Stanley Argyle Explained

Sir Stanley Argyle
Office:32nd Premier of Victoria
Term Start:19 May 1932
Term End:2 April 1935
Successor:Albert Dunstan
Term Start1:19 May 1932
Term End1:2 April 1935
Predecessor1:Edmond Hogan
Successor1:Albert Dunstan
Premier2:Albert Dunstan
Term Start2:2 April 1935
Term End2:23 November 1940
Deputy2:Ian Macfarlan
Wilfrid Kent Hughes
Successor2:Thomas Hollway
Premier3:Edmond Hogan
Term Start3:3 September 1930
Term End3:19 May 1932
Deputy3:Ian Macfarlan
Successor3:Thomas Tunnecliffe
Term Start4:15 September 1931
Term End4:23 November 1940
Deputy4:Ian Macfarlan
Robert Menzies
Ian Macfarlan
Wilfrid Kent Hughes
Predecessor4:Position established
Successor4:Thomas Hollway
Term Start5:3 September 1930
Term End5:15 September 1931
Deputy5:Ian Macfarlan
Predecessor5:William McPherson
Successor5:Position abolished
Term Start6:5 September 1928
Term End6:3 September 1930
Leader6:William McPherson
Predecessor6:Position established
Successor6:Ian Macfarlan
Premier7:William McPherson
Term Start7:22 November 1928
Term End7:12 December 1929
Successor7:Thomas Tunnecliffe
Term Start8:18 November 1924
Term End8:20 May 1927
Predecessor8:Thomas Tunnecliffe
Successor8:G. M. Prendergast
Term Start9:7 September 1923
Term End9:18 July 1924
Successor9:Thomas Tunnecliffe
Premier10:William McPherson
Term Start10:22 November 1928
Term End10:12 December 1929
Successor10:W. J. Beckett
Premier11:John Allan
Term Start11:18 November 1924
Term End11:20 May 1927
Successor11:W. J. Beckett
Term Start12:7 September 1923
Term End12:18 July 1924
Predecessor12:Matthew Baird
Successor12:John Percy Jones
Term Start13:1 October 1920
Term End13:1 November 1940
Birth Name:Stanley Seymour Argyle
Birth Date:4 December 1867
Death Place:Toorak, Victoria, Australia
Party:
    Height:5 ft 11 in
    Children:4
    Relatives:Michael (cousin)
    Residence:Toorak, Victoria, Australia
    Education:
    Alma Mater:
    Allegiance: Australia
    Serviceyears:1914–1917
    Unit:

    Sir Stanley Seymour Argyle KBE, MRCS, LRCP (4 December 1867 – 23 November 1940), was an Australian radiologist and politician. He served as premier of Victoria from 1932 to 1935 and was the state leader of the Nationalist Party and United Australia Party from 1930 until his death in 1940.

    Early life

    Argyle was born in Kyneton, Colony of Victoria[1] in 1867 to Edward Argyle, a grazier from England, and Mary Clark.[2] He was educated at the Kyneton School, Hawthorn Grammar School, and Brighton Grammar School before attending Trinity College at the University of Melbourne, where he graduated in medicine. He went on to study bacteriology at King's College London.[3]

    Political career

    After further study in the United Kingdom, he went into general practice in Kew and was later a pioneer of radiology in Australia. He was a member of the Kew City Council from 1898 to 1905 and was mayor from in 1903 to 1905. During World War I, he was consultant radiologist to the Australian Imperial Force in Egypt, France and England. He returned to Australia in 1917 with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel and resumed his medical practice at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne. He invested in the pasteurization of milk and citrus growing. In 1920, Argyle was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly for the seat of Toorak as an independent Nationalist. Between 1923 and 1928, he was Chief Secretary and Minister for Health in the ministries of Harry Lawson, John Allan, Alexander Peacock and William McPherson. When McPherson resigned as leader of the Nationalist Party, Argyle was chosen to succeed him and, in 1931, the party was renamed the United Australia Party (UAP). He led the opposition to Ned Hogan's minority Labor Party government, which was unable to cope with the effects of the Great Depression and was heavily defeated at the May 1932 elections.

    Argyle formed a coalition government with the Country Party, led by Allan and later by Albert Dunstan. The government had a huge majority – 45 seats to Labor's 16. Ministers included the rising star of the UAP, Robert Menzies, who became Deputy Premier, Attorney-General and Minister for Railways. Argyle, a firm fiscal conservative, held to the orthodox view that in a time of depression government spending must be cut so that the budget remained in balance. This soon brought him into conflict with both the trade unions and the farmers, but at the time there seemed to be no alternative policy. Argyle was lucky in that the economy began to improve from 1932, and the unemployment rate fell from 27 percent in 1932 to 20 percent in 1934 and 14 percent in 1935. That led a reduction in unemployment relief payments and an increase in taxation revenue, easing the state's financial crisis.

    Argyle fought the March 1935 election with an improving economy and a record of sound, if unimaginative, management. With the Labor Party opposition still divided and demoralized, he was rewarded with another very comfortable majority for his coalition government. However, at that point he was unexpectedly betrayed by his Country Party allies. The Country Party leader, Albert Dunstan, was a close friend of the gambling boss John Wren, who was also very close to the Labor leader Tom Tunnecliffe (in the view of most historians, Tunnecliffe was, in fact, under Wren's control). Wren, aided by the Victorian Labor Party President, Arthur Calwell, persuaded Dunstan to break off the coalition with Argyle and form a minority Country Party government, which Labor would support in return for some policy concessions. Dunstan agreed to the deal and, in April 1935, he moved a successful no confidence vote in the government from which he had just resigned.

    The UAP (and later its successor the Liberal Party) never forgave the Country Party for that treachery. Henry Bolte, later Victoria's longest-serving Premier, was 27 in 1935, and Dunstan's betrayal of Argyle lay behind his lifelong intense dislike of the Country Party, whom he called "political prostitutes". Argyle remained in politics as Leader of the Opposition until his death in 1940.

    Personal life

    Argyle married Violet Ellen Jessie Lewis of "Spring Grove", Cotham Road, Kew at Holy Trinity Church, Kew on 24 January 1895.[4] They had two sons and two daughters;[5] the first of their children, Inez,[6] was born on 2 November 1895.[7] The next, Bessie Abbott,[8] was born on 26 March 1897.[9] Their elder son, Thomas Milner Stanley, was born on 11 October 1899;[10] the younger, Hector Stanley, was born on 2 October 1901.[11] The Argyles lived at Kew until 1919 when they purchased a property, "Halstead", at 29 Bruce Street, Toorak.[12] In 1933, that house was demolished and a new one built to the design of architect Marcus Martin.[13] After the death of her husband, Lady Argyle moved to Perth to be near her son Tom and his family. She died in Perth in 1963 at the age of 94. By that time, three of her four children were living in Perth.

    Stanley Argyle was a cousin of the British judge Michael Argyle.[14]

    Bibliography

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    Notes and References

    1. News: 25 November 1940 . Obituary – Sir Stanley Argyle . .
    2. 993 . Sir Stanley Seymour Argyle . 27 August 2022.
    3. 7 December 1940 . The Hon. Sir Stanley Argyle, M.B., M.R.C.S. . 20318463 . . 2 . 4170 . 813.
    4. "Marriages", Table Talk, 11 January 1895, p. 14; "Marriages", Table Talk 25 January 1895, p. 13.
    5. "Sir S. Argyle Dead" Sydney Morning Herald 25 November 1940 p. 11
    6. "The Ladies Letter", Punch 12 December 1918 p. 36
    7. 'Births' Melbourne Argus 5 November 1895 p. 1
    8. "Ladies Letter" Table Talk 21 July 1921 p.31
    9. 'Births' Melbourne Argus 13 April 1897 p. 1
    10. "Births" Melbourne Argus 21 October 1899 p. 9; 'Argyle-Brinkley wedding' West Australian 23 February 1934 p. 6
    11. "Births" Melbourne Argus 16 October 1901 p. 1; https://www.ancientfaces.com/person/hector-stanley-argyle-birth-1901-australia/138335231
    12. "Social", Table Talk 9 January 1919 p. 30
    13. "Former Premier's Home" Melbourne Age 28 March 1979, p. 37.
    14. Michael Magazanik, "Argyle of the Bailey, a judge of perfect pedigree", Melbourne Age 3 June 1992 p. 3.