The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Ham, Hon. Cornelius Job
Ham, Hon. Cornelius Job, M.L.C., is the youngest son of Rev. John Ham, and was born at Birmingham on Jan. 13th, 1837, going to Port Phillip five years later with his father, who was the first pastor of Collins Street Baptist Chapel, Melbourne. Mr. Ham, whose eldest brother, Jabez, was one of the first editors of the Melbourne Age, started business as a land and estate agent in that city in 1855, and was Mayor of Melbourne in 1881-2. In Nov. 1882 he stood for a seat in the Legislative Council of Victoria in opposition to the late Dr. Beaney and Mr. George Coppin, and was triumphantly returned, being re-elected in 1886. Mr. Ham accepted a seat in the Munro Ministry without portfolio in Nov. 1890, and was sworn of the Executive Council. Twelve months later he resigned office after voting against the Government Bill establishing the one man one vote principle, but resumed office on the measure being abandoned. In Feb. 1892, however, when the Ministry was reconstructed under Mr. Shiels, he left the Cabinet. He married in 1868 Hattie, daughter of John Latham, of West Virginia, U.S.A., formerly United States Consul-General in Melbourne.