James Ford Strachan (1810 – 14 April 1875) was a merchant, grazier and politician in colonial Victoria, Australia, and a member of the Victorian Legislative Council.[1]
Strachan was born in Montrose, Scotland, the fifth son of John Strachan and his wife Isobel, née Smith.[2] Strachan arrived in Van Diemen's Land in 1832 with his widowed mother and two sisters.[2] He was an early settler in Port Phillip District (which later became Victoria), and a leading merchant in Melbourne, in which city he built the first brick store.[1]
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Strachan was an active promoter of separation from New South Wales, and when the colony of Victoria was constituted in 1851 he was returned to the semi-elective Legislative Council, then the only chamber, as member for Geelong in October of that year.[1] After responsible government was conceded in 1855, Strachan was elected to the first wholly elective Legislative Council for the South-Western Province in November 1856.[3] He was a member of the second Haines Ministry without portfolio from April 1857 to March 1858.[1] During the great constitutional battle between the two Houses on the tariff and Darling grant "tacks" Strachan took a leading part on the side of the Council, and resigning his seat for the South-Western Province, contested the Western Province against Henry Miller, who had accepted office under Sir James McCulloch, and defeated him on 10 August 1866.[4] Strachan held the seat until September 1874.[3]
Strachan died at Geelong, Victoria on 14 April 1875, aged sixty-five years.[1] He was married to Lilias Cross née Murray,[3] daughter of Hugh Murray, a fellow Scottish emigrant, merchant and grazier.[2]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e Mennell, Philip (1892). . The Dictionary of Australasian Biography. London: Hutchinson & Co – via Wikisource.
- ^ a b c Brown, P. L. "Strachan, James Ford (1810–1875)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
- ^ a b c "James Ford Strachan". Re-Member: a database of all Victorian MPs since 1851. Parliament of Victoria. Archived from the original on 23 April 2023. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
- ^ "Telegraphic". The Brisbane Courier. Qld. 11 August 1866. p. 4. Retrieved 26 August 2014 – via Trove.