John Douglas CMG (1828 - 1904)

Born 6 Mar 1828 in London, Middlesex, England, United Kingdom

Ancestors

Husband of Mary Ann (Simpson) Douglas — married 22 Jan 1861 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Husband of Sarah (Hickey) Douglas — married 30 Jul 1877 in Queensland, Australia

Died 23 Jul 1904 at age 76 in Thursday Island, Queensland, Australia

Biography

John Douglas CMG is a member of Clan Douglas.

John Douglas CMG (6th March 1828 – 23rd July 1904) was an Anglo-Australian politician and Premier of Queensland.

John Douglas married twice-widowed Mary Ann Howe (nee Simpson)^[1][2][3]. He had been the member for the Darling Downs in the New South Wales parliament and was now a squatter at Talgai on the Darling Downs. They were married on 22 January 1861 at St James Church, Sydney. Douglas was 32 years old, Mary Ann a year older. The marriage was registered in Sydney, NSW^[4].

By 1876, John and Mary Douglas had been married for over 15 years and were living in Brisbane where he was a minister in the Queensland government. Mary was well known throughout Brisbane for her charitable works, prominent in the management of the Brisbane Servants Home, the Lady Bowen Lying-in Hospital, and a founder of the Diamantina Orphanage, all situated in Brisbane.

Mary was killed in a carriage accident - ^[5]on the morning of 23 November 1876, Mary, her daughter Mary Howe, and a friend, Miss Perry, were travelling by horse and buggy from their home at Bartley's Hill along the Sandgate Road into Brisbane. They had just crossed the Breakfast Creek Bridge, when their pony shied at a dray wheel, and, running up the steep bank on the north side of the creek, overturned the vehicle. Mary Douglas was thrown underneath and the carriage landed on top and crushed her. She was taken to her home, and Doctors Hobbs and Bancroft summoned. However, she lost consciousness at 4.30 in the afternoon and died that evening around ten o'clock, with John Douglas and her daughter at her bedside.

John then married Sarah Hickey in July, 1877 in Queensland^[6].

They had children born in Queensland^[7]:

1. Edward Archibald Douglas Event date: 02/11/1877 Event type: Birth registration Registration details: 1877/B/22709 Mother: Sarah Hickey Father: John Douglas
2. Henry Alexander Cecil Douglas Event date: 08/04/1879 Event type: Birth registration Registration details: 1879/B/24739 Mother: Sarah Hickey Father: John Douglas
3. Hugh Maxwell Douglas Event date: 21/05/1881 Event type: Birth registration Registration details: 1881/C/5233 Mother: Sarah Hickey Father: John Douglas
4. Robert Johnston Douglas Event date: 13/04/1883 Event type: Birth registration Registration details: 1883/C/834 Mother: Sarah Hickey Father: John Douglas

John died in 1904 and is buried in the Thursday Island cemetery, Thursday Island, Torres Shire, Queensland^[8]

Sarah died in Brisbane in March, 1931 and is buried in Toowong cemetery.

Sources

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Douglas_(Queensland_politician)
2. ↑ https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/douglas-john-3430
3. ↑ http://library-resources.cqu.edu.au/thesis/adt-QCQU/uploads/approved/adt-QCQU20070228.145456/public/02whole.pdf
4. ↑ https://familyhistory.bdm.nsw.gov.au/lifelink/familyhistory/search/result?3 48/1861 DOUGLAS JOHN HOWE MARY ANNE SYDNEY
5. ↑ https://www.queenslandfamilytrees.com/getperson.php?personID=I14327&tree=5
6. ↑ https://www.familyhistory.bdm.qld.gov.au John Douglas Event date: 30/07/1877 Event type: Marriage registration Registration details: 1877/B/5875 Spouse: Sarah Hickey
7. ↑ https://www.familyhistory.bdm.qld.gov.au
8. ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/203277311/john-douglas John Douglas BIRTH 6 Mar 1828 London, City of London, Greater London, England DEATH 23 Jul 1904 (aged 76) Thursday Island, Torres Shire, Queensland, Australia BURIAL Thursday Island Cemetery, Thursday Island, Torres Shire, Queensland, Australia More information: Hon. John Douglas, C.M.G., was born in 1828, and educated at Rugby School and Durham University. He arrived in New South Wales in 1851, and, received the appointment of a goldfields commissioner. Subsequently he engaged in pastoral pursuits and sat in the New South Wales Parliament as member for Darling Downs, and subsequently for Camden. Mr Douglas returned to Queensland in 1863, and represented Port Curtis in the Legislative Assembly. In 1866, on being appointed Postmaster General in the Macalister Ministry, he entered the Legislative Council. He reentered the Lower House and sat in the Assembly as member for the Eastern Downs on his appointment as Treasurer by Mr. Macalister, subsequently resigning to take the leadership in the Council: in 1869 he went to London as Agent-General. In 1875 he once more entered Parliament as member for Maryborough, and in the following year was made Minister for Lands in the Thorn Ministry, and in the next year, 1877, on Mr. Thorn's resignation, became Premier; but resigned on the defeat of his Ministry in 1879. In 1885 he was appointed Government resident at Thursday Island, and on the death of Sir Peter Scratchley was appointed her late Majesty's Special Commissioner for British New Guinea, which he administered as a protectorate for nearly three years. On the proclamation of British New Guinea as a British possession, he returned to his former position at Thursday Island. Mr. Douglas was twice married, first to Mrs. Howe, and secondly to Miss Sarah Hickey. He leaves a widow and four sons. The eldest, Edward, has served as associate to Sir Samuel Griffith and Mr. Justice Power, and he now is practising his profession as a barrister in Brisbane. The second son, Henry, is at Thursday Island, where he is chairman of the shire council and manager of Mr. Herbert Bowden's business. With him is another son, Hugh, whilst the youngest, Robert, now is at the Sydney University in his third year. Politician and administrator, the seventh son of Henry Alexander Douglas and his wife Elizabeth Dalzell, daughter of the Earl of Carnwarth. His grandfather was Sir William Douglas of Kelhead and his uncle the famous marquess of Queensberry. When his parents died in 1837, his aunts took him to their home near Lockerbie, Dumfriesshire. He was educated at the Edinburgh Academy, Rugby in 1843-47 and the University of Durham (B.A., 1850). Douglas moved to Brisbane in 1863 and was elected for Port Curtis to the Queensland Legislative Assembly where he remained independent of the Herbert ministry. His long rule at Thursday Island had been plagued by domestic and financial worries but he found compensation in his achievements, his intense religious beliefs and the progress of his sons. Port Douglas, in northern Queensland, was named while he was premier and a memorial chapel was built in the cathedral on Thursday Island.

• Johnston, George Harvey. "The Douglases of Drumlanrig, Queensberry and Kelhead." The Heraldry of the Douglases: With Notes on All the Males of the Family, Descriptions of the Arms, Plates and Pedigrees. Edinburgh: W. & A.K. Johnston, Limited, 1907.25. Print.
• http://thepeerage.com/p2065.htm#i20642
• http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/douglas-john-3430
• Wikipedia Profile: John Douglas.