Frank Dobson (Australian politician)

Hon. Frank Stanley Dobson (20 April 1835 – 1 June 1895), was an Australian politician. A former member of the Victorian Legislative Council, Dobson was born in Tasmania to parents John and Mary Anne,[1] and was the brother of Sir William Dobson and half-brother of Alfred and Henry Dobson.[2] He was educated in Tasmania and England, earning degrees in arts and law, eventually becoming an academic, then a parliamentarian and Solicitor-General of Victoria.

Early life edit

Dobson was born on 20 April 1835.[3] Educated at The Hutchins School, Hobart, and St. John's College, Cambridge, he obtained a Bachelor of Arts in 1861 and Doctor of Laws in 1870. Dobson entered at the Middle Temple in January 1856, and was called to the English bar in April 1860, and to the Tasmanian bar on 28 August 1861.[1] Having taken up his residence in Australia, he was called to the Victorian bar on 26 September 1861. He was Law Lecturer at the University of Melbourne, of which he earned a Master of Arts.[1]

Political career edit

In 1865 Dobson entered the Victorian Legislative Council of as member for the Southern Province, and held office as Solicitor-General in the Bryan O'Loghlen Ministry from 9 July 1881 to 7 March 1883.[1][4] Dobson then represented the South Eastern Province from November 1882 to June 1895.,[3] he was Chairman of Committees of the Legislative Council. In 1887 he was appointed Queen's Counsel.[3]

Personal life edit

Dobson married, on 8 June 1871, Edith Mary, younger daughter of John Carter, Q.C., who died; and he then married Henrietta Louisa, daughter of W. S. Sharland, of New Norfolk, Tasmania.[1] He was president of the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria in 1884, was a fellow of the Linnean Society and member of the Victorian Acclimatisation Society. He died at his home in South Yarra, Victoria on 1 June 1895.[2]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e Mennell, Philip (1892). "Dobson, Hon. Frank Stanley" . The Dictionary of Australasian Biography. London: Hutchinson & Co – via Wikisource.
  2. ^ a b Barrow, Elizabeth. "Dobson, Frank Stanley (1835–1895)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 20 October 2012.
  3. ^ a b c "Frank Stanley Dobson". Re-Member: a database of all Victorian MPs since 1851. Parliament of Victoria. Archived from the original on 23 April 2023. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  4. ^ "Appointment Solicitor-General Frank Dobson MLC". Victoria Government Gazette. Victorian Government Printer. 9 July 1881. p. 1881:2059.

 

Victorian Legislative Council
Preceded by Member for Southern Province
1870–1882
With: 4 others
Succeeded by
New title Member for South-Eastern Province
1882–1895
With: James Buchanan
James Balfour
Succeeded by
Political offices
Dormant
Title last held by
Townsend McDermott
Solicitor-General of Victoria
Jul 1881 - Mar 1883
Succeeded by