Charles Crowther
Encyclopedia
Western Australian Legislative Council
The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of parliament in the Australian state of Western Australia. Its central purpose is to act as a house of review for legislation passed through the lower house, the Legislative Assembly. It sits in Parliament House in the state...
from 1873 to 1887.
Born in Lincoln
Lincoln, Lincolnshire
Lincoln is a cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England.The non-metropolitan district of Lincoln has a population of 85,595; the 2001 census gave the entire area of Lincoln a population of 120,779....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, in 1834, nothing is known of his ancestry or early life. In December 1850 he arrived in Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
on board the Mary, obtaining employment in the firm of George Shenton Sr
George Shenton Sr
George Shenton was a pharmacist, merchant, banker and philanthropist in colonial Perth, Western Australia.George Shenton was born in Winchester in England on 2 January 1811, the second of four sons of a wealthy silk manufacturer. At the age of fifteen, he was apprenticed to a pharmacist named...
. Between 1855 and 1857 he worked for Robert Habgood, before returning to Shenton's employment as manager of his Geraldton
Geraldton, Western Australia
Geraldton is a city and port in Western Australia located north of Perth in the Mid West region. Geraldton has an estimated population at June 2010 of 36,958...
business. When Shenton died in 1867, Crowther purchased his business at Geraldton. Later, he purchased and ran the Greenough Hotel.
Crowther became increasingly involved in Geraldton's public and political life from 1871, when he was first elected to the Geraldton Municipal Council. In 1872, he ran the Western Australian Legislative Council
Western Australian Legislative Council
The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of parliament in the Australian state of Western Australia. Its central purpose is to act as a house of review for legislation passed through the lower house, the Legislative Assembly. It sits in Parliament House in the state...
seat of Greenough
Electoral district of Greenough
Greenough was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Western Australia from 1890 to 2008.Greenough was one of the original 30 seats contested at the 1890 state election. The district was based in the northern part of Western Australia's Wheatbelt region...
election campaign for his friend George Shenton Jr
George Shenton
Sir George Shenton was a prominent businessman in colonial Western Australia, the first Mayor of Perth, and a Member of the Western Australian Legislative Council for over thirty years.-Early and family life:...
, who was absent from the colony at the time. On the evening after the election Crowther held a supper and ball for Shenton's supporters. Although "treating the electors" was a common practice at the time, Shenton's opponent Henry Gray lodged a complaint alleging that Crowther had bribed the electorate. In July 1873, the Supreme Court upheld Gray's complaint, finding that Crowther's actions might have induced electors to vote for Shenton. No blame was attached to Shenton, but the election was declared void and a new by-election
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
ordered for 29 June 1873. Shenton then declined to stand for election again, so Crowther resigned his seat on the local council and contested the Legislative Assembly seat himself, heavily defeating Gray.
In 1875, Crowther joined Samuel Mitchell in an unsuccessful lead
Lead
Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...
mine venture. That year he also returned to the Geraldton Municipal Council as its Chairman. He resigned from the council in 1876, but served on it again in 1878 and 1879. In 1881 he became the first Mayor of Geraldton
City of Geraldton
The City of Geraldton was a Local Government Area in the Mid West region of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth on the Indian Ocean...
. He also acted as Resident Magistrate
Resident Magistrate
A resident magistrate is a title for magistrates used in certain parts of the world, that were, or are, governed by the British. Sometimes abbreviated as RM, it refers to suitably qualified personnel - notably well versed in the law - brought into an area from outside as the local magistrate,...
and Chairman of Quarter Sessions
Quarter Sessions
The Courts of Quarter Sessions or Quarter Sessions were local courts traditionally held at four set times each year in the United Kingdom and other countries in the former British Empire...
for the district. He resigned as member for Greenough on 29 April 1887. When the Legislative Council became nominative on the advent of responsible government
Responsible government
Responsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability which is the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy...
in December 1890, Crowther declined a nomination. He again declined a nomination in August 1893. He died, unmarried, at Geraldton on 17 March 1894.