DICTIONARY OF AUSTRALASIAN BIOGRAPHY.
Abbott, Hon. Sir Joseph Palmer, M.L.A., Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, New South Wales, was born at Muswellbrook, N.S.W., on Sep. 29th, 1842. From his youth Mr. Abbott has been engaged in pastoral pursuits; but he is also a solicitor by profession. He was M.L.A. for the district of Gunnedah from 1880 to 1885, and has since represented Wentworth. Mr. Abbott was Secretary for Mines in the Stuart Government from Jan. 7th, 1883, to Oct. 7th, 1885; and held the post of Secretary for Lands in the Dibbs Ministry from Nov. 7th to Dec. 22nd, 1885. Subsequently Mr. Abbott sat with Mr. Dibbs in Opposition. He, however, found occasion to take an independent stand, and separated himself from the main body of protectionists, and was looked upon as leader of the Third Party in the Assembly—a section also known as the Independent and the “Law and Order” party. He was a member of the New South Wales Commission for the Melbourne Centennial Exhibition of 1888; and in Oct. 1890 he was elected Speaker of the Legislative Assembly on the retirement of Mr. Young. He was one of the delegates of New South Wales to the Federation Convention held in Sydney in 1891. During the shearers’ strike in 1891 he offered his intervention. He was re-elected Speaker later in the year, and was gazetted to a knighthood on May 25th, 1892.
Abbott, Robert Palmer, J.P., was born in Ireland, and came to Sydney when a boy with his parents. He was admitted a solicitor in 1854. Mr. Abbott entered the Legislative Assembly in 1872 as member for Tenterfield, and was returned for Hartley in 1880. He was nominated to the Legislative Council in 1885, and sat till March 1st, 1888, when he resigned, owing to his objection to certain appointments. He was Secretary for Mines in the first Parkes Administration from July 27th, 1874, to Feb. 8th, 1875, and a member of the New South Wales Commission in London for the Colonial and Indian Exhibition of 1886.
a’Beckett, His Honour Thomas, puisne judge, Victoria, is the eldest son of Mr. Thomas Turner a’Beckett (q.v.) and was born in 1836. He went to Victoria with his father, and returned to London in 1856, entering as a student of Lincoln’s Inn on May 18th, 1857. He won a studentship in Nov. 1859, and was called to the bar on Nov. 17th of the same year. Judge a’Beckett returned to Victoria, and was admitted to the bar there on Aug. 16th, 1860, and practised before the Supreme Court in Melbourne. He married, in 1875, Isabella, daughter of Sir Archibald Michie, K.C.M.G., Q.C. (q.v.) and was appointed a puisne judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria on Sept. 30th, 1886. Mr. Justice a’Beckett was formerly a law lecturer in Melbourne University, but resigned in 1880. He is still a member of the Faculty of Law in the University, and was elected a member of the Council on Jan. 10th, 1887.
a'Beckett, Hon. Thomas Turner, J.P., comes of a well-known Wiltshire family, long settled at West Lavington, in that county. He is the son of the late William a’Beckett, a solicitor in London, and a brother of the late Sir William a’Beckett (q.v.), and of the late Gilbert Abbott a’Beckett, the well-known London police magistrate, comic author, and contributor to Punch. Another brother, Arthur Martin a’Beckett, F.R.C.S., was a prominent resident in Sydney, and died there on May 23rd, 1871. Mr. a’Beckett was born on Sept. 18th, 1808, and educated at Westminster School. After leaving he was articled to his father, and admitted a solicitor and attorney in 1829, when he joined his father in practice. Mr. a’Beckett wrote a number of able pamphlets advocating legal reforms, and was a mem-
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