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Albert Edgar Solomon (7 March 1876 – 5 October 1914) was an Australian lawyer and politician. He served as premier of Tasmania from 1912 to 1914, as leader of the Liberal Party. He died of tuberculosis a few months after leaving office as premier, at the age of 38.
Albert Solomon | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 23rd Premier of Tasmania | |
| In office 14 June 1912 – 6 April 1914 | |
| Governor | Sir Harry Barron (until 1913) Sir William Ellison-Macartney |
| Preceded by | Sir Elliott Lewis |
| Succeeded by | John Earle |
| Constituency | Bass |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Albert Edgar Solomon 7 March 1876 Longford, Tasmania |
| Died | 5 October 1914 (aged 38) Hobart, Tasmania, Australia |
| Political party | Liberal |
| Spouse |
Elsie Scott (m. 1903) |
| Profession | Lawyer |
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Solomon was born on 7 March 1876 in Longford, Tasmania.[1] He was the tenth child born to Mary Anne (née Trebilcock) and Edward Solomon, who had moved to Longford in 1862. His father was a clerk and was active in the Northern Agricultural Society.[2]
Solomon began his education at Longford State School before completing his secondary education at two private schools, Horton College and Launceston Church Grammar School. He passed his matriculation examination at the age of thirteen and completed the degrees of Bachelor of Arts (1895), Bachelor of Laws (1897) and Master of Laws (1903) at the University of Tasmania.[1] He completed honours in history under William Jethro Brown, the first person to do so at the university.[3]
Solomon began serving his articles of clerkship in 1893 with Law & Weston in Launceston. He was called to the bar in 1898 and went into partnership with his older brother Arthur. Their firm had offices in Launceston and Ulverstone.[2]
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Solomon was elected to the Tasmanian House of Assembly at the 1909 state election.
He entered politics as one of the six MHAs for Bass in April 1909, and almost immediately became attorney-general and minister for education in the Elliott Lewis second and third ministries, taking the additional position of minister of mines in October 1909. When Lewis retired in June 1912, Solomon became premier, attorney-general, and minister of education, but he had a bare majority of one and it required much tact and finesse to keep the ministry going until April 1914. Attention was given to education and considerable additions were made to the number of state and high schools. Never a robust man, Solomon's health broke down, likely from stress, and he died at Hobart aged 38 on 5 October 1914. He was a prominent member of the Methodist Church and a temperance reformer.
Solomon secured the passage of the Cape Barren Island Reserve Act 1912, which formalised Cape Barren Island's status as a reserve for Aboriginal Tasmanians. In his second reading speech on the bill, he stated it was "an attempt to grapple with a very difficult problem" relating to "the remnants of the aboriginal population" who had been "allowed to run wild".[4]
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On 13 August 1903 Solomon married Una "Elsie" Scott, eldest daughter of Jabez Scott of Launceston.[5] They had two sons.
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- Serle, Percival (1949). "Solomon, Albert Edgar". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus & Robertson.
- "Solomon, Albert". Members of the Parliament of Tasmania. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
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