James Styles (3 July 1841 – 4 February 1913) was a contractor, civil engineer and politician in Victoria, Australia.

Early life

Born in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, Styles migrated to Australia in 1849 with his family, where he was educated at private schools in Melbourne. He became a civil engineer and railway contractor, working with his father in Queensland on the construction of the Western railway line between

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( ), nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar', is a city on the border of South East Queensland and Darling Downs regions of Queensland, Australia. It is located west of Queensland's capital, Brisbane. The urban population of Toowoom ...

and Dalby before returning to Victoria in 1869 where he undertook further railway construction. In the 1870s he moved to South Australia where he was the resident engineer on the construction of the

Peterborough railway line Peterborough ( ) is a cathedral city in the City of Peterborough district in the ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. The city is north of London, on the River Nene. As of the 2021 census, Peterborough had a population of 192,178, whi ...

between Burra and Hallett and was a contractor on the construction of water and sewerage systems in Adelaide. He returned to Victoria in 1883 and was elected to the Williamstown Council. Styles was the council's representative on the

Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works The Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works (MMBW) was a public utility board in Melbourne, Australia, set up in 1891 to provide water supply, sanitary sewer, sewerage and sewage treatment functions for the city. In 1992, the MMBW was merged wit ...

and applied unsuccessfully for the position of chairman in 1891. Styles frequently clashed with the Board's chairman,

Edmond Gerald FitzGibbon Edmund Gerald FitzGibbon (1 November 1825 – 12 December 1905) was a barrister and Town clerk of Melbourne.Bernard Barrett,FitzGibbon, Edmund Gerald (1825 - 1905), ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Vol. 4, MUP, 1972, pp 181-182. FitzGibb ...

Political career

Styles was a candidate for the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the states and territories of Australia, state lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the state upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament H ...

seat of Williamstown in 1889 and 1889, but was unsuccessful, before winning the seat in 1894, a position he held until 1900. He was a

Protectionist Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations. ...

candidate for Victoria at the 1901 senate election where he was elected fourth, for the short term seat, ending on 30 December 1903. At the 1903 Senate election he again finished fourth and so filled the vacancy due to the death of Sir Frederick Sargood. He stood again at the 1906 senate election but was defeated, finishing fifth, part of the decline of the Protectionist Party in Victoria.

Personal life

While working in Queensland, Styles married Teresa Dignam on 23 February 1865 and they would have a son, James, and two daughters, Teresa and Maude. He died in Hawthorn in 1913, aged 71, survived by his wife, James and Maude.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Styles, James 1841 births 1913 deaths People from the Colony of Victoria Engineers from Melbourne Protectionist Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian Senate for Victoria 20th-century Australian politicians