STRANGWAYS, Henry Bull Templer (1832-1920)

premier of South Australia

was the eldest son of Henry Bull Strangways of Shapwick, Somerset, England. He was born in 1832 and visited South Australia as a boy. Returning to England he entered at the Middle Temple in November 1851 and was called to the bar in June 1856. He went to Adelaide early in the following year, was elected to the house of assembly in 1858, and became attorney-general in the Reynolds (q.v.) ministry from May 1860 to May 1861. The ministry was then reconstructed and Strangways became commissioner of crown lands and immigration until October 1861. He held the same position in the Waterhouse (q.v.) ministry from October 1861 to July 1863, in the Dutton (q.v.) ministry from March to September 1865, and in the third Ayers (q.v.) ministry from September to October 1865. On 3 November 1868 he became premier and attorney-general in a ministry which was reconstructed after an election on 12 May 1870, but was defeated 18 days later. In February 1871 he was called to England on private business, eventually settled on the family estate in Somerset, and lived the life of a country gentleman until his death on 10 February 1920. He retained his interest in South Australia all his life, but does not appear to have revisited it. He married in 1860 Maria Cordelia, daughter of H. R. Wigley, and was survived by a daughter.

Strangways was an able man who left politics and Australia at the early age of 38. He, however, succeeded in getting some valuable work done during his 12 years in the South Australian parliament. Many attempts had been made to pass a satisfactory land act before the passing in January 1869 of a measure Strangways had brought in, which for the first time allowed government land to be bought on credit. He gave much encouragement to exploration and initiated the trans-continental telegraph line, though the actual carrying out of the scheme was the work of his successors.

The Times, 14 February 1920; P. Mennell, The Dictionary of Australasian Biography; E. Hodder, The History of South Australia.