Vernon Redwood
Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly
for Drayton and Toowoomba
In office
18 May 1907 – 2 October 1909
Serving with Thomas Roberts
Preceded byJames Tolmie
Succeeded byJames Tolmie
Personal details
Born
Vernon Charles Redwood

(1873-04-14)14 April 1873
Blenheim, Marlborough, New Zealand
Died15 February 1954(1954-02-15) (aged 80)
London, England
NationalityNew Zealand Australian
Political partyMinisterial
RelationsHenry Redwood (uncle)
Francis Redwood (uncle)
OccupationMaltster

Vernon Charles Redwood (14 April 1873 – 15 February 1954) was a maltster and member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly.[1]

Biography

Redwood was born at Riverlands near Blenheim, Marlborough, New Zealand,[2] one of 15 siblings to parents Charles Redwood (1836–1915) and his wife Mary Elizabeth (née Grimstone, 1843–1912).[1][3] Henry Redwood (1823–1907) and Francis Redwood (1839–1935) were his uncles.[3][4] The Redwood family members were all staunch Catholics[4] and his uncle Francis was the first Archbishop of Wellington.[5]

Vernon Redwood was educated by the Christian Brothers in New Zealand[1] before coming to Australia in 1893 where he found work on Westbrook Station where one of his duties was the cutting of prickly pear.[6]

In 1895 he became a maltster at the Perkins & Co brewery in Toowoomba[1] and many of his brothers joined him as maltsters. In 1897, his parents also emigrated to Queensland, with his father joining his sons in the malting business.[7] In the end, only four of his siblings remained in New Zealand.[3] In 1902, he established his own maltings business.[1] In 1904 the business was sold to William Jones & Son,[6] and he was its general manager until 1913. In 1913 he established the Redwood Toowoomba Grain Exchange but the business quickly failed and was liquidated later the same year.[1]

After being awarded £500 in a libel action against the Darling Downs Gazette, he moved to Europe and settled in London where he became a member of an anti-prohibitionist group, the Fellowship of Freedom and Reform.[1] In 1896 he married Mary Werkin Wakefield and together had 3 sons and four daughters.[8] He died in London in 1954.[1]

Political career

Redwood was a member of the Gowrie Shire Council and for some time was an Alderman on the Toowoomba City Council including its mayor in 1910.[1]

At the 1904 Queensland state elections he stood for the two-member seat of Drayton and Toowoomba but was beaten by fellow Ministerialists James Tolmie and John Fogarty.[9] When Fogarty died later that same year Redwood stood at the by-election but was once again beaten, this time by the Labour candidate, Edward Smart.[10]

He finally won the seat at the 1907 state election but held it for only two years before his defeat in 1909.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Former Members". Parliament of Queensland. 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  2. ↑ Vernon Charles Redwood — State Library of Queensland. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 "The Late Mrs Charles Redwood". The Marlborough Express. Vol. XLVI, no. 287. 3 December 1912. p. 3. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
  4. 1 2 Dickinson, Mollie. "Henry Redwood". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  5. ↑ Broadbent, John V. "Redwood, Francis William – Biography". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 8 April 2012.
  6. 1 2 "Vernon Charles Redwood". The Marlborough Express. Vol. XLIV, no. 38. 18 February 1910. p. 8. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
  7. ↑ "The Marlborough Express". Vol. XXXII, no. 68. 22 March 1897. p. 2. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
  8. ↑ Family history research — Queensland Government births, deaths, marriages, and divorces. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  9. ↑ "DRAYTON AND TOOWOOMBA (2)". The Brisbane Courier. Vol. LXI, no. 14, 548. Queensland, Australia. 29 August 1904. p. 6. Retrieved 24 March 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. ↑ "TOOWOOMBA ELECTION". The Brisbane Courier. Vol. LXI, no. 14, 578. Queensland, Australia. 3 October 1904. p. 5. Retrieved 24 March 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
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