Page:The Dictionary of Australasian Biography.djvu/34

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DICTIONARY OF AUSTRALASIAN BIOGRAPHY.
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and M.A. in 1830. He was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1834, and was engaged upon the Western Circuit. In 1833 he married Harriett, daughter of Captain Thomas Parr, R.N., who died without issue in 1844. In 1858 Mr. Arney went out to New Zealand, and was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, in which position he remained until 1875. From March 21st to June 14th, 1873, Sir George Arney, who was knighted in 1862, administered the government of the colony between the departure of Sir George Bowen and the arrival of Sir James Fergusson. He was also a member of the Legislative Council for some years, and member of the Executive Council. He returned to England on his resignation in 1875, and died April 7th, 1883.

Arnold, Thomas, M.A., is the second son of the late Dr. Arnold, of Rugby, and was born at Laleham, Staines, on Nov. 30th, 1823. He was educated at Winchester, Rugby, and University College, Oxford, where he took his degree (first class in classics) in 1848. After serving for some time in the Colonial Office he emigrated in 1847 to New Zealand, intending to settle there as a farmer. Not finding this employment congenial or profitable, he proceeded to Tasmania, where he received the appointment of Inspector of Schools. While in Tasmania he married Julia, daughter of William Sorell, Registrar of Deeds, and granddaughter of Colonel Sorell, sometime Governor of the island. In 1855 Mr. Arnold, carried away even in the Antipodes by the "Oxford Movement," followed its leader into the Church of Rome. He relinquished his post and returned to England, when he received the appointment of Professor of English Literature in the now defunct Catholic University of Dublin, where he remained for six years, subsequently following the late Cardinal Newman to Edgbaston. He is author of numerous works, mostly on English literature.

Arnold, Hon. William Munnings, M.L.A., second son of the Rev. Richard Arnold, was born at Ellough, Suffolk, England, in 1820, and arrived in New South Wales in 1839, when he settled on the Paterson river. In 1856 he was elected to the Legislative Assembly for Durham and Paterson, and in 1858 was chosen Chairman of Committees. From March 1860 to Oct. 1863 he was Minister for Public Works in the Robertson and Cowper Ministries, and shared in the carrying of the Land Act of 1861. In the subsequent Cowper Ministry he held the same post from Feb. to Oct. 1865, when he was for a few days Minister of Lands, and subsequently acted as Speaker of the Assembly from Nov. 1865 to March 1st, 1875, when he was drowned in the floods at Stradbroke, his estate on the Paterson river.

Aspinall, Hon. Butler Cole, son of the Rev. James Aspinall, rector of Althorp, Lancashire, and brother of John Bridge Aspinall, Q.C., Recorder of Liverpool, and Attorney-General of the County Palatine of Durham, was called to the English bar in 1853. Having been a contributor to the Morning Chronicle and other London papers, when he was known to Mr. G. H. Lewes, Rossetti, and many other literary celebrities, he went to Victoria in 1854 as law reporter to the Melbourne Argus. Subsequently he contributed to the Morning Herald, Age, and Melbourne Punch. He commenced to practise as a barrister on leaving the Argus, and gained a great reputation as an advocate by his defence of the Eureka rioters. In 1856 he entered parliament as member of the Legislative Assembly for Talbot, established a reputation as a debater, and became still more widely celebrated in social circles as the recognised wit of the colony. He succeeded Mr. R. D. Ireland as Attorney-General in the Heales Administration in July 1861, and held office until November of that year. He became member for Portland, and was Solicitor-General in the Macpherson Ministry from Jan. to April 1870. In 1868 he went to Sydney and defended O'Farrell, who was tried and executed for the attempted assassination of the Duke of Edinburgh. Mr. Aspinall resigned his seat in Parliament in 1870, and the following year became insane. He died in England on April 4th, 1875.

Atkins, Robert Travers, a well-known journalist and member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, was born at Fernhill, Cork, Ireland, on Nov. 29th, 1841, and died at Sandgate, Qd., on May 25th, 1872. He was a relative of the late Thomas Davis, whose biography has recently been written by Sir Charles Gavan Duffy. He was buried at Sandgate,

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