President of the reconstituted Upper Chamber, in succession to Sir William Westbrooke Burton, whose secession with the majority of the members as a protest against ministerial coercion is a matter of history. Mr. Wentworth held this position from June 1861 to Oct. 1862, when he once more returned to England, where he resided until his death, which took place at Marleigh House, Wimborne, Dorsetshire, on March 20th, 1872. By his express directions his remains were taken to Sydney and interred at Vaucluse, the New South Wales Parliament voting the great patriot the last tribute of a public funeral in the land of his birth and of his splendid achievements as a publicist. Mr. Wentworth in his lifetime refused knighthood, and the civic honours thus conferred were alone suitable to commemorate his obsequies, being the only species of distinction he had ever sought. Mr. Wentworth was the chairman of the committee which reported in favour of constituting the University of Sydney, the projector of the institution, and the author of the document in which the scheme for its formation was embodied, as well as the prime mover in the legislation which provided for its establishment, and one of the first members of the Senate. The gift of £2000 by his son, Mr. Fitzwilliam Wentworth in 1876, to found two bursaries in his father's honour, was thus felt to have peculiar fitness. Mr. Wentworth was married in Sydney in Oct. 1829 to Sarah, daughter of Francis Cox, who died in 1880.
Were, Jonathan Binns, C.M.G., J.P. Victoria, was the third son of the late Nicholas Were, of Landcox, Somerset, and was born at Wellington, in that county, on April 25th, 1809. Mr. Were engaged in mercantile pursuits, and left Plymouth for Port Phillip in July 1839, ultimately establishing himself as a merchant in Melbourne. In 1852 he unsuccessfully contested South Bourke for a seat in the old Legislative Council, the late Mr. Henry Miller defeating him. Four years later Mr. Were was returned to the Legislative Assembly for Brighton, in opposition to Mr. John Dennistoun Wood. He, however, resigned in March 1857, and never re-entered political life. Mr. Were, who was consul in Melbourne for several foreign nations, was the first chairman of the Melbourne Chamber of Commerce in 1841, and, was re-elected in 1852. In 1881 he was created C.M.G. in recognition of his services in connection with the Melbourne Exhibition of the previous year. He died on Sept. 6th, 1885.
West, Rev. John, was born in 1808, and emigrated to Tasmania in 1839, where he officiated as an Independent minister at Launceston for sixteen years. He was the head and front of the Anti-Transportation movement, and originated the League which the determination of Lord Grey to resume the despatch of convicts called into being. In 1851 he and Mr. Weston attended the great conference held in Melbourne, at which the representatives of the various Australian colonies entered into a solemn engagement to resist the influx of European criminals by every means in their power. The death-blow was thus given to the system. Mr. West removed to New South Wales in Nov. 1855, and joined the Sydney Morning Herald as chief of their literary staff, and continued to be editor until his death, on Dec. 11th, 1873. Mr. West was the author of the "History of Tasmania," published at Launceston in two volumes in 1852.
West-Erskine, William Alexander Erskine, M.A., eldest son of Rev. William James West, M.A., Rector of Delgany, Ireland, by his marriage with Elmina, eldest surviving daughter and co-heir of Alexander Erskine, of Bulhall, county Forfar, and Longhaven, county Aberdeen, was born on Sept. 12th, 1839, at Anamoe, county Wicklow, Ireland, and was educated at Christ Church College, Oxford. Having emigrated to South Australia, he was member for Mount Barker in the Legislative Assembly of that colony from 1872 to 1875 and for Encounter Bay from 1878 to 1881. Mr. West-Erskine, who was Minister of Public Works in the Boucaut Government from June 1875 to Feb. 1876, was elected to the Legislative Council of South Australia in May 1885, but retired in 1891, when he returned to England. In 1872 he assumed the name of Erskine, by royal licence, in addition to his patronymic.
Westgarth, William, the Australian financier, was the son of John Westgarth, Surveyor-General of Customs in Scotland, and was born in 1815. He emigrated to Melbourne in the early days of what was then the Port Phillip settlement, leaving
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