{{Short description|Australian politician}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2016}} {{Use Australian English|date=January 2016}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = Edward Vardon | honorific_suffix = | image = Senator Edward Vardon (cropped).jpg | title = Senator for South Australia | term_start = 16 February 1921 | term_end = 4 August 1921 | predecessor = Robert Guthrie | successor = ''Appointment lapsed'' | term_start1 = 9 August 1921 | term_end1 = 15 December 1922 | predecessor1 = ''Re-appointed'' | successor1 = Bert Hoare | birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1866|11|10}} | birth_place = Hindmarsh, South Australia | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1937|2|23|1866|11|10}} | death_place = Unley Park, South Australia | spouse = {{marriage|Ellen Peel|1888|1927|reason=died}} | party = Liberal Union (to 1923)<br/>Liberal Federation (1923–1932)<br/>LCL (from 1932) | other_party = Nationalist (federal parliamentary) | relations = Joseph Vardon (father) | children = | alma_mater = | occupation = Businessman | profession = | signature = | website = | footnotes = }} '''Edward Charles Vardon''' (10 November 1866 – 23 February 1937) was an Australian businessman and politician. He served briefly as a Senator for South Australia (1921–1922) and was a member of the South Australian House of Assembly (1918–1921, 1924–1930) before and after his service in federal parliament.
==Early life== thumb|left|upright|Vardon as a young man Vardon was born on 10 November 1866 in Hindmarsh, South Australia. He was one of five children born to Mary Ann (née Pickering) and Joseph Vardon, a printer. He was educated at North Adelaide Grammar School, leaving to work in his father's business and eventually becoming a director of Vardon and Sons. His father was active in public affairs and held elective office at all three levels of government.<ref name=bio>{{Cite Au Senate |Sen id=edward-charles-vardon |name=Vardon, Edward Charles (1866–1937) |first=Ann |last=Millar |access-date=19 December 2022 |via=Trove}}</ref>
Outside of the family business, Vardon also served as chairman of Mile End Cold Stores, the Adelaide Fruit and Produce Exchange Company, and the East End Markets on East Terrace. He was president of the South Australian Chamber of Manufactures from 1910 to 1912.<ref name=adb>{{Australian Dictionary of Biography |id2=vardon-edward-charles-9267 |title=Vardon, Edward Charles (1866–1937) |first=Malcolm |last=Saunders |year=1990 |volume=12 |access-date=19 December 2022}}</ref>
==State politics== Vardon was elected to the South Australian House of Assembly at the 1918 state election,<ref name=bio/><ref name="SA parl">{{Cite SA-parl |pid=3967 |name=Edward Vardon |former=yes |access-date=19 December 2022}}</ref> standing as a Liberal on a joint ticket with two Nationalists.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60335480 |title=Agreement at Sturt |newspaper=The Register |date=17 January 1918 |via=Trove}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article45439420|title=South Australian politics|newspaper=The Barrier Miner |date=17 January 1918 |via=Trove}}</ref> He stood on a platform which included opposition to tax increases, reducing the number of state MPs, introducing proportional representation, greater education spending, and the introduction of scripture classes in state schools.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60348483|title=Mr. E. C. Vardon at Sturt|newspaper=The Register |date=15 March 1918 |via=Trove}}</ref>
In parliament, Vardon's areas of interest included "federal and state taxation systems, industrial law and the minutiae of government expenditure".<ref name=bio/> In 1918, several months after his election, he successfully introduced an amendment to the government's marriage legislation. His amendment provided for gender equality in at-fault divorce, allowing women to file for divorce on the grounds of adultery where previously only men had been able to do so.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article57544595|title=Divorce laws|newspaper=The Register |date=27 September 1918 |via=Trove}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article164164625 |title=Amended matrimonial laws |newspaper=Observer |date=19 October 1918 |via=Trove}}</ref>
==Federal politics== thumb|upright|Edward Vardon On 18 February 1921, Vardon was appointed to the Senate to fill a casual vacancy caused by the death of Robert Guthrie. His term expired on 4 August due to the Parliament of South Australia's failure to confirm his appointment, but this was rectified five days later.<ref name=bio/> He had earlier been selected by the Liberal Union for its Senate ticket prior to the 1917 federal election, but withdrew in favour of James Rowell.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article105398787 |title=Liberal Union's attitude |newspaper=Daily Herald |date=30 March 1917 |via=Trove}}</ref>
According to his biographer Ann Millar, Vardon's speeches in the Senate put forward "the considered views of a thoughtful backbencher committed to government accountability, even when the government was controlled by his own party".<ref name=bio/> He and his father are one of only two father-son pairs to both serve as senators, along with James and Allan Guy.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1516/ParlRel#_Toc434565991|title=Parliamentary relations: political families in the Commonwealth Parliament|first1=Hannah|last1=Gobbett|first2=Martin|last2=Lumb|year=2015|publisher=Australian Parliamentary Library|access-date=3 February 2021}}</ref> Vardon continued his support of proportional representation and also supported parliamentary representation for the Northern Territory. He was an economic protectionist and supported reduced government spending, seeking to reduce the size of the Commonwealth Public Service and describing the construction of Canberra as "unnecessary".<ref name=bio/>
In April 1922, Vardon was selected as one of the Liberal Union's three Senate candidates for the next federal election, along with James Rowell and Alexander McLachlan.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63578285|title=Liberal Senate candidates |date=27 April 1922 |newspaper=The Register |via=Trove}}</ref> Unlike at the previous two elections, the Liberal Union and National Party were unable to come to an arrangement for a joint ticket, with the former standing as "true blue" Liberals opposed to Prime Minister Billy Hughes.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article243780130 |title=Challenge of the South Australian 'True Blues' |newspaper=The Herald |date=9 November 1922}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/16035061 |title=The elections |date=7 December 1922 |newspaper=Sydney Morning Herald |via=Trove}}</ref> He and the rest of the ticket were defeated.<ref name="Psephos 1922">{{cite web |url=http://psephos.adam-carr.net/countries/a/australia/1922/1922senatesa.txt |title=Election of 1922 Senate: South Australia |work=Psephos Adam Carr's Election Archive |access-date=26 February 2017}}</ref>
==Return to state politics and later life== In 1923, Vardon was appointed to the Apprenctices' Advisory Board as the representative of the Chamber of Manufactures.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/129822276 |title=Apprentices' Advisory Board |newspaper=News |date=1 August 1923 |via=Trove}}</ref> He was re-elected to the House of Assembly at the 1924 state election,<ref name=bio/> winning his old seat of Sturt for the Liberal Federation.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/164837491 |title=Sturt Liberal nominees |newspaper=Observer |date=1 December 1923 |via=Trove}}</ref>
Vardon was defeated at the 1930 election,<ref name=bio/> but in 1932 attempted to gain preselection in Sturt for the new Liberal and Country League.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article128949273 |title=E. C. Vardon |newspaper=News |date=17 August 1932 |via=Trove}}</ref>
==Personal life== Vardon married Ellen Peel in 1888, with whom he had a son and a daughter.<ref name=bio/> His wife's sister married David Gordon. He was widowed in 1927 and was also predeceased by his son.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/54940614|title=Obituary|newspaper=The Register |date=31 December 1927 |via=Trove}}</ref> He died at his home in Unley Park on 23 February 1937, aged 70, having been ill since August 1936 and suffered bouts of ill health since 1928.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/74336217|title=Former Senator dead|newspaper=The Advertiser |date=24 February 1937 |via=Trove}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vardon, Edward}} Category:1866 births Category:1937 deaths Category:Politicians from the Colony of South Australia Category:Members of the South Australian House of Assembly Category:Nationalist Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Category:Liberal Party (1922) members of the Parliament of Australia Category:Members of the Australian Senate for South Australia Category:Members of the Australian Senate