{{Copyvio|fullpage=true |timestamp=20260403000822 |url=https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks15/1500721h/0-dict-biogD.html}} {{Short description|Australian politician}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}} {{Other people|Frederick Darley}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Right Honourable | name = Sir Frederick Matthew Darley | honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|GCMG}} | image = File:Sir Frederick Darley 2.jpg | image_size = | caption = Sir Frederick Darley | order = 6th | office = Chief Justice of New South Wales | term_start = 29 November 1886 | term_end = 4 January 1910 | predecessor = Sir Julian Salomons | successor = Sir William Cullen | office2 = Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales | term_start2 = 26 November 1891 | term_end2 = 30 March 1910 | predecessor2 = Sir Alfred Stephen | successor2 = Sir William Cullen | office3 = Member of the Legislative Council of New South Wales | term_start3 = 13 October 1868 | term_end3 = 1 December 1886 | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1830|09|18}} | birth_place = Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1910|1|4|1830|09|18}} | death_place = London, England, UK
| party = | spouse = }} [[Image:(1)Lilianfels.jpg|thumb|Lilianfels, Darley's old retreat in Katoomba]] '''Sir Frederick Matthew Darley''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|GCMG|PC}} (18 September 1830 – 4 January 1910) was the sixth Chief Justice of New South Wales,<ref name="Appt CJ">{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article223780607 |title=Appointment of Chief Justice |newspaper=NSW Gazette |date=29 November 1886 |page=8201 |via=Trove}}</ref>{{efn|He is also referred to as the 5th Chief Justice,<ref>{{Citation | author1=Sadd, H. S. |title=The Honorable Sir Frederick Darley, Knt., fifth Chief Justice of New South Wales |publication-date=c. 1886 |publisher=Published by Thomas Shine |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-136059271}}</ref> owing to Julian Salomons resigning before being sworn in.<ref name="ADB"/>}} an eminent barrister, a member of the New South Wales Parliament, Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales, and a member of the British Privy Council.
==Early years== Darley was an Anglo-Irishman, the first son of Henry Darley (son of Frederick Darley) of Wingfield, Bray, County Wicklow and his wife Maria Louisa Darley (née West, daughter of silversmith, Matthew West of Dublin). Darley's father was a member of the Irish bar and according to Bennett, he was described by Lord St Leonards as "not only the best officer in the Court of Chancery in Ireland, but the best officer he had ever come across".<ref name="ADB">{{cite AuDB |first=J.M. |last=Bennett |authorlink= |title=Darley, Frederick Matthew (1830 - 1910) |id2=darley-sir-frederick-matthew-3366 |year=1972}}</ref>
Darley was educated at the Royal School Dungannon (sometimes known as "Dungannon College") in County Tyrone, Ireland where he had as a fellow student George Higinbotham was who afterwards to become Chief Justice of Victoria. Darley's uncle, the Reverend John Darley, was headmaster of the college.<ref name="ADB"/>
In July 1847 Darley commenced studying at Trinity College Dublin, and he graduated in July 1851 with a Bachelor of Arts (BA). He was called to the English bar at the King's Inn in January 1853 but returned to Ireland and practised there for about nine years on the Munster circuit. He met Sir Alfred Stephen when Stephen was on a visit to Europe, and was told about opportunities in Australia.<ref name="Parl papers">{{cite web |url=http://parlpapers.sl.nsw.gov.au/display.cfm?parl_id=5100 |title=Sir Frederick Matthew Darley (1830 - 1910) |work=NSW Parliamentary Papers |via=State Library of NSW |access-date=10 April 2007 |archive-date=21 August 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060821141653/http://parlpapers.sl.nsw.gov.au/display.cfm?parl_id=5100 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Darley married Lucy Forest Browne at Hunsdon, Hertfordshire, on 13 December 1860. Lucy was the sister of novelist Rolf Boldrewood (Thomas Alexander Browne) who is best known for the book ''Robbery under arms''. Darley and Lucy had two sons and four daughters. One of their daughters Frederica Silvia Darley married firstly Sir Windham Robert Carmichael-Anstruther 9th Bt, and secondly the Hon. Major Algernon Henry Charles Hanbury-Tracey, their son became the 6th Baron Sudeley of Toddington.
==Emigration to Australia== Darley emigrated to Sydney in 1862. He was admitted to the NSW Bar on 2 June 1862 and was later appointed a Queen's Counsel (QC) in 1878.<ref name="Parl papers"/> Biographer John Bennett, on the other hand, states that Darley found his early years tiring and not particularly well remunerated, and that it was Darley's zeal rather than his legal skills that brought him to attention.<ref name="NSW Parl">{{Cite NSW Parliament |id=627 |name=The Hon Frederick Matthew Darley, QC (1830-1910) |former=Yes |access-date=26 June 2020}}</ref>
==Appointment as Chief Justice== thumb|Etching of Frederick Matthew Darley, c. 1890 Darley was again approached, and this time he accepted it. He was sworn in on 7 December 1886. He carried out his duties with great distinction, although Bennett notes that Darley was not an exceptional jurist. Sir Samuel Way, Chief Justice of South Australia, spoke of him "as in many respects the noblest figure we have ever had on the Australian bench".
Darley's longest period administering the government was from 1 November 1900 to 27 May 1902,<ref name="Admin">{{NSW Parliamentary Record |part=1 |accessdate=2020-10-22 |page=2}}</ref> a significant period in Australia's political history with the lead up to and the aftermath of federation of the then Australian colonies. But his anxiety for New South Wales's supremacy may have contributed to the 'Hopetoun Blunder'. According to Bennett, Darley's private assessment in 1902 was that 'Australian Federation is so far a pronounced failure'.<ref name="ADB"/>
==Honours and later years== Darley was knighted in 1887,<ref>{{London Gazette |title=Letters Patent |issue=25699 |date=9 May 1887 |page=2580}}</ref> created a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in 1897,<ref>{{London Gazette |title=Chancery of the Order of Saint Michael and Saint George |issue=26864 |date=22 June 1897 |page=3440}}</ref> and received the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG) on 15 May 1901,<ref>{{London Gazette |title=Chancery of the Order of Saint Michael and Saint George |issue=27314 |date=17 May 1901 |page=3379}}</ref> in preparation of the forthcoming royal visit of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York (later King George V and Queen Mary).
He visited England in 1902 and was appointed a member of the Royal Commission set up to investigate the conduct of the Second Boer War (the Elgin Commission 1902–1903).<ref>{{London Gazette| issue=27482 |page=6493 |date=14 October 1902}}</ref> He was also appointed a member of the privy council in 1905.<ref>{{London Gazette |title=Appointment to His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council |issue=27856 |date=21 November 1905 |page=7807}}</ref>
He died in London on 4 January 1910.<ref name="ADB"/>
==Trivia== Mary McCarron Maguire composed the "Katoomba Waltz" in honour of Darley and Lady Darley.<ref>{{Citation |author1=Maguire, Mary McCarron |author2=Turner, Charles |title=Katoomba waltz |publication-date=1890 |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/30328684 |via=Trove}}</ref>
Darley Road at Randwick, Sydney was renamed from Boundary Street in honour of Darley.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.randwick.nsw.gov.au/about-council/history/historic-places/historic-street-and-place-names/street-names-a-f |publisher=Randwick City Council |title=Street Names (A to F) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170624085743/http://www.randwick.nsw.gov.au/about-council/history/historic-places/historic-street-and-place-names/street-names-a-f |archive-date=24 June 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref>
Darley lived at Quambi, Albert Street, Woollahra and had a mountain retreat "Lilianfels" in Katoomba. This retreat is now a hotel,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.lilianfels.com.au/ |title=Lilianfels Resort and Spa |website=lilianfels.com.au}}</ref> and "Quambi" was demolished in the 1930s to become Quambi Place.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.woollahra.nsw.gov.au/library/local_history/local_history_fast_facts/q |publisher=Woollahra Municipal Council |title=Local history fast facts - Q |access-date=10 April 2007 |archive-date=31 August 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070831093934/http://www.woollahra.nsw.gov.au/library/local_history/local_history_fast_facts/q |url-status=dead }}</ref>-
==See also== *List of judges of the Supreme Court of New South Wales
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==References== <ref name="Serle">{{Dictionary of Australian Biography|First=Frederick|Last=Darley|shortlink=0-dict-biogD.html#darley1}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette |title=Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales |issue=26227 |date=27 November 1891 |page=6471}}</ref> {{reflist}}
==Sources== *Alex Castles, ''A Legal History of Australia'', Law Book Co, 1975.
{{s-start}} {{s-legal}} {{succession box |title= Chief Justice of New South Wales | before=Sir Julian Salomons | after=Sir William Cullen | years=1886 - 1910}} {{s-gov}} {{succession box |title= Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales | before= Sir Alfred Stephen| after= Sir William Cullen| years=1891 - 1910}} {{s-end}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Darley, Frederick Matthew}} Category:1830 births Category:1910 deaths Category:Chief justices of New South Wales Category:Lieutenant-governors of New South Wales Category:Judges of the Supreme Court of New South Wales Category:Australian Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Category:Australian Knights Bachelor Category:Australian King's Counsel Category:Colony of New South Wales judges Category:Australian members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Category:19th-century Australian judges Category:20th-century Australian judges Category:Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council Category:Lawyers from County Wicklow Category:People from Bray, County Wicklow Category:People educated at the Royal School Dungannon Category:Alumni of Trinity College Dublin </div>