Justin Foxton

Justin Fox Greenlaw Foxton CMG (24 September 1849 – 23 June 1916) was an Australian barrister and politician. He served in the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 1883 to 1904 and held ministerial office in several liberal governments. He later represented the seat of Brisbane in federal parliament (1906–1910) and was a minister without portfolio under Alfred Deakin. He was a long-serving member of Queensland's colonial militia and gained the rank of colonel.

The Honourable Justin Foxton CMG
Member of the Australian Parliament for Brisbane
In office 12 December 1906 – 13 April 1910
Preceded by	Millice Culpin
Succeeded by	William Finlayson
Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly for Carnarvon
In office 1 October 1883 – 27 August 1904
Preceded by	John Tyrel
Succeeded by	Adolphus Barton
Personal details
Born	(1849-09-24)24 September 1849 Melbourne, Victoria
Died	23 June 1916(1916-06-23) (aged 66) Brisbane, Queensland
Resting place	Toowong Cemetery
Nationality	Australian
Political party	Anti-Socialist (1906–09) Liberal (1909–10)
Spouse	Emily Mary Panton
Occupation	Solicitor

Early life

Foxton was born in Melbourne on 24 September 1849. He was the son of Isabel Elizabeth (née Potts) and John Greenlaw Foxton. His father was a sea captain who arrived in the Port Phillip District in 1841.

Foxton was educated at Melbourne Grammar School from 1859 to 1862. He moved to Queensland in 1864 and briefly worked as a jackeroo, then read law with John Malbon Thompson in Ipswich. He was called to the Queensland Bar in 1871 and the following year established a practice at the Stanthorpe tinfields. In 1878 he formed a partnership with Thompson in Brisbane.

Politics

Foxton in military uniform

Foxton held the Legislative Assembly seat of Carnarvon from 1883 until 1904. Defeated at the 1904 elections he entered federal politics as a member for Brisbane in the House of Representatives in 1906, and was minister without portfolio in the third Deakin ministry from June 1909 to April 1910, when he was defeated at the general election.

Foxton joined the old volunteer forces when a very young man and rose to be brigadier in command of the Queensland field force (Commonwealth military forces). He represented Australia at the Imperial conference on naval and military defence of empire in 1909, and was for some time aide-de-camp to the Governor General of Australia. Foxton brought in a Factories and Shops Act in 1896 which showed a distinct advance in humanitarian legislation, and its provisions were further extended in his factories and shops act of 1900. These acts made him justly known as the father of shop and factory legislation in Queensland. He also implemented the 1901 Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act. This Act, the first effective such measure in Queensland, implemented a system of policed missions and reserves and stopped some female exploitation.

Personal life

Foxton married Emily Panton in 1874, with whom he had two sons and a daughter. He was keenly interested in cricket, serving as president of the Queensland Cricket Association, chairman of trustees of the Brisbane Cricket Ground, and a member of the Australian Board of Control.

Foxton died at Brisbane of cerebro-vascular disease on 23 June 1916. His funeral proceeded from his former residence, Bulimba House to the Toowong Cemetery in Brisbane.

References

• Serle, Percival (1949). "Foxton, Justin Fox Greenlaw". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus & Robertson. Retrieved 25 October 2008.
• Justin Fox Greenlaw (1849 - 1916) — Australian Dictionary of Biography

External links

• Justine Foxton Photograph Album 1899, State Library of Queensland