Littleton Groom
Encyclopedia
Sir Littleton Ernest Groom, KCMG (22 April 18676 November 1936) was an Australian Commonwealth Minister, Speaker of the House of Representatives
and Australia's 17th longest serving federal Parliamentarian (33 years and one month). He was a member of every non-Australian Labor Party
ministry from 1905 to 1926. He was a liberal protectionist, who believed in the extension of federal powers, but became increasingly opposed to the Australian Labor Party
's socialist agenda.
, where he was dux of the school and captain of both the football and cricket teams, and Ormond College
, University of Melbourne
where he won the 1890 University Scholarship at the Final Honours Examination in Laws. Groom then worked as a lawyer, Crown Prosecutor and acting judge. Groom married Jessie Bell in July 1894.
in Australian history, as a Protectionist
for the seat of Darling Downs
, caused by the death of his father William Henry Groom. Littleton Groom was a strong Australian nationalist, supporting an extension of the Commonwealth's powers, including its industrial relations powers. As a result, he supported the Watson
government in 1904. Groom was Minister of Home Affairs
from July 1905 to October 1906 in the second Deakin Ministry
and introduced legislation in 1906 to create a federal meteorological department and the creation of the Commonwealth Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
(CSIRO) in 1916 was in large part a product of his attempt to create an Australian Department of Agriculture in 1906. In October 1906, Groom became Attorney General
until the defeat of the Deakin government
in November 1908. Groom passed legislation to defend the Harvester Judgment
and successfully introduced legislation providing Commonwealth invalid and old age pensions.
With the formation of the Fusion government
in June 1909, Groom became External Affairs until its defeat in the 1910 election
. He had carried legislation establishing the High Commission of Australia in London. After the 1910 election, he became a strong opponent of Labor and attacked its establishment of a government-owned Commonwealth Bank and its attempt to gain the power to control monopolies. He was Trade and Customs
in the Cook Ministry
from June 1913 to September 1914.
in Hughes's national government
from November 1917 to March 1918 and Works and Railways
from March 1918 to December 1921. Groom encouraged railway development and was involved in accelerating the construction of Canberra
. In December 1921 he became Attorney-General again. He was also Minister for Trade and Customs
and Minister for Health in May and June 1924, following Austin Chapman
's resignation on grounds of ill health. Groom led the 1924 Australian delegation to the Fifth Assembly of the League of Nations
in Geneva
and chaired a committee, which formulated a protocol to establish a system of international arbitration and later voted to support its protocol despite an instruction to abstain. Groom involved himself in attempts to deport "foreign" agitators, but due to his poor handling of these and other matters, he was obliged to resign in December 1925.
and presided from January 1926 to 1929, when he helped oversee the move of federal Parliament from Melbourne to the newly constructed capital Canberra
but his refusal to use his casting vote as speaker on a bill that would remove the Commonwealth from most of its involvement in conciliation and arbitration led to the collapse of the Bruce
government and the 1929 election
. This was motivated partly by his views on the obligations of an independent speaker, but he also disliked the bill and he still resented his forced resignation in 1925. The Nationalists expelled him from the party, forcing him to run for reelection as an independent. In a bitter campaign, Groom was eliminated on the first count, making him the first serving Speaker to lose his own seat at an election.
Groom returned to his legal practice in Brisbane
; he was re-elected in 1931 election
as an Independent and he joined the United Australia Party
in August 1933. From 1932 to 1936 he was chairman of the Bankruptcy Legislation Committee and in earlier years he also acted on various royal commissions and select committees. He died in Canberra of cerebro-vascular disease. Groom was survived by his wife and one of their two daughters.
Groom was joint author with Sir John Quick
of the Judicial Power of the Commonwealth in 1904 and he was part author of various Queensland legal publications.
A member of the General Synod of the Anglican Church, Groom was knighted
in January 1924 for his services to politics. In 1984 the Division of Groom
was named in his honour and he is commemorated by a number of features in Toowoomba
, including Groom Park.
Groom's elder brother, Henry Littleton Groom, was a long serving member of the Queensland Legislative Council
.
After his death, Groom bequeathed many of the books from his personal library to the Canberra University College Library (which would become the Australian National University
's Chifley Library) including the famed 'The Rise of the Dutch Republic' by J.L. Motley.
Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives
The Speaker of the House of Representatives is the presiding officer of the House of Representatives, the lower house of the Parliament of Australia. The presiding officer in the upper house is the President of the Senate....
and Australia's 17th longest serving federal Parliamentarian (33 years and one month). He was a member of every non-Australian 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...
ministry from 1905 to 1926. He was a liberal protectionist, who believed in the extension of federal powers, but became increasingly opposed to the Australian 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...
's socialist agenda.
Early life
Groom was born in Toowoomba, Queensland, third son of William Henry Groom and his wife Grace, née Littleton. Groom was educated at Toowoomba North State School, Toowoomba Grammar SchoolToowoomba Grammar School
Toowoomba Grammar School is an independent, non-denominational, day and boarding grammar school for boys, in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia....
, where he was dux of the school and captain of both the football and cricket teams, and Ormond College
Ormond College (University of Melbourne)
Ormond College is the largest of the residential colleges of the University of Melbourne. It is home to 332 undergraduates, 30 postgraduates and 27 professorial/academic residents.-Establishment:...
, University of Melbourne
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...
where he won the 1890 University Scholarship at the Final Honours Examination in Laws. Groom then worked as a lawyer, Crown Prosecutor and acting judge. Groom married Jessie Bell in July 1894.
Political career
Groom won the first federal by-electionDarling Downs by-election, 1901
A by-election was held for the Australian House of Representatives electorate of Darling Downs in Queensland on 14 September 1901, a Saturday. It was triggered by the death of William Henry Groom on 8 August 1901. It was the first by-election of the Australian parliament since Federation...
in Australian history, as a 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...
for the seat of Darling Downs
Division of Darling Downs
The Division of Darling Downs was an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland. The division was created at Federation in 1900 and was one of the original 75 divisions contested at the first federal election. It was abolished in 1984 when it was replaced by the Division of Groom...
, caused by the death of his father William Henry Groom. Littleton Groom was a strong Australian nationalist, supporting an extension of the Commonwealth's powers, including its industrial relations powers. As a result, he supported the Watson
Chris Watson
John Christian Watson , commonly known as Chris Watson, Australian politician, was the third Prime Minister of Australia...
government in 1904. Groom was Minister of Home Affairs
Minister for Home Affairs (Australia)
The Australian Minister for Home Affairs has been Brendan O'Connor since 6 June 2009. The Home Affairs portfolio brings together agencies such as the Australian Customs Service , the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, which were previously the...
from July 1905 to October 1906 in the second Deakin Ministry
Second Deakin Ministry
The Second Deakin Ministry was the fifth Australian Commonwealth ministry, and ran from 5 July 1905 to 12 December 1906.Protectionist Party...
and introduced legislation in 1906 to create a federal meteorological department and the creation of the Commonwealth Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation is the national government body for scientific research in Australia...
(CSIRO) in 1916 was in large part a product of his attempt to create an Australian Department of Agriculture in 1906. In October 1906, Groom became Attorney General
Attorney-General of Australia
The Attorney-General of Australia is the first law officer of the Crown, chief law officer of the Commonwealth of Australia and a minister of the Crown. The Attorney-General is usually a member of the Federal Cabinet, but there is no constitutional requirement that this be the case since the...
until the defeat of the Deakin government
Third Deakin Ministry
The Third Deakin Ministry was the sixth Australian Commonwealth ministry, and ran from 12 December 1906 to 13 November 1908.Protectionist Party...
in November 1908. Groom passed legislation to defend the Harvester Judgment
Harvester Judgment
The Harvester Judgment was a benchmark legal case for ensuring workers in Australia were paid a fair basic wage. The case had national ramifications and was of international significance....
and successfully introduced legislation providing Commonwealth invalid and old age pensions.
With the formation of the Fusion government
Fourth Deakin Ministry
The Fourth Deakin Ministry was the eighth Australian Commonwealth ministry, and ran from 2 June 1909 to 29 April 1910.Commonwealth Liberal Party*Hon Alfred Deakin, MP: Prime Minister *Hon Joseph Cook, MP: Minister for Defence...
in June 1909, Groom became External Affairs until its defeat in the 1910 election
Australian federal election, 1910
Federal elections were held in Australia on 13 April 1910. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and 18 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election...
. He had carried legislation establishing the High Commission of Australia in London. After the 1910 election, he became a strong opponent of Labor and attacked its establishment of a government-owned Commonwealth Bank and its attempt to gain the power to control monopolies. He was Trade and Customs
Minister for Trade (Australia)
The Australian Minister for Trade has been Dr. Craig Emerson since 14 September 2010.-Portfolio:Currently the Minister for Trade administers the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade jointly with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, although prior to 1987 there was a separate Department of Trade...
in the Cook Ministry
Cook Ministry
The Cook Ministry was the tenth Australian Commonwealth ministry, and ran from 24 June 1913 to 17 September 1914.Commonwealth Liberal Party*Hon Joseph Cook, MP: Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs*Rt Hon Sir John Forrest, GCMG MP: Treasurer...
from June 1913 to September 1914.
Nationalist government
Groom was Vice-President of the Executive CouncilVice-President of the Executive Council
The Vice-President of the Federal Executive Council is a position in Australian federal governments, whose holder acts as presiding officer of the Federal Executive Council in the absence of the Governor-General....
in Hughes's national government
Fourth Hughes Ministry
The Fourth Hughes Ministry was the fifteenth Australian Commonwealth ministry, and ran from 5 May 1917 to 3 February 1920.Nationalist Party of Australia*Rt Hon Billy Hughes, MP: Prime Minister, Attorney-General*Rt Hon Joseph Cook, MP: Minister for the Navy...
from November 1917 to March 1918 and Works and Railways
Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government (Australia)
The Australian Minister for Infrastructure and Transport is the Hon Anthony Albanese. On 3 December 2007 he replaced the Minister for Transport and Regional Services, the Hon Mark Vaile, who held office since August 2006, and the Minister for Local Government, Territories and Roads, the Hon Jim...
from March 1918 to December 1921. Groom encouraged railway development and was involved in accelerating the construction of Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
. In December 1921 he became Attorney-General again. He was also Minister for Trade and Customs
Minister for Trade (Australia)
The Australian Minister for Trade has been Dr. Craig Emerson since 14 September 2010.-Portfolio:Currently the Minister for Trade administers the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade jointly with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, although prior to 1987 there was a separate Department of Trade...
and Minister for Health in May and June 1924, following Austin Chapman
Austin Chapman
Sir Austin Chapman KCMG , Australian politician, was a member of several early federal ministries. He was born in Bong Bong near Bowral, New South Wales and educated at Marulan Public School and was apprenticed as a saddler at an early age...
's resignation on grounds of ill health. Groom led the 1924 Australian delegation to the Fifth Assembly of the League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
in Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
and chaired a committee, which formulated a protocol to establish a system of international arbitration and later voted to support its protocol despite an instruction to abstain. Groom involved himself in attempts to deport "foreign" agitators, but due to his poor handling of these and other matters, he was obliged to resign in December 1925.
Speaker
In return for his resignation, Groom was elected as Speaker of the House of RepresentativesSpeaker of the Australian House of Representatives
The Speaker of the House of Representatives is the presiding officer of the House of Representatives, the lower house of the Parliament of Australia. The presiding officer in the upper house is the President of the Senate....
and presided from January 1926 to 1929, when he helped oversee the move of federal Parliament from Melbourne to the newly constructed capital Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
but his refusal to use his casting vote as speaker on a bill that would remove the Commonwealth from most of its involvement in conciliation and arbitration led to the collapse of the Bruce
Stanley Bruce
Stanley Melbourne Bruce, 1st Viscount Bruce of Melbourne, CH, MC, FRS, PC , was an Australian politician and diplomat, and the eighth Prime Minister of Australia. He was the second Australian granted an hereditary peerage of the United Kingdom, but the first whose peerage was formally created...
government and the 1929 election
Australian federal election, 1929
Federal elections were held in Australia on 12 October 1929. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives were up for election, with no Senate seats up for election, as a result of Billy Hughes and other rebel backbenchers crossing the floor over industrial relations legislation, depriving the...
. This was motivated partly by his views on the obligations of an independent speaker, but he also disliked the bill and he still resented his forced resignation in 1925. The Nationalists expelled him from the party, forcing him to run for reelection as an independent. In a bitter campaign, Groom was eliminated on the first count, making him the first serving Speaker to lose his own seat at an election.
Groom returned to his legal practice in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
; he was re-elected in 1931 election
Australian federal election, 1931
Federal elections were held in Australia on 19 December 1931. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and 18 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election...
as an Independent and he joined the United Australia Party
United Australia Party
The United Australia Party was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. It was the political successor to the Nationalist Party of Australia and predecessor to the Liberal Party of Australia...
in August 1933. From 1932 to 1936 he was chairman of the Bankruptcy Legislation Committee and in earlier years he also acted on various royal commissions and select committees. He died in Canberra of cerebro-vascular disease. Groom was survived by his wife and one of their two daughters.
Groom was joint author with Sir John Quick
John Quick (politician)
Sir John Quick , Australian politician and author, was the federal Member of Parliament for Bendigo from 1901 to 1913 and a leading delegate to the constitutional conventions of the 1890s.-Early life:...
of the Judicial Power of the Commonwealth in 1904 and he was part author of various Queensland legal publications.
A member of the General Synod of the Anglican Church, Groom was knighted
Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
in January 1924 for his services to politics. In 1984 the Division of Groom
Division of Groom
The Division of Groom is anAustralian Electoral Division in Queensland.The division was created in 1984, when the old Division of Darling Downs was abolished, and is named in honour of Sir Littleton Groom, a long-serving member for Darling Downs....
was named in his honour and he is commemorated by a number of features in Toowoomba
Toowoomba, Queensland
Toowoomba is a city in Southern Queensland, Australia. It is located west of Queensland's capital city, Brisbane. With an estimated district population of 128,600, Toowoomba is Australia's second largest inland city and its largest non-capital inland city...
, including Groom Park.
Groom's elder brother, Henry Littleton Groom, was a long serving member of the Queensland Legislative Council
Queensland Legislative Council
The Queensland Legislative Council was the upper house of the parliament in the Australian state of Queensland. It was a fully nominated body which first took office on 1 May 1860. It was abolished by the Constitution Amendment Act 1921, which took effect on 23 March 1922.Consequently, the...
.
After his death, Groom bequeathed many of the books from his personal library to the Canberra University College Library (which would become the Australian National University
Australian National University
The Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students...
's Chifley Library) including the famed 'The Rise of the Dutch Republic' by J.L. Motley.
See also
- List of people with surname Groom
- Members of the Parliament of Australia who have served for at least 30 yearsMembers of the Parliament of Australia who have served for at least 30 yearsThis is a list of Members of the Parliament of Australia who have served for at least 30 years.Their service does not need to be continuous; broken terms are aggregated.All these periods of service were spent in one House exclusively...