Charles Davies (South Australian politician)

Charles Davies MD (ca.1813 – 12 February 1888) was a member of the South Australian Legislative Council.

History

Dr. Charles Davies, J.P., was born in Wales and educated in France, becoming an excellent French scholar. He emigrated to South Australia around 1848, and for several years lived in Kermode-street, North Adelaide, at the King William Road corner,^[1] where he built up a large and lucrative medical practice. He became a member of the first fully elected Legislative Council in 1857 and served until 2 February 1865, when he retired by rotation, as provided for in the 1857 Act. In 1859 he was appointed one of the Visitors to the Lunatic Asylum, was on the boards of the Adelaide Hospital and the Botanic Garden, and held other public positions. He was an enthusiastic naturalist with his own private museum. He was a chess enthusiast^[2] had strong literary tastes, and contributed regularly to the South Australian Register. Around 1864 he relinquished medical practice for sheepfarming, and bought the Mattawarangula? Mattawarangala? (most likely) Mattawaralunga? Mattlawarangalla? Run in the Far North of South Australia, which he later sold to his son, Charles Willoughby Davies, and retired to Beaumont.

Family

Davies was married (Mrs. Davies may have conducted the first private school north of the Torrens)^[3] with four sons, all born in South Australia:

• Charles Willoughby Davies J.P. ( – 16 January 1914), married a niece of Charles Todd, CMG
• Fred Davies, educated at "Quaker" Moore's School with brother Charles,^[4] moved to New South Wales
• Auguste Davies, an Adelaide solicitor (ca.1848 – 21 August 1910)
• Another son was killed in the Transvaal.^[5]

Davies died of heart disease at his home in Beaumont and was buried at the West Terrace Cemetery.

References