John Garland (Australian politician)

John Garland KC (17 September 1862 – 23 February 1921) was a Scottish-born Australian politician.

He was born at Cowhythe in Banffshire to farmer Robert Garland and Isabella Whyte. He attended Fordyce Academy in Fordyce and graduated as a Master of Arts from the University of Aberdeen in 1882. In 1886, he received a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of Edinburgh, and in 1887 migrated to Australia, where he was called to the bar in 1888.[1] On 21 December 1896 he married Isobel Chisholm, with whom he had a daughter. A founding member of the Council of the Bar of New South Wales, he was also a procurator of the Presbyterian Church and a lecturer on ecclesiastical law at the University of Sydney. In 1898 he was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly as the Free Trade member for Woollahra. He was defeated in 1901, but won a by-election for Tamworth in 1903. Defeated again in 1904, he ran unsuccessfully for Phillip in 1907 before he was appointed to the New South Wales Legislative Council in 1908. In 1909 he was appointed Minister for Justice and Solicitor General, serving until 1910 when Labor assumed office. Appointed King's Counsel in 1910, he resumed those portfolios in 1916, becoming Leader of the House in 1918 and Attorney-General in 1919. Garland died at Bellevue Hill in 1921.[2]