John Jenkins (Australian politician)

John Jenkins
22nd Premier of South Australia
Elections: 1902
In office
15 May 1901  1 March 1905
Monarch Edward VII
Governor Lord Tennyson
Sir George Le Hunte
Preceded by Frederick Holder
Succeeded by Richard Butler
Personal details
Born (1851-09-08)8 September 1851
Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died 22 February 1923(1923-02-22) (aged 71)
London, England, UK
Political party Liberals
Residence Australia

John Greeley Jenkins (8 September 1851 22 February 1923) was an American-Australian politician. He was Premier of South Australia from 1901 to 1905. He had previously served as Minister for Education and the Northern Territory and Commissioner for Public Works under Thomas Playford II, Commissioner of Public Works under Charles Kingston and Chief Secretary under Frederick Holder. He was subsequently Agent-General for South Australia from 1905 to 1908.

Jenkins was the fourth son of Evan Jenkins and Mary Davis of South Wales, was born in Pennsylvania. He was educated at the Wyoming Seminary, Pa., and after working on his father's farm, became in 1872 a traveller for a publishing company. He came to South Australia in 1878 as a representative of this company, but presently began importing both American and English books. He was for a time manager in South Australia for the Picturesque Atlas of Australasia, and afterwards was partner with C. G. Gurr in an estate agency and auctioneering business at Adelaide.

In June 1886 he was elected a member of the South Australian House of Assembly for East Adelaide and in 1887 transferred to Sturt. In March 1891 he became minister of education in the second Playford ministry, and exchanged this for the portfolio of commissioner of public works in January 1892. The ministry resigned in June 1892 and on 20 April 1894 Jenkins was again given this position in the Kingston ministry which remained in office until 1 December 1899. A week later the second liberal Holder ministry was formed with Jenkins as chief secretary, and when Holder went into federal politics in May 1901, Jenkins became premier, chief secretary, and minister controlling the Northern Territory, forming government with the support of none other than the Australasian National League (formerly National Defence League). He was ridiculed from inside and outside of the party, with one critic describing Jenkins as a "political acrobat". As premier he took an important share of the work connected with ministerial bills, and among the acts he was responsible for were those providing free education, the Happy Valley water-supply system for Adelaide, and the transcontinental railway. He also played a major role in an agreement between the States about the River Murray, and in continuing attempts to develop the Northern Territory. As chief secretary in Holder's government, he was also minister for defence and had responsibility for the four South Australian contingents to the South African War. Taking over from Holder, Jenkins was premier from 1901 to 1905 and through the 1902 election, and was succeeded as liberal leader by Archibald Peake, who would allow Labor to form government at the 1905 election. Peake would form the Liberal and Democratic Union for the 1906 election.

On 1 March 1905 he resigned to become agent-general for South Australia at London. He gave up the position in 1908 on account of a disagreement with the Price government on the question of a loan. He remained in London and was active in connection with international trade congresses but retained his interest in Australia. He was once described as "Australia's Unofficial High Commissioner". In 1918 he stood for Putney in an election for the British House of Commons, on behalf of the short-lived right-wing National Party, but was defeated. He had a good standing in the city of London, and when the chamber of commerce sent a delegation to the United States of America, Jenkins was the chief spokesman. He also revisited Australia with a project for the development of Papua. He died in London, following an operation. He married Jeannie Mary, daughter of W. H. Charlton of Adelaide, who survived him with a son and a daughter.

He published pamphlets on Australian Products, and Social Conditions of Australia, and also edited the Australasian section of the Encyclopaedia Americana.

References

    Political offices
    Preceded by
    William Rounsevell
    Commissioner of Public Works
    1892
    Succeeded by
    Andrew Handyside
    Preceded by
    Frederick Holder
    Commissioner of Public Works
    18941899
    Succeeded by
    Andrew Handyside
    Preceded by
    Frederick Holder
    Premier of South Australia
    18991905
    Succeeded by
    Richard Butler
    Parliament of South Australia
    Preceded by
    Josiah Symon
    Member for Sturt
    18871902
    Served alongside: William Stock, Thomas Price
    Succeeded by
    Electorate abolished
    Preceded by
    New district
    Member for Torrens
    19021905
    Served alongside: John Darling Jr., George Soward, Thomas Price, Frederick Coneybeer
    Succeeded by
    George Dankel
    Diplomatic posts
    Preceded by
    Henry Allerdale Grainger
    Agent-General for South Australia
    19051908
    Succeeded by
    Andrew Kirkpatrick
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