Robert Henry Solly (9 September 1859 – 5 June 1932) was an Australian politician.
Born in Ramsgate, Kent, to Stephen Solly and Eliza Sage, he received no formal education and worked on a farm and a rope factory. At the age of ten he moved to Newcastle to work in the boot trade, and emigrated to South Australia when he was seventeen. After a year in Adelaide he travelled to New South Wales via Victoria, where he worked as a station hand. After another five-year stint in Adelaide (during which time, in 1873, he married Adelaide Mary Graham, with whom he had four children), he moved to Collingwood in Melbourne and returned to bootmaking, becoming president of the Bootmakers Union.
A founding member of the Labor Party, Solly was a Richmond City Councillor from 1903 to 1909. In 1904 he was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly as the Labor member for Railway Officers, resigning in 1906 to run for the House of Representatives. Having been unsuccessful, he returned to the Assembly via a by-election for the seat of Carlton and served until his death at Carlton in 1932.
References
- "Solly, Robert Henry". Parliament of Victoria. 1985. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
| Victorian Legislative Assembly | ||
|---|---|---|
| District created | Member for Railway Officers 1904–1906 Served alongside: Martin Hannah |
District abolished |
| Preceded byFrederick Bromley | Member for Carlton 1908–1932 |
Succeeded byBill Barry |
 | This article about an Australian Labor Party member of the Parliament of Victoria is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it. |
- 1859 births
- 1932 deaths
- Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Victoria
- Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly
- People from Richmond, Victoria
- Victoria (state) local councillors
- British emigrants to colonial Australia
- Colony of New South Wales people
- Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Victoria stubs