Henry Daglish

Henry Daglish
6th Premier of Western Australia
In office 10 August 1904 – 25 August 1905
Monarch	Edward VII
Governor	Sir Frederick Bedford
Preceded by	Sir Walter James
Succeeded by	Hector Rason
Colonial Treasurer
In office 10 August 1904 – 25 August 1905
Premier	Himself
Preceded by	Hector Rason
Succeeded by	Hector Rason
Minister for Education
In office 10 August 1904 – 7 June 1905
Premier	Himself
Preceded by	Walter Kingsmill
Succeeded by	Thomas Bath
Leader of the Opposition
In office 25 August 1905 – 27 September 1905
Premier	Hector Rason
Preceded by	New office
Succeeded by	William Johnson
Leader of the Labor Party in Western Australia
In office 8 July 1904 – 27 September 1905
Preceded by	Robert Hastie
Succeeded by	William Johnson
Minister for Works
In office 16 September 1910 – 3 October 1911
Premier	Frank Wilson
Preceded by	Frank Wilson
Succeeded by	William Johnson
Member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly for Subiaco
In office 24 April 1901 – 3 October 1911
Preceded by	New seat
Succeeded by	Bartholomew James Stubbs
Personal details
Born	(1866-11-18)18 November 1866 Ballarat, Victoria, British Empire
Died	16 August 1920(1920-08-16) (aged 53) Subiaco, Western Australia, Australia
Resting place	Karrakatta Cemetery
Nationality	British subject
Political party	Labor (1901–1905)[a]
Other political affiliations	Independent Labour (1905–1908) Liberal (1908–1911)[b]
Spouse	Edith May (née Bishop) ​ ​ (m. 1894)​
Children	2
Parent(s)	William Daglish Mary Ann (née James)
Alma mater	University of Melbourne
Occupation	Mechanical engineer, public servant, trade union official, real estate agent[1]

Henry Daglish (18 November 1866 – 16 August 1920) was an Australian politician who was the sixth premier of Western Australia and the first from the Labor Party,^[a] serving from 10 August 1904 to 25 August 1905. Daglish was born in Ballarat, Victoria, and studied at the University of Melbourne. In 1882, he worked as a mechanical engineer but soon switched to working in the Victorian public service. He first stood for election in 1896 but failed to win the Victorian Legislative Assembly seat of Melbourne South. He then moved to Subiaco, Western Australia, where he found work as a chief clerk in the Western Australian Police Department. In 1900, Daglish was elected to the Subiaco Municipal Council and in April the following year, he was elected to the Western Australian Legislative Assembly as the member for the newly created seat of Subiaco, becoming one of six Labor members in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly. The party elected him as its whip, and he resigned from the Subiaco council on 1 May 1901. On 1 December 1902, Daglish was sworn in as mayor of Subiaco, having been elected the previous month.

In the 1904 state election, Labor won 22 of the Legislative Assembly's 50 seats, making it the party with the most seats. On 8 July 1904, the Labor Party caucus elected Daglish as the party's leader, and on 10 August, he successfully moved a motion of no confidence in the government of Walter James, who resigned as premier. Governor Frederick Bedford then swore in Daglish as premier of Western Australia, colonial treasurer and minister for education. His keynote speech on 23 August was poorly received; militant Labor supporters saw him as giving up on Labor policies. In parliament, Daglish struggled to achieve anything due to a hostile Legislative Council; his one major success was the passing of a new Public Service Act. In June 1905, a cabinet reshuffle decreased Daglish's popularity within the Labor Party but he defeated a motion of no confidence at a caucus meeting later that month. Daglish resigned as premier on 22 August 1905 when his plan to buy the Midland Railway Company for £1.5 million (equivalent to AU$253,000,000 in 2022) failed to pass through parliament. Hector Rason succeeded him as premier on 25 August.

On 27 September 1905, Daglish resigned as leader of the Labor Party. He then left the party and styled himself as an Independent Labor politician. He was again elected Mayor of Subiaco on 5 June 1907 and served until 1908. From August 1907 to September 1910, Daglish held the position of Chairman of Committees, and from September 1910 to October 1911, he was the minister for works in Frank Wilson's Liberal^[b] government. At the October 1911 state election, Daglish lost his seat in parliament to Labor candidate Bartholomew James Stubbs and failed to regain the seat at the 1914 state election. Daglish died at his home in Subiaco on 16 August 1920. Daglish railway station and the suburb of Daglish, Western Australia, are named after him.

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