42 Facts About Littleton Groom

Sir Littleton Ernest Groom KCMG KC was an Australian politician.

Littleton Groom held ministerial office under four prime ministers between 1905 and 1925, and subsequently served as Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1926 to 1929.

Littleton Groom was a lawyer by profession, entering federal parliament at the 1901 Darling Downs by-election following his father's death.

Littleton Groom was first appointed to cabinet by Alfred Deakin in 1905.

Littleton Groom came into conflict with Prime Minister Stanley Bruce during the 1920s, and as speaker in 1929 refused to use his casting vote to save the government on a confidence motion.

Littleton Groom was expelled from the Nationalists and lost his seat at the resulting election, but was re-elected in 1931 as an independent.

Littleton Groom joined the United Australia Party in 1933 and continued as a backbencher until his death in 1936.

Littleton Groom was born on 22 April 1867 in Toowoomba, Queensland.

Littleton Groom was the third son of Grace and William Henry Groom.

Littleton Groom's English-born father had been transported to Australia as a convict in 1846, but became a successful businessman and public official, serving as mayor of Toowoomba and in the Queensland Legislative Assembly and Australian House of Representatives.

Littleton Groom went on to attend Ormond College at the University of Melbourne, winning scholarships and graduating Bachelor of Arts in 1889 and Bachelor of Laws in 1891.

Littleton Groom subsequently returned to Queensland and practised as a barrister in Brisbane.

Littleton Groom was "a leading figure in the Queensland University Extension Movement" and was involved with the Brisbane Literary Circle and the Brisbane School of Arts.

In July 1894, Littleton Groom married Jessie Bell, with whom he had two daughters.

Littleton Groom's father was elected to the House of Representatives at the inaugural 1901 federal election, but in August 1901 became the first federal MP to die in office.

Littleton Groom was publicly endorsed by Prime Minister Edmund Barton, but the government provided little assistance and none of its members campaigned on his behalf.

Littleton Groom was opposed by Joshua Thomas Bell, a conservative independent whose father had similarly been a colonial MP.

Littleton Groom joined the radical faction of Barton's Liberal Protectionist Party and his views were closely aligned with those of Alfred Deakin.

Littleton Groom devoted his maiden speech to the topic of immigration, supporting a total ban on non-white immigration into Australia and declaring his opposition to miscegenation.

In 1904, Littleton Groom supported Australian Labor Party leader Chris Watson's amendment to the Conciliation and Arbitration Bill which would extend its reach to state railway employees.

Littleton Groom was one of seven Protectionists who gave regular support to the short-lived Watson government.

Littleton Groom's department had a number of responsibilities, including oversight of the Commonwealth Public Service, public works, federal elections, and the siting of the national capital.

Littleton Groom correctly anticipated that the states would eventually hand over their offices to federal control, but his attempt to appoint Timothy Coghlan as the inaugural Commonwealth Statistician brought him into conflict with Joseph Carruthers, the premier of New South Wales.

Littleton Groom introduced the Meteorology Act 1906 to create the Bureau of Meteorology.

Littleton Groom further clashed with Joseph Carruthers over the location of the capital, which the Watson government's Seat of Government Act 1904 had fixed as Dalgety, New South Wales.

In December 1905, Littleton Groom introduced another bill which would have defined the limits of the capital district.

In October 1906, Littleton Groom became Attorney General until the defeat of the Deakin government in November 1908.

Littleton Groom passed legislation to defend the Harvester Judgment and successfully introduced legislation providing Commonwealth invalid and old age pensions.

Littleton Groom had carried legislation establishing the High Commission of Australia in London.

Littleton Groom was Trade and Customs in the Cook Ministry from June 1913 to September 1914.

Littleton Groom was Vice-President of the Executive Council in Hughes's Nationalist government from November 1917 to March 1918 and Works and Railways from March 1918 to December 1921.

Littleton Groom encouraged railway development and was involved in accelerating the construction of Canberra.

Littleton Groom was Minister for Trade and Customs and Minister for Health in May and June 1924, following Austin Chapman's resignation on grounds of ill health.

Littleton Groom led the 1924 Australian delegation to the Fifth Assembly of the League of Nations in Geneva and chaired a committee, which formulated a protocol to establish a system of international arbitration and later voted to support its protocol despite an instruction to abstain.

Littleton Groom involved himself in attempts to deport "foreign" agitators, but due to his poor handling of these and other matters, he was obliged to resign in December 1925.

In return for his resignation, Littleton Groom was elected as Speaker of the House of Representatives and presided from January 1926 to 1929, when he helped oversee the move of federal Parliament from Melbourne to the newly constructed capital Canberra.

Littleton Groom's action was motivated partly by his views on the obligations of an independent speaker, but he disliked the bill, and he still resented his forced resignation in 1925.

Littleton Groom returned to his legal practice in Brisbane for two years.

Littleton Groom was survived by his wife and one of their two daughters.

Littleton Groom was joint author with Sir John Quick of the Judicial Power of the Commonwealth in 1904 and he was part author of various Queensland legal publications.

Littleton Groom is commemorated by a number of features in Toowoomba, including Groom Park.

Groom's elder brother, Henry Littleton Groom, was a long serving member of the Queensland Legislative Council.