Vernon Charles Redwood (14 April 1873 – 15 February 1954) was a

maltster Malting is the process of steeping, Germination, germinating, and drying grain to convert it into malt. Germination and sprouting involve a number of enzymes to produce the changes from seed to seedling and the malt producer stops this stage of t ...

and member of the

Queensland Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembly h ...

Biography

Redwood was born at Riverlands near Blenheim,

Marlborough Marlborough or the Marlborough may refer to: Places Australia * Marlborough, Queensland * Principality of Marlborough, a short-lived micronation in 1993 * Marlborough Highway, Tasmania; Malborough was an historic name for the place at the sou ...

, New Zealand,Vernon Charles Redwood
—

State Library of Queensland State Library of Queensland (State Library) is the state public reference and research library of Queensland, Australia, operated by the Government of Queensland, state government. The Library is governed by the Library Board of Queensland, whi ...

. Retrieved 24 March 2016. one of 15 siblings to parents Charles Redwood (1836–1915) and his wife Mary Elizabeth (née Grimstone, 1843–1912). Henry Redwood (1823–1907) and Francis Redwood (1839–1935) were his uncles. The Redwood family members were all staunch Catholics and his uncle Francis was the first

Archbishop of Wellington The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Wellington (''Archidioecesis Metropolitae Vellingtonensis'') is the Metropolitan diocese, metropolitan archdiocese of New Zealand. Catholics number about 83,214 (2006 census). Parishes number 22 and the archdioc ...

. Vernon Redwood was educated by the Christian Brothers in New Zealand before coming to Australia in 1893 where he found work on Westbrook

Station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

where one of his duties was the cutting of prickly pear. In 1895 he became a maltster at the Perkins & Co brewery in

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 many of his brothers joined him as maltsters. In 1897, his parents also emigrated to Queensland, with his father joining his sons in the malting business. In the end, only four of his siblings remained in New Zealand. In 1902, he established his own maltings business. In 1904 the business was sold to William Jones & Son, and he was its general manager until 1913. In 1913 he established the Redwood Toowoomba Grain Exchange but the business quickly failed and was

liquidated Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a company is brought to an end. The assets and property of the business are redistributed. When a firm has been liquidated, it is sometimes referred to as wound-up or dissolved, although di ...

later the same year. After being awarded £500 in a libel action against the

Darling Downs Gazette The ''Darling Downs Gazette'' was a newspaper published from 1848 to 1922 in Drayton and Toowoomba in Queensland, Australia. History ''The Darling Downs Gazette and General Advertiser'' was founded in 1858 by Arthur Sidney Lyon. The first issu ...

, he moved to Europe and settled in London where he became a member of an anti-prohibitionist group, the Fellowship of Freedom and Reform. In 1896 he married Mary Werkin Wakefield and together had 3 sons and four daughters.Family history research
— Queensland Government births, deaths, marriages, and divorces. Retrieved 23 February 2016. He died in London in 1954.

Political career

Redwood was a member of the Gowrie Shire Council and for some time was an Alderman on the Toowoomba City Council including its mayor in 1910. At the 1904 Queensland state elections he stood for the two-member seat of Drayton and Toowoomba but was beaten by fellow Ministerialists James Tolmie and John Fogarty. When Fogarty died later that same year Redwood stood at the

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

but was once again beaten, this time by the Labour candidate, Edward Smart. He finally won the seat at the 1907 state election but held it for only two years before his defeat in

1909 Events January–February * January 4 – Explorer Aeneas Mackintosh of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition escapes death by fleeing across ice floes. * January 7 – Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama. * Janu ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Redwood, Vernon Charles Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly 1873 births 1954 deaths People from Blenheim, New Zealand