Sir Littleton Groom | |
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| 6thSpeaker of the Australian House of Representatives | |
| In office 13 January 1926 – 11 October 1929 | |
| Preceded by | William Watt |
| Succeeded by | Norman Makin |
| Attorney-General of Australia | |
| In office 21 December 1921 – 18 December 1925 | |
| Prime Minister | Billy Hughes Stanley Bruce |
| Preceded by | Billy Hughes |
| Succeeded by | John Latham |
| Minister for Works and Railways | |
| In office 27 March 1918 – 21 December 1921 | |
| Prime Minister | Billy Hughes |
| Preceded by | William Watt |
| Succeeded by | Richard Foster |
| Minister for Trade and Customs | |
| In office 24 June 1913 – 17 September 1914 | |
| Prime Minister | Joseph Cook |
| Preceded by | Frank Tudor |
| Succeeded by | Frank Tudor |
| Minister for External Affairs | |
| In office 2 June 1909 – 29 April 1910 | |
| Prime Minister | Alfred Deakin |
| Preceded by | Lee Batchelor |
| Succeeded by | Lee Batchelor |
| Attorney-General of Australia | |
| In office 12 October 1906 – 13 November 1908 | |
| Prime Minister | Alfred Deakin |
| Preceded by | Isaac Isaacs |
| Succeeded by | Billy Hughes |
| Minister for Home Affairs | |
| In office 5 July 1905 – 12 October 1906 | |
| Prime Minister | Alfred Deakin |
| Preceded by | Dugald Thomson |
| Succeeded by | Thomas Ewing |
| Member of theAustralian Parliament forDarling Downs | |
| In office 19 December 1931 – 6 November 1936 | |
| Preceded by | Arthur Morgan |
| Succeeded by | Arthur Fadden |
| In office 14 September 1901 – 12 October 1929 | |
| Preceded by | William Henry Groom |
| Succeeded by | Arthur Morgan |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Littleton Ernest Groom (1867-04-22)22 April 1867 Toowoomba,Queensland, Australia |
| Died | 6 November 1936(1936-11-06) (aged 69) Canberra,Australian Capital Territory, Australia |
| Political party | Protectionist (1901–09) Fusion (1909–17) Nationalist (1917–29) Independent (1929–33) UAP (1933–36) |
| Spouse | |
| Alma mater | University of Melbourne |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
Sir Littleton Ernest GroomKCMGKC (22 April 1867 – 6 November 1936) was an Australian politician. He held ministerial office under four prime ministers between 1905 and 1925, and subsequently served asSpeaker of the House of Representatives from 1926 to 1929.
Groom was the son ofWilliam Henry Groom, who had arrived in Australia as aconvict but became a prominent public figure in theColony of Queensland. He was a lawyer by profession, entering federal parliament at the1901 Darling Downs by-election following his father's death. Groom was first appointed to cabinet byAlfred Deakin in 1905. Over the following two decades he served asMinister for Home Affairs (1905–1906),Attorney-General (1906–1908),External Affairs (1909–1910),Trade and Customs (1913–1914),Vice-President of the Executive Council (1917–1918),Works and Railways (1918–1921), and Attorney-General (1921–1925).
A politicalliberal andanti-socialist, Groom was initially affiliated with Deakin'sProtectionists, who were later superseded by theLiberals (1909) andNationalists (1917). He came into conflict with Prime MinisterStanley Bruce during the 1920s, and as speaker in 1929 refused to use hiscasting vote to save the government on aconfidence motion. He was expelled from the Nationalists and lost his seat atthe resulting election, but was re-electedin 1931 as an independent. He joined theUnited Australia Party (UAP) in 1933 and continued as abackbencher until his death in 1936.
Groom was born on 22 April 1867 inToowoomba,Queensland. He was the third son of Grace (née Littleton) andWilliam Henry Groom.[1] His English-born father had beentransported to Australia as aconvict in 1846, but became a successful businessman and public official, serving as mayor of Toowoomba and in theQueensland Legislative Assembly andAustralian House of Representatives.[2]
Groom attended Toowoomba North State School andToowoomba Grammar School, where he was schooldux and captain of the cricket and football teams. He went on to attendOrmond College at theUniversity of Melbourne, winning scholarships and graduatingBachelor of Arts in 1889 andBachelor of Laws in 1891.[3] Groom subsequently returned to Queensland and practised as abarrister inBrisbane. He was "a leading figure in the Queensland University Extension Movement" and was also involved with the Brisbane Literary Circle and theBrisbane School of Arts. In 1900 he was appointed a deputy judge on theDistrict Court of Queensland.[1]
In July 1894, Groom married Jessie Bell, with whom he had two daughters.[1]
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Groom's father was elected to theHouse of Representatives at the inaugural1901 federal election, but in August 1901 became the first federal MP to die in office. His son quickly agreed to stand atthe resulting by-election in the seat ofDarling Downs. He was publicly endorsed by Prime MinisterEdmund Barton,[4] but the government provided little assistance and none of its members campaigned on his behalf. Groom was opposed byJoshua Thomas Bell, a conservative independent whose father had similarly been a colonial MP.[5] His policy speech in Toowoomba called for federal co-ordination of agriculture, old-age pensions, andcompulsory arbitration, although "his great emphasis was on the necessity of theWhite Australia policy".[6] His margin of victory was smaller than his father's had been, though still comfortable, and in celebration his supporters pulled him and his wife through the streets of Toowoomba in awagonette.[7] He proclaimed that "liberalism has triumphed over conservatism, and [...] you have decided that Australia shall be white".[6]
Groom joined the radical faction of Barton'sLiberal Protectionist Party and his views were closely aligned with those ofAlfred Deakin.[8] He devoted hismaiden speech to the topic of immigration, supporting a total ban on non-white immigration into Australia and declaring his opposition tomiscegenation.[9] In contrast to other rural MPs, Groom was acentralist who felt the federal government should use its full constitutional powers; he "frequently stressed federal parliamentarians should deal with things from a continental rather than a state viewpoint."[8] He lobbied for the immediate creation of aHigh Court, arguing that it was essential to preserve the rights of smaller states.[10]
In 1904, Groom supportedAustralian Labor Party (ALP) leaderChris Watson's amendment to theConciliation and Arbitration Bill which would extend its reach to state railway employees.[11] However, he voted with the Deakin government againstAndrew Fisher's amendment, a vote which became aconfidence motion and resulted in Deakin's resignation. Groom was subsequently one of seven Protectionists who gave regular support to the short-livedWatson government.[12] After another change of government he was part of a group of Protectionists who sat on the opposition benches under Watson as leader of the opposition.[13] In November 1904 he introduced the first successfulprivate member's bill, passed as theLife Assurance Companies Act 1905, to regulate life insurance policies taken out on children under the age of 10.[14]
In July 1905, Deakin replaced Reid as prime minister and appointed Groom asMinister for Home Affairs in thenew ministry.[15]His department had a number of responsibilities, including oversight of theCommonwealth Public Service, public works, federal elections, and the siting of the national capital.[16] Although relatively young and inexperienced, he was one of the few Queenslanders considered suitable by Deakin and was also ideologically close to the ALP upon whose support the government depended.[17]
One of Groom's first acts was to introduce theCensus and Statistics Act 1905, establishing theCommonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics as a complement to existing state bureaus of statistics. He correctly anticipated that the states would eventually hand over their offices to federal control, but his attempt to appointTimothy Coghlan as the inauguralCommonwealth Statistician brought him into conflict withJoseph Carruthers, the premier of New South Wales.[18] Groom also introduced theMeteorology Act 1906 to create theBureau of Meteorology. Unlike the bureau of statistics, he had secured agreement from the states to cede control before introducing the legislation.[19] His general philosophy was that "wherever the Commonwealth could satisfactorily perform a duty handled by the states it should be allowed to do so".[20]
Groom'sLands Acquisition Act 1906 allowed forcompulsory acquisition by the federal government and the granting of mining leases on federal land. In the same year he achieved agreement with the states over the valuation of properties transferred to the Commonwealth undersection 69 of the constitution.[21] Groom further clashed with Joseph Carruthers over the location of the capital, which the Watson government'sSeat of Government Act 1904 had fixed asDalgety, New South Wales. Rather than acquiescing, Carruthers instead offered three alternative sites closer to the state capital of Sydney. In December 1905, Groom introduced another bill which would have defined the limits of thecapital district. During thesecond reading speech he accused the New South Wales state government of parochialism and obstructionism, which was poorly received. The bill was allowed to lapse and the issue was not resolved until theSeat of Government Act 1908 establishedCanberra as the new capital.[22]
In October 1906, Groom becameAttorney General until the defeat of theDeakin government in November 1908. Groom passed legislation to defend theHarvester Judgment and successfully introduced legislation providing Commonwealth invalid and old age pensions.[3][1]
With the formation of theFusion government in June 1909, Groom becameMinister for External Affairs until the Fusion's defeat in the1910 election.
He had carried legislation establishing theHigh Commission of Australia in London. After the 1910 election, he became a strong opponent of Labor and attacked its establishment of a government-ownedCommonwealth Bank and its attempt to gain the power to control monopolies. He wasTrade and Customs in theCook Ministry from June 1913 to September 1914.[1]
Groom wasVice-President of the Executive Council inHughes's Nationalist government from November 1917 to March 1918 andWorks and Railways from March 1918 to December 1921. He encouraged railway development and was involved in accelerating the construction ofCanberra.
In December 1921 he became Attorney-General again. He wasMinister for Trade and Customs andMinister for Health in May and June 1924, followingAustin Chapman's resignation on grounds of ill health. Groom led the 1924 Australian delegation to the Fifth Assembly of theLeague of Nations inGeneva and chaired a committee, which formulated a protocol to establish a system of international arbitration and later voted to support its protocol despite an instruction to abstain. Groom involved himself in attempts to deport "foreign" agitators, but due to his poor handling of these and other matters, he was obliged to resign in December 1925.[3][1]
In return for his resignation, Groom was elected asSpeaker of the House of Representatives and presided from January 1926 to 1929, when he helped oversee the move of federal Parliament fromMelbourne to the newly constructed capitalCanberra.[citation needed]
His refusal to use his tiebreaking vote as speaker on a bill that would remove the Commonwealth from most of its involvement in conciliation and arbitration led to the collapse of theBruce government, triggering the1929 election. His action was motivated partly by his views on the obligations of an independent speaker, but he also disliked the bill, and he still resented his forced resignation in 1925.[citation needed]
The Nationalists expelled Groom from the party, forcing him to run for reelection as an independent. In a bitter campaign, Groom was eliminated on the first count, making him the first serving Speaker to lose his own seat at an election.[1][23]
Groom returned to his legal practice inBrisbane for two years. In1931 election, he sought to take back his old seat. Running again as an independent, he handily defeated his successor,Arthur Morgan. In a reversal of two years earlier, he won an outright majority on the first count. After two years as an independent, he joined theUnited Australia Party, successor to the Nationalists, in August 1933. From 1932 to 1936 he was chairman of the Bankruptcy Legislation Committee and in earlier years he also acted on various royal commissions and select committees. He died in Canberra of cerebro-vascular disease. Groom was survived by his wife and one of their two daughters.[3][1]
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Groom was joint author withSir John Quick of theJudicial Power of the Commonwealth in 1904 and he was part author of various Queensland legal publications.[citation needed]
A member of the General Synod of theAnglican Church, Groom wasknighted in January 1924 for his services to politics. In 1984, his old seat of Darling Downs was renamed theDivision of Groom in his honour. He is commemorated by a number of features inToowoomba, including Groom Park.[3][1]
Groom's elder brother,Henry Littleton Groom, was a long serving member of theQueensland Legislative Council.[3]
After his death, Groom bequeathed many of the books from his personal library to the Canberra University College Library (which would become theAustralian National University's Chifley Library).
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Minister for Home Affairs 1905–1906 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Attorney-General of Australia 1906–1908 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister for External Affairs 1909–1910 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister for Trade and Customs 1913–1914 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Vice-President of the Executive Council 1917–1918 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister for Works and Railways 1918–1921 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Attorney-General of Australia 1921–1925 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister for Trade and Customs Minister for Health 1924 | Succeeded by |
| Parliament of Australia | ||
| Preceded by | Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives 1926–1929 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member forDarling Downs 1901–1929 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member forDarling Downs 1931–1936 | Succeeded by |
Second Deakin Cabinet (1905–08) | ||
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Prime Minister:Alfred Deakin | ||
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Third Deakin Cabinet (1909–10) | ||
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Prime Minister:Alfred Deakin | ||
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| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
