Henry Edward Downer
Henry Edward Downer (22 March 1836 – 4 August 1905) was a South Ausralian politician. He was a brother of Sir John Downer and George Downer, a noted lawyer and businessman.
Henry Edward Downer was born in Portsmouth England and emigrated to Australia in 1838 with his parents, arriving in Adelaide in June 1838. He received an education at Frederick Haire's academy and was articled to the legal firm of Wigley & Richman, working for a time as law clerk. He was called to the Bar in 1859.
He was appointed Commissioner for Insolvency in 1865 and filled that position until 1881 when he resigned in order to contest the South Australian House of Assembly for the seat of Encounter Bay. He entered Parliament in 1881 and held the seat until 1896, for two of those terms in conjunction with Simpson Newland.
He was appointed Attorney General in May 1890 in the Cockburn ministry, succeeding F. F. Turner (solicitor to the Lands Titles Office; a temporary appointment of April that year following the defeat at the polls of B. A. Moulden),[1] and lost the post with the swearing-in of the Playford government the following year.
He died at the home of his son in law Otto Schomburgk.
his home "Lyndhurst" on South Terrace, Adelaide.
References
- ^ "A Political Retrospect". South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 - 1900). Adelaide, SA: National Library of Australia. 28 April 1890. p. 4. Retrieved 14 November 2012.