Walter Edmunds

Walter Edmunds (6 January 1856 – 15 August 1932) was an Australian judge and politician.

Judge Walter Edmunds during the Royal Commission into AB Piddington Sydney 1927

Biography

Walter Edmunds was born at Maitland to saddler John Edmunds and Rosina Smith. He attended Lyndhurst College and Fort Street Training School before becoming a teacher at Wollongong. He moved back to Sydney to study at the University of Sydney, gaining a Master of Arts in 1879 and a Bachelor of Law in 1881. He was called to the bar in 1882. In 1889 he was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly as a Protectionist member for South Sydney,^[1] serving a single term. On 9 February 1897 he married Monica Victoria May McGrath, with whom he had six children. In 1911 he became a judge on the District Court, and in 1914 was appointed a judge of the Court of Industrial Arbitration. In 1920 he was briefly president of the Board of Trade, and from 1920 to 1926 was senior judge on the Industrial Court.^[2] In 1927 he was appointed to conduct a Royal Commission into allegations concerning the Industrial Commissioner, Albert Piddington, along with Judge Walter Bevan and Edward Loxton KC.^[3]

Edmunds died at Strathfield in 1932.^[4][5]

References

1. "South Sydney Electorate". The Sydney Morning Herald. 4 February 1889. p. 8. Retrieved 24 March 2019 – via Trove.
2. Shields, John (2003). "Ch 5 Walter Edmunds (1920-1926)". In Patmore, Greg (ed.). Laying the Foundations of Industrial Justice: The Presidents of the Industrial Relations Commission of NSW, 1902-1998. Federation Press. ISBN 9781862874633.
3. "Royal Commission completely exonerates Mr. Piddington". The Daily Telegraph. 6 October 1927. p. 12. Retrieved 24 March 2019 – via Trove.
4. Minchin, E J. "Edmunds, Walter (1856–1932)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943.
5. "Mr Walter Edmunds (1856-1932)". Former members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 1 May 2019.

 

New South Wales Legislative Assembly
Preceded by Alban Riley Bernhard Wise George Withers James Toohey	Member for South Sydney 1889–1891 With: James Martin James Toohey William Traill	Succeeded by James Martin James Toohey William Traill Bernhard Wise