Misplaced Pages

George Briscoe Kerferd
10th Premier of Victoria
In office 31 July 1874 – 7 August 1875
Preceded by	James Francis
Succeeded by	Graham Berry
Personal details
Born	(1831-01-21)21 January 1831 Liverpool, Lancashire, England
Died	31 December 1889(1889-12-31) (aged 58) Sorrento, Victoria, Australia
Resting place	St Kilda Cemetery
Nationality	Australian
Spouse	Ann Martindale ​(m. 1853)​

George Briscoe Kerferd (21 January 1831 – 31 December 1889), Australian colonial politician, was the 10th Premier of Victoria.

Early life and education

George Briscoe Kerferd was born in Liverpool, England, the son of G. B. Kerferd, a merchant (or Joseph Kerferd, a bookkeeper, and his wife Rachel, née Blundell)

Kerferd was educated at the Collegiate Institute in Liverpool, with the intention of studying law; however, circumstances led him to enter his father's business.

Career

Kerferd emigrated to Victoria in 1853 with plans to open a branch of the family business, but this did not eventuate. After trying his luck as a gold miner at Bendigo, he settled in Beechworth and became a brewer and wine merchant. He was mayor of Beechworth 1863-64 and three other occasions.

Kerferd was elected to the Legislative Assembly for the Ovens in November 1864, and represented the area continuously until February 1886. He began studying law in 1864 and was Minister of Mines and Vice-President of the Board of Land and Works in the government of James McCulloch 1868, and Solicitor-General 1872–1874, and Attorney-General in 1874 in the government of James Francis. When the Francis government was defeated in July 1874, Kerferd succeeded him at the head of a new conservative ministry.

Kerferd's Treasurer, James Service, was, like most colonial conservatives, a convinced free trader, and the government's 1875 budget proposed repealing the tariffs imposed by Charles Gavan Duffy's liberal government, and replacing the lost revenue with a land tax and a tax on beer and spirits. But this offended both the landowners and the business community, and Kerferd's government was defeated in August 1875.

Kerferd was again appointed as Attorney-General in later conservative governments (1875–1877, 1880 and 1883–86, in the Service government). In 1883 Kerferd was a Victorian representative to the federal convention. In 1886, he quit politics and on 1 January 1886 was appointed to the Supreme Court of Victoria. The appointment was not without controversy as several barristers had served longer in the legal profession, but Kerferd had eight years as attorney-general. There was general agreement that Kerferd filled his role as judge with great ability. Kerferd served as a judge until his death.

Personal life

In 1853 he married Ann Martindale, with whom he had ten children.

Death and legacy

Kerford died in 1889 while on a holiday at Sorrento, Victoria.

Kerferd Road in Albert Park is named after him, as is Kerferd Road, later Avenue, in Sorrento.

The Kerford Oration has been held in Beechworth each year since 2003, the 150th anniversary of the naming of Beechworth. It is a free community event, sponsored by Indigo Shire, La Trobe University, and commercial sponsors.

See also

• Judiciary of Australia
• List of Judges of the Supreme Court of Victoria
• Victorian Bar Association

References

1. ^ "Kerferd, GeorgeBriscoe". Re-Member: a database of all Victorian MPs since 1851. Parliament of Victoria. Archived from the original on 23 April 2023. Retrieved 17 April 2013.
2. ^ Percival Serle (1949). "Kerferd, George Briscoe". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Angus & Robertson. Retrieved 17 April 2013.
3. Beever, Margot. "Kerferd, George Briscoe (1831–1889)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 17 April 2013.
4. ^ George Biscoe Kerferd Archived 24 August 2006 at the Wayback Machine at beechworth.com.au
5. "Appointment Solicitor-General George Kerford MLA". Victoria Government Gazette. Victorian Government Printer. 10 June 1872. p. 1872:1125.
6. "About the Kerferd Oration". The Kerferd Oration. 20 July 2014. Retrieved 4 August 2024.

Sources

• Geoff Browne, A Biographical Register of the Victorian Parliament, 1900-84, Government Printer, Melbourne, 1985
• Don Garden, Victoria: A History, Thomas Nelson, Melbourne, 1984
• Kathleen Thompson and Geoffrey Serle, A Biographical Register of the Victorian Parliament, 1856-1900, Australian National University Press, Canberra, 1972
• Raymond Wright, A People's Counsel. A History of the Parliament of Victoria, 1856-1990, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1992

External links

• Supreme Court of Victoria Website

v t e Premiers of Victoria
Haines O'Shanassy Nicholson Heales McCulloch Sladen MacPherson Duffy Francis Kerferd Berry Service O'Loghlen Gillies Munro Shiels Patterson Turner McLean Peacock Irvine Bent Murray Watt Elmslie Bowser Lawson Prendergast J. Allan Hogan McPherson Argyle Dunstan Cain Sr. Macfarlan Hollway McDonald Bolte Hamer Thompson Cain Jr. Kirner Kennett Bracks Brumby Baillieu Napthine Andrews J. M. Allan

• 1831 births
• 1889 deaths
• Premiers of Victoria
• Judges of the Supreme Court of Victoria
• Australian federationists
• English emigrants to colonial Australia
• Victoria (state) state politicians
• Politicians from Liverpool
• Attorneys-general of the Colony of Victoria
• Solicitors-general of Victoria
• Colony of Victoria judges
• 19th-century Australian politicians
• Australian brewers
• Australian wine and spirit merchants
• 19th-century Australian businesspeople
• Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly
• Vice-presidents of the Board of Land and Works
• Burials at St Kilda Cemetery
• Attorneys-general of Victoria
• Ministers of mines (Victoria)