...

. In 1894 he was elected to the

to a two-year term in

Metropolitan Province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of Ecclesiastical jurisdiction, jurisdiction in Christianity, Christian churches, including those of both Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity, that have traditional hierarchical struc ...

. He was re-elected to a six-year term in 1896 but defeated for re-election in 1902. At the inaugural 1901 federal election, Saunders was an unsuccessful candidate for the Senate in Western Australia. He stood on a platform that included free trade, White Australia, conciliation and arbitration, old-age pensions, and women's suffrage. He placed eighth on the statewide ballot with six seats to fill, and unsuccessfully petitioned for the election of Alec Matheson to be overturned on the grounds of bribery. On 20 May 1903 he was appointed 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 ...

Senator for

, filling the casual vacancy caused by the resignation of Senator Norman Ewing. He contested the 1903 election but was unsuccessful. In 1918 he returned to the Legislative Council, but he died in 1919 at St Omer's Private Hospital in West Perth.

Personal life

In 1887, Saunders married Elizabeth Shenton, the daughter of George Shenton Sr. and sister of George Shenton. Their only child died in infancy and he was widowed in 1891. He remarried in 1893 to Julia Parthenia Davey, with whom he had two sons. From 1895, Saunders lived at Henley Park, a property of on the Swan River north of

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, England, around south-west of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The nam ...

. He bred horses, sheep,

Ayrshire cattle The Ayrshire ( IPA ) is a Scottish breed of dairy cattle. It originates in, and is named for, the county of Ayrshire in south-western Scotland. Ayrshires typically have red and white markings; the red can range from a shade of orange to a dark ...

and pigs, serving as president of the

Royal Agricultural Society of Western Australia The Royal Agricultural Society of Western Australia (RASWA) was established 1831 in Western Australia. Early history It held its first annual agricultural show, the Fair and Cattle Show, at Guildford, Western Australia, Guildford on 7 November ...

. He died on 13 October 1919 at the age of 64 and was interred at Karrakatta Cemetery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saunders, Henry 1855 births 1919 deaths Free Trade Party members of the Parliament of Australia People educated at Clifton College Settlers of Western Australia Members of the Australian Senate for Western Australia Members of the Australian Senate Members of the Western Australian Legislative Council Mayors and lord mayors of Perth, Western Australia 20th-century Australian politicians Politicians from London Australian mining businesspeople 19th-century Australian engineers Colony of Western Australia people Hydraulic engineers