George Paton Smith

George Paton Smith (1829 – 9 December 1877) was a politician and Attorney-General of Victoria.^[1]

Smith was born at Berwick-on-Tweed, England, son of James Smith and Jessie née Paton.^[2] In 1855 he emigrated to Victoria, Australia and started as a draper in Sandhurst (now Bendigo).^[1] In 1858 he relinquished business, and took employment in Melbourne as a reporter on The Argus. The next year he became editor of the Leader, the weekly journal published in connection with The Age and of the latter paper was subsequently sub-editor and, for a short time, editor.^[1]

Whilst engaged as a journalist, Smith was admitted to the Victorian Bar in September 1861, and in 1865 was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly for South Bourke as a Liberal and Protectionist.^[1] From July 1868 to September 1869 Smith was Attorney-General in the second James McCulloch Ministry, but at the General Election in January 1871 he did not seek re-election for South Bourke.^[1] On 17 May 1870 a disgruntled Irish-born previous employee at The Age, Gerald Supple, shot Smith in La Trobe Street, inflicting a wound to Smith's elbow and killing a bystander.^[3] In 1874, Smith was again returned unopposed, and sat till 1877, when the constituency was divided, and Smith was returned for the Boroondara portion. Smith died on 9 December 1877.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Mennell, Philip (1892). "Smith, Hon. George Paton" . The Dictionary of Australasian Biography. London: Hutchinson & Co – via Wikisource.
^ "George Paton Smith". 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.
^ Finlay, E. M. "Supple, Gerald Henry (1823–1898)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 25 September 2013.

[Mennell-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Mennell, Philip (1892). "Smith, Hon. George Paton" . The Dictionary of Australasian Biography. London: Hutchinson & Co – via Wikisource.

[2] "George Paton Smith". 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.

[3] Finlay, E. M. "Supple, Gerald Henry (1823–1898)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 25 September 2013.

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