Jacob Garrard (1 January 1846 – 5 November 1931) was a politician in colonial

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, serving as Secretary for Public Works and Minister of Public Instruction.

Early life

Garrard was born in

Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-o ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, England, the son of Joseph Garrard, a revenue officer, and his wife Martha, ''née'' Piggott. Educated at Harwich National School and Southwark Borough School, Garrard migrated at 13 years of age with his family to

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

where he worked on coastal ships. Garrard moved in 1867 to Sydney, New South Wales and lived at Balmain and until around 1883.

Political career

Garrard represented Balmain in the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House ...

from 19 November 1880 to 6 June 1891, and was returned at the head of the poll at the general election in 1889. He was defeated at the 1891 election for Balmain with picking up all 4 seats. He returned to the Legislative Assembly as one of the members for Central Cumberland at the by-election on 29 August 1891 following the death of Robert Ritchie, serving until 25 June 1894 when multi-member districts were abolished. 76 new districts were created, and Garrard successfully contested

Sherbrooke Sherbrooke ( , ) is a city in southern Quebec, Canada. It is at the confluence of the Saint-François River, Saint-François and Magog River, Magog rivers in the heart of the Estrie administrative region. Sherbrooke is also the name of a territ ...

which largely consisted of the north western part of Central Cumberland, including

Blacktown Blacktown is a suburb in New South Wales, Australia, west of the Sydney central business district. It is one of the most multicultural places within Sydney, Greater Sydney. History Before the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, the area of ...

and

Baulkham Hills Baulkham Hills (;) is a suburb in the Hills District, New South Wales, Hills District of Greater Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located within north-west of the Sydney central business district mostly within the Loca ...

. He held the seat in 1895 but was defeated at the 1898 election. He was Secretary for Public Works in the last Robertson Ministry from December 1885 to February 1886. He was Minister of Public Instruction in the Reid ministry from 3 August 1894 until 15 August 1898, adding the additional portfolio of Minister for Labour and Industry from 11 March 1895.

Later life and death

He was appointed to the Metropolitan Board of Water Supply and Sewerage in 1899, serving until 1912, including a period as president from 1899 until 1904. Garrard died in Hornsby, Sydney, Australia on 5 November 1931, survived by two daughters and two of his five sons. He was buried in the Methodist section of Gore Hill cemetery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garrard, Jacob 1846 births 1931 deaths Free Trade Party politicians Colony of New South Wales people Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly People from Harwich English emigrants to colonial Australia Mayors of Balmain Burials at Gore Hill Cemetery Sydney Water Ministers for education (New South Wales)