James Black Ronald was an Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n politician. Born in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, he was educated at Edinburgh University and became a Presbyterian clergyman. Migrating to Australia in 1888, he became a clergyman in Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

. In 1901, he attempted to gain Protectionist

Protectionist Party

The Protectionist Party was an Australian political party, formally organised from 1889 until 1909, with policies centred on protectionism. It argued that Australia needed protective tariffs to allow Australian industry to grow and provide employment. It had its greatest strength in Victoria and in...

 endorsement to contest the Australian House of Representatives

Australian House of Representatives

The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....

 seat of Southern Melbourne

Division of Southern Melbourne

The Division of Southern Melbourne was an Australian Electoral Division in the state of Victoria. It was located in the inner southern area of Melbourne, and included the suburbs of Albert Park, St Kilda, South Melbourne and South Yarra....

; when he was unsuccessful, he turned to the Labor Party

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

, which endorsed him instead. Ronald won the seat, one of only two Victorian

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

 Labor members elected in the first federal election. Ronald's seat was abolished in 1906, and he attempted to gain Labor endorsement to contest the neighbouring Melbourne Ports

Division of Melbourne Ports

The Division of Melbourne Ports is an Australian federal electoral division in the inner south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia....

. When this endorsement was given to James Mathews

James Mathews (Australian politician)

James Mathews was an Australian politician who held the safe federal Labor seat of Melbourne Ports from 1906 until 1931...

 instead, Ronald contested the seat as an independent

Independent (politician)

In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...

 Labor candidate, but was unsuccessful. He rejoined the ALP after the election, but was one of many Labor members to leave in 1916 over the issue of conscription

Conscription

Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...

, eventually ending up in the Nationalist Party

Nationalist Party of Australia

The Nationalist Party of Australia was an Australian political party. It was formed on 17 February 1917 from a merger between the conservative Commonwealth Liberal Party and the National Labor Party, the name given to the pro-conscription defectors from the Australian Labor Party led by Prime...

. Ronald died in 1941.