{{Short description|Australian politician}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}} {{Use Australian English|date=August 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Honourable | name = Agar Wynne | honorific_suffix = | image = Portrait of Agar Wynne (cropped).jpg | office = Postmaster-General of Australia | prime_minister = Joseph Cook | predecessor = Charlie Frazer | successor = William Spence | term_start = 24 June 1913 | term_end = 17 September 1914 | constituency_MP2 = Balaclava | parliament2 = Australian | predecessor2 = George Turner | successor2 = William Watt | term_start2 = 12 December 1906 | term_end2 = 30 July 1914 | birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1850|7|15}} | birth_place = London, England | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1934|5|12|1850|7|15}} | death_place = Streatham, Victoria, Australia | spouse = {{plainlist| * {{Marriage|Mary Jane Robertson|1886|1889}} * {{marriage|Annie Dudgeon|1896}} }} | party = Ind Protectionist (1906–09) <br /> Liberal (1909–14) | relations = | children = | alma_mater = University of Melbourne | occupation = Attorney | profession = | signature = | website = | footnotes = }} '''Agar Wynne''' (15 July 1850{{spaced ndash}}12 May 1934) was an Australian lawyer and politician. He began his career in the Victorian Legislative Council and served two terms as Solicitor-General of Victoria. In 1906, he transferred to the federal House of Representatives. He was Postmaster-General of Australia in the Cook Government from 1913 to 1914, but retired from federal politics at the 1914 election. He re-entered Victorian politics and briefly served as Attorney-General of Victoria (1917–1918).
==Early life== Wynne was born in London, but his family emigrated to Australia when he was a child. He educated at Melbourne Church of England Grammar School and enrolled in an articled clerk's course at the University of Melbourne and was admitted as an attorney in July 1874. He married Mary Jane Robertson, née Smith, a widow with two children in November 1886. She died in 1889 and in February 1896 he married Annie Dudgeon, née Samuel, a widow with three children.<ref name="adb">{{Australian Dictionary of Biography|last=Bennet|first=Darryl|authorlink=|year=1990|title=Wynne, Agar (1850–1934)|accessdate=2022-08-05|id2=wynne-agar-9208}}</ref>
==Colonial politics== In 1888, Wynne won the seat of Western Province in the Victorian Legislative Council which he held until 1903 and was Postmaster-General and Solicitor-General from 1893 to 1894 in Sir James Patterson's government and Solicitor-General from 1900 to 1902 in Sir George Turner's and Sir Alexander Peacock's governments.<ref name=adb/><ref name="Wynne re-member">{{cite re-member |num2=277 |name=Agar Wynne |accessdate=12 February 2019}}</ref>
==Federal politics== Wynne won the seat of Balaclava at the 1906 elections in the Australian House of Representatives as an Independent Protectionist. He joined the Fusion government and served as Postmaster-General in the Cook Ministry from June 1913 to its fall in September 1914, but he did not contest the 1914 elections, apparently because he could not reorganise his department to run on efficient business principles.<ref name=adb/>
==State politics and later life== thumb|upright|right|Wynne in 1925 Wynne returned to Victorian politics in 1917, winning the state seat of St Kilda and was Attorney-General, Solicitor-General, Minister of Railways and a Vice-President of the Board of Land and Works from November 1917 to March 1918 in Sir John Bowser's government.<ref name="Wynne re-member" /> He did not stand for re-election in 1920.<ref name=adb/>
==Personal life== In 1910, Wynne acquired Nerrin Nerrin, a {{convert|7927|acre|ha|adj=on}} property near Streatham, Victoria. He ran merino sheep, raised Thoroughbred horses and created a wildlife sanctuary. He also had pastoral interests elsewhere in Victoria and in Queensland.<ref name=adb/>
Wynne was a committee member of the Victoria Racing Club from 1905. He won the Australian Cup twice, with Great Scot in 1903 and Peru in 1908. He also served terms as president of the Melbourne Swimming Club, the St Kilda Yacht Club, the Melbourne Club, and the Athenaeum Club.<ref name=adb/>
A supporter of the war effort, in 1917 Wynne offered £500 to the first member of the proposed Sportsman's Battalion to win the Victoria Cross.<ref>Richardson, p. 257.</ref>
Wynne suffered a series of strokes late in life and died at Nerrin Nerrin on 12 May 1934, aged 83. He was survived by the daughter of his first marriage.<ref name=adb/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Sources== * Richardson, N. (2016) ''The Game of their lives'', Pan Macmillan: Sydney. {{ISBN|9781743536667}}.
{{s-start}} {{s-par|au-vic-lc}} {{s-bef | before = Thomas Cumming }} {{s-ttl | title = Member for Western Province | years = 1888–1903 | with = 2 others }} {{s-aft | after = Alexander MacLeod }} {{s-bef | before = Isaac Isaacs }} {{s-ttl | title = Solicitor-General of Victoria | years = Jun 1893 - Sep 1894 }} {{s-aft | after = Sir Henry Cuthbert }} {{s-bef | before = John Davies }} {{s-ttl | title = Solicitor-General of Victoria | years = Nov 1900 - Jun 1902 }} {{s-aft | after = John Davies }} {{s-par|au-hr}} {{succession box | before = George Turner | title = Member for Balaclava | years = 1906–1914 | after = William Watt }} {{succession box | before = Josiah Thomas | title = Postmaster-General | years = 1913–1914 | after = William Spence }} {{s-par|au-vic-la}} {{succession box | before = Robert McCutcheon | title = Member for St Kilda | years = 1917–1920 | after = Frederic Eggleston }} {{s-bef | rows = 2 | before = Harry Lawson }} {{s-ttl | rows = 2 | title = Attorney-General of Victoria &<br />Solicitor-General of Victoria | years = Nov 1917 - Mar 1918 }} {{s-aft | after = Harry Lawson | as = Attorney-General }} {{s-aft | after = Arthur Robinson | as = Solicitor-General }} {{s-end}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wynne, Agar}} Category:1850 births Category:1934 deaths Category:Commonwealth Liberal Party members of the Parliament of Australia Category:Independent members of the Parliament of Australia Category:Nationalist Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Victoria Category:Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Balaclava Category:Members of the Australian House of Representatives Category:Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Category:Members of the Victorian Legislative Council Category:Vice-presidents of the Board of Land and Works Category:Members of the Cabinet of Australia Category:Attorneys-general of Victoria Category:Solicitors-general of Victoria Category:Politicians from London Category:Lawyers from London Category:Melbourne Law School alumni Category:People educated at Melbourne Grammar School Category:Australian racehorse owners and breeders Category:Ministers of railways (Victoria) Category:Postmasters-general of Victoria Category:Postmasters-general of Australia Category:Australian MPs 1906–1910 Category:Australian MPs 1910–1913 Category:Australian MPs 1913–1914