Alfred James Jones

{{Short description|Australian politician}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}} {{Use Australian English|date=August 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = '''The Honourable''' | name = Alfred James Jones | honorific_suffix = | image = BCC-B120-32639.jpg | caption =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1871|10|4}} | birth_place = Gayndah, Queensland, Australia | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1945|10|7|1871|10|4}} | death_place = Brisbane, Queensland, Australia | party = Labor | spouse = Martha Elizabeth Leggett | occupation = Drover, shopkeeper, gold miner }}

'''Alfred James Jones''' (4 October 1871 – 7 October 1945) was an Australian politician who served as a Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, a Member of the Queensland Legislative Council and as Lord Mayor of Brisbane.

==Early life== Alfred James Jones was born at Gayndah, Queensland, the son of Joseph Jones and his wife Ann (''née'' Stevens).<ref>Queensland Registrar-General, Index of Births, #1871/C927.</ref> He received a basic education at Burnett State School<ref>{{cite web|title=Lord Mayor Alfred Jones|url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/version/17611854|publisher=Brisbane City Council Archives|access-date=22 February 2013|archive-date=3 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200303011757/https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/17611854|url-status=dead}}</ref> and became a stockman and miner. He spent a short time teaching, was a Cobb & Co driver and spent six years mining.<ref name="brcopo"/>

He married Martha Elizabeth Leggett in Gayndah on 1 May 1895<ref>Queensland Registrar-General, Index of Marriages, #1895/C255.</ref> and they had five sons and five daughters: Alfred Stevens, Claude Mills, Gladys Mary, Edward Joseph, Nellie Ann Millicent, Ina, Molly Nundah, Burnett Cranbrook, Allan Halley, and Dorothy Clara.<ref>Queensland Registrar-General, Index of Births</ref>

==Queensland Legislative Assembly== Jones contested four Legislative Assembly of Queensland seats for the Labor Party, and held three of them. He won Burnett in 1904 with 68% of the vote, but lost the seat after one term and failed to regain it in the 1912 election.

He won Maryborough in 1915 with about 56% of the vote.<ref name="brcopo"> {{Citation |last=Manfred |first=Cross |title=Brisbane:Corridors of Power |place=Brisbane |publisher=Brisbane History Group Inc |series=Papers |volume=15 |year=1997 |editor-last=Shaw |editor-first=Barry |chapter=Alfred James Jones: Labor's first lord mayor |pages=152–158 |isbn=0-9586469-1-0 }}</ref> Jones resigned on 14 February 1917 to enter the upper house, the Queensland Legislative Council.

==Queensland Legislative Council==

Jones was appointed to the Queensland Legislative Council on 14 February 1917, where he was the representative of the Government and also Minister for Mines.

He resigned from the Legislative Council on 16 September 1920 in order to contest the lower house seat of Carnarvon<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20432317 |title=MINISTER FOR MINES. |newspaper=The Brisbane Courier |date=1 September 1920 |accessdate=23 February 2013 |page=7 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20416813 |title=TWO LEGISLATIVE COUNCILLORS RESIGN. |newspaper=The Brisbane Courier |date=20 September 1920 |accessdate=23 February 2013 |page=7 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref> in 1920 but was not elected, and was returned to the upper house on 21 October 1920.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20475869 |title=COMFORTED IN DEFEAT. |newspaper=The Brisbane Courier |date=23 October 1920 |accessdate=23 February 2013 |page=7 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref> He was one of the last members of the Queensland Legislative Council, as he led the vote to abolish the upper house in 1921, leading to its abolition on 3 March 1922.

==Return to Queensland Legislative Assembly== Jones won Paddington in 1922 and held the seat until 1932 when the district was abolished due to redistribution.<ref name="brcopo"/> Jones was Secretary for Mines for most of the period from 1917 to 1929.<ref name="brcopo"/>

On Saturday 28 March 1925, Jones officially opened the Windera railway line from Barlil to Windera in the Burnett area.<ref>{{cite news|date=28 March 1925|title=WINDERA LINE|page=8|newspaper=The Daily Mail|issue=7202|location=Queensland, Australia|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article219083402|via=National Library of Australia|accessdate=14 July 2021}}</ref>

==Lord Mayor== Jones was Lord Mayor of Brisbane from 1934<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article36732715 |title=JONES WINS BY 2843 VOTES. |newspaper=The Courier-Mail |location=Brisbane |date=4 May 1934 |accessdate=23 February 2013 |page=14 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref> to 1940. He attempted to solidify the Greater Brisbane vision of the 1925 amalgamation with a large system of civic loans.

===1934 Election=== With universal suffrage restored to Brisbane City Council elections, Alfred Jones and the Labor Party won easily, picking up 14 of the 20 wards. Once again Brisbane was led by popularly elected Mayor.

===1937 Election=== Harry Massey the independent Alderman for Toowong was convinced by the conservative Citizens' Municipal Organisation (CMO) (which was formed on 23 June 1936) to run as their Lord Mayoral candidate for the 1937 election. On 24 April 1937, Jones won easily, increasing his margin of victory. The CMO won two new wards to Labor's one for a net gain of 1 ward.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page1971840?zoomLevel=3&&&&&searchTerm=citizens%20municipal%20organization%20formed&searchLimits=l-state=Queensland%7B%7B%7Bl-title=12%7B%7B%7Bsortby | title=The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, QLD. : 1933 - 1954) - 26 Apr 1937 - p9 }}</ref>

===1940 Election=== Allegations that his administration was plagued by accusations of corruption and inefficiency lead to a complete Labor collapse in the 1940 election, when he lost the mayoralty to John Beals Chandler.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article40886278 |title=RECORD MAJORITY TO MR. CHANDLER: C.M.O. WINS 14 SEATS. |newspaper=The Courier-Mail |location=Brisbane |date=29 April 1940 |accessdate=23 February 2013 |page=1 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

==Later life==

Jones died in Brisbane General Hospital on 7 October 1945.<ref>Queensland Registrar-General, Index of Deaths, #1945/B3733.</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article50287540 |title=HANLON PRAISES LATE MR. JONES. |newspaper=The Courier-Mail |location=Brisbane |date=8 October 1945 |accessdate=23 February 2013 |page=3 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref> His funeral service was held on 8 October 1945 at St John's Cathedral, after which he was cremated at the Mt Thompson Crematorium.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article50287520 |title=Family Notices. |newspaper=The Courier-Mail |location=Brisbane |date=8 October 1945 |accessdate=23 February 2013 |page=6 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

==Street name== A number of street names in the Brisbane suburb of Carina Heights are identical to the surnames of former Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly. One of these is Jones Road.

==See also== {{Portal|Queensland}} *List of mayors and lord mayors of Brisbane

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{commons category-inline}} *[https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/jones-alfred-james-6867 Jones, Alfred James (1871–1945)]. Australian Dictionary of Biography.

{{s-start}} {{s-civ}} {{succession box | title=Lord Mayor of Brisbane| before=John William Greene | after=John Beals Chandler | years=1934–1940}} {{s-par|au-qld }} {{s-bef | before = William Kent}} {{s-ttl |title = Member for Burnett |years=1904–1909}} {{s-aft | after = Robert Hodge}} {{s-bef | before = Edward Corser}} {{s-ttl |title = Member for Maryborough |years=1915–1917}} {{s-aft | after = David Weir}} {{s-bef | before = John Fihelly}} {{s-ttl |title = Member for Paddington |years=1922–1932}} {{s-non|reason=Abolished}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Alfred James}} Category:1871 births Category:1945 deaths Category:20th-century mayors of places in Australia Category:Mayors and lord mayors of Brisbane Category:Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly Category:Members of the Queensland Legislative Council Category:Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Queensland Category:Australian stockmen