John Basson Humffray (17 April 1824 – 18 March 1891) was a leading advocate in the movement of miner reform process in the British colony of Victoria, and a member of parliament. Humffray was born in Newtown,

Montgomeryshire Montgomeryshire ( ) was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It was named after its county town, Montgomery, Powys, Montgomery, which in turn was named after ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. He was articled to a solicitor, and became active in the Chartist movement, but abandoned his legal studies and migrated to Victoria,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in 1853.

From rural Wales to Australia

Humffray arrived in

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 ...

on the "Star of the East" on 19 September 1853, and moved to

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) () is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Ballarat had a population of 111,973, making it the third-largest urban inland city in Australia and the third-largest city in Victoria. Within mo ...

two months later to try his hand at gold digging. At a protest meeting of over 10,000 diggers at Bakery Hill on Saturday, 11 November 1854, Humffray was elected secretary of the Ballarat Reform League. In his view, the diggers' grievances were the result of an unrepresentative political system, which he felt could be changed by moral suasion. Humffray was a member of the three-person delegation which met the Governor of Victoria, Sir Charles Hotham, in

on Monday, 27 November 1854. The miners' demands for economic and political reforms were rejected. After a particularly vicious licence hunt, a meeting of the Ballarat Reform League was held on Thursday, 30 November 1854 at which the miners rejected "moral force" as advocated by Humffray. They embarked on the path of "physical force" by electing Peter Lalor as their leader, and deciding to meet force with force by building the Eureka Stockade. Humffray was not part of the rebellion and played the role of peacemaker in the lead up to the battle at the Eureka Stockade on 3 December 1854. He represented the interests of aggrieved diggers at the Commission of Enquiry into the discontent on the goldfields,Corfield, Justin; Wickham, Dorothy; & Gervasoni, Clare, Eureka Encyclopaedia, Ballarat Heritage Services, 2004, pg 281 and was a vocal defender of the 13 miners who were charged with high treason for their role in the rebellion. He was in 1855 an organiser of Ballarat's first eisteddfod (fore-runner of the South Street competitions), editor of the short-lived Ballarat ''Leader'', first president of the Ballarat Mechanics' Institute, and passed first-year law,

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

(1860). As a result of losing money in mining speculations, Humffray became dependent on charity in his last years. After a long illness, he died a pauper on 18 March 1891.

Political career

When the miners were granted the right to vote and representation in 1855 Humffray was elected unopposed as the member of the Victorian Legislative Council for Ballaarat (1855-1856); then Member of 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 ...

for North Grant (1856-1859) then Ballarat East (1859-1871). He served as Minister for Mines (November 1860 to November 1861) and Chairman of the Royal Commission on Mining (1862).

Legacy

Humffray Street, one of the major roads in Ballarat, is named after him, with that being sometime prior to 1858. Humffray was an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

, and was buried in the Ballaarat Old Cemetery, near those who had died in the Eureka rebellion. A headstone was erected by the people of Ballarat. He was played by Peter Finch in the 1949 film ''Eureka Stockade''.

References

* Corfield, Justin; Wickham, Dorothy; & Gervasoni, Clare, ''Eureka Encyclopaedia'', Ballarat Heritage Services, 2004, pg 280-282 * Serle, Geoffrey, ''The Golden Age: A history of the colony of Victoria 1851-1861'', Melbourne, MUP, 1977, p. 164.
Reclaim the Radical Spirit of the Eureka Rebellion

External links

Australian Dictionary of National Biography Online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Humffray, John Basson Australian Anglicans Members of the Victorian Legislative Council Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Chartists Welsh emigrants to Australia Politicians from the Colony of Victoria 1824 births 1891 deaths Politicians from Ballarat Protests in Australia 19th-century Welsh people 19th-century Australian lawyers People of the Eureka Rebellion Ministers of mines (Victoria) Eureka Rebellion