David Charleston

Australian politician

The Honourable

David Charleston

Senator for South Australia
In office
30 March 1901 – 31 December 1903
Member of the South Australian Legislative Council for Central District
In office
1891 (1891) – 1901 (1901)
Personal details
Born| (1848-05-27)27 May 1848
St Erth, Cornwall, England
Died| 30 June 1934(1934-06-30) (aged 86)
Mile End, South Australia
Nationality| Cornish Australian
Political party| Labor (1891–97)
Free Trade (1897–1903)
Relations| Nellie Martel (sister)
Occupation| Engineer

David Morley Charleston (27 May 1848 – 30 June 1934) was a Cornish-born Australian politician. Born in St Erth, Cornwall, he received only a primary education before becoming an apprentice engineer at Harvey & Co ironworks, and later an engineering unionist in the Amalgamated Society of Engineers in London. In 1874 he moved to San Francisco and worked as a marine engineer for Pacific Mail Steamship Company. Migrating to South Australia in 1884, he continued his engineering work initially on the Hackney Bridge for the Road Board then with the Adelaide Steamship Company, but resigned in 1887 after labour troubles. He subsequently became President of the United Trades and Labour Council of South Australia for a year from February 1889.[1]

In 1891 he was elected to the South Australian Legislative Council as a Labor member, but he left the United Labor Party in 1897 and resigned his seat. He was re-elected as an independent at the resulting by-election.[1][2] Leaving the Council in 1901, he was elected to the Australian Senate as a Free Trader. He was defeated in 1903,[3][4] and was later General Secretary of the Farmers and Producers Political Union.[5] Several attempts to re-enter the Senate were unsuccessful. Charleston died in 1934.[5]

## Personal

[edit]

Charleston married Mary Foster (née Cooke) on 24 December 1895.[6] Mary was the daughter of William Cooke of the Britannia Iron Works, Melbourne, and a well-known singer and widow of Fanny Simonsen's pianist Charles Bunbury Foster,[7] who may have died in Queensland in 1894, but details are elusive.

Charleston's sister was the suffragist Nellie Martel.

## See also

[edit]

* Hundred of Charleston

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b "Hon D. M. Charleston". Adelaide Observer. 18 September 1897. p. 41. Retrieved 14 December 2018 - via Trove.
2. ^ "David Morley Charleston". Former members of the Parliament of South Australia. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
3. ^ Pyle, Anne. "Charleston, David Morley (1848-1934) Senator for South Australia, 1901-03". The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
4. ^ "1903 Senate: South Australia". Psephos Adam Carr's Election Archive. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
5. ^ a b Jaensch, Dean. "Charleston, David Morley (1848–1934)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
6. ^ "Charleston – Foster". Leader. 18 January 1896. p. 29. Retrieved 3 June 2020 - via Trove.
7. ^ "Social Notes". The Australasian. 9 March 1895. p. 39. Retrieved 3 June 2020 - via Trove.

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