William Irvine (Australian politician)

The Honourable Sir William Irvine GCMG
21st Premier of Victoria
In office 10 June 1902 – 16 February 1904
Preceded by	Alexander Peacock
Succeeded by	Thomas Bent
Constituency	Lowan
9th Attorney-General of Australia
In office 24 June 1913 – 17 September 1914
Preceded by	Billy Hughes
Succeeded by	Billy Hughes
Constituency	Flinders
Personal details
Born	6 July 1858(1858-07-06) Newry, County Down, Ireland
Died	20 August 1943(1943-08-20) (aged 85) Toorak, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Political party	Commonwealth Liberal Party
Spouse(s)	Agnes Somerville

Sir William Hill Irvine, GCMG (6 July 1858 – 20 August 1943), Australian politician and judge, was the 21st Premier of Victoria. Irvine was born in Newry in County Down, Ireland, into a Scottish-Presbyterian family. He was educated in Armagh and Dublin, graduating in law in 1879 before migrating to Melbourne, where he taught in Presbyterian schools and read law at Melbourne University, gaining a masters degree in arts and law. He soon became a leading Melbourne barrister.

In 1894 Irvine was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly as a liberal. He was Attorney-General 1899–1900 and 1902–03 and Solicitor-General in 1903. He succeeded George Turner as leader of the Victorian Liberals, but was much more conservative than either Turner or the federal Protectionist Party leader, Alfred Deakin. In 1903 he displaced the more liberal Alexander Peacock and became Premier and Treasurer, holding office until 1904, when he was succeeded by Thomas Bent.

In 1906 Irvine was elected to the Australian House of Representatives for the seat of Flinders. First elected as an independent Protectionist, he became a member of Deakin's Commonwealth Liberal Party in 1908. He was Attorney-General in Joseph Cook's Liberal government of 1913–14. He was considered a potential Prime Minister of Australia, but his abrupt manner and hard-line conservatism made him unacceptable to many Liberals: he was known in Parliament as "Iceberg Irvine."

Recognising this, Irvine accepted the appointment as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria, which is the highest ranking court in the Australian State of Victoria. He held this position from 1918 until 1935.

He was knighted KCMG in 1914 and made GCMG in 1936. A keen motorist, he was a founding member of the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV) and was its patron from 1938 through 1943. In 1932 a painting of Irvine by Ernest Buckmaster won the Archibald Prize, Australia's best-known portrait prize.

References

• 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

See also

• Judiciary of Australia
• List of Judges of the Supreme Court of Victoria

External links

• Supreme Court of Victoria Website

Victorian Legislative Assembly
Preceded by Richard Baker	Member for Lowan 1894–1906	Succeeded by Robert Stanley
Parliament of Australia
Preceded by James Gibb	Member for Flinders 1906–1918	Succeeded by Stanley Bruce
Political offices
Preceded by Isaac Isaacs	Attorney-General of Victoria 1899–1900	Succeeded by Isaac Isaacs
Preceded by Alexander Peacock	Premier of Victoria 1902–1904	Succeeded by Thomas Bent
Preceded by Sir Samuel Gillott	Attorney-General of Victoria 1902–1903	Succeeded by John Mark Davies
Preceded by Billy Hughes	Attorney-General of Australia 1913–1914	Succeeded by Billy Hughes
Legal offices
Preceded by John Madden	Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria 1918–1935	Succeeded by Frederick Mann