{{short description|Australian politician}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2015}} {{Use Australian English|date=December 2015}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = John Siddons | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=AUS|size=100%|AO}} | image = | title = Senator for Victoria | term_start = 1 July 1981 | term_end = 4 February 1983 | term_start1 = 1 July 1985 | term_end1 = 5 June 1987 | birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1927|10|5}} | birth_place = Melbourne, Victoria, Australia | death_date = {{death date and age|2016|9|22|1927|10|5|df=y}} | death_place = | spouse = | party = Democrats (1981&ndash;86) <br /> Independent (1986&ndash;87) <br /> Unite Australia (1987) | relations = | children = | alma_mater = | occupation = Businessman | profession = | signature = | website = | footnotes = }} '''John Royston Siddons''' {{post-nominals|country=AUS|AO}} (5 October 1927 – 22 September 2016) was an Australian politician. He was a businessman and the executive chairman of Siddons Industries Ltd. before entering politics.<ref>Myer, Rod. "[http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/john-siddons-never-a-grander-man-in-australian-politics-20160929-grrqey.html John Siddons: Never a grander man in Australian politics]". ''The Age'', 30 September 2016. Accessed 22 December 2016</ref>

==Early life== Siddons was born in Melbourne on 5 October 1927. He was the second of three children born to Agnes Emily (née Smith) and Royston Siddons.<ref name="bio">{{cite news |last=Hearder |first=Rosalind |year=2017 |title=Siddons, John Royston (1927–2016) |url=https://biography.senate.gov.au/siddons-john-royston/ |work=The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate |publisher=Department of the Senate |volume=4}}</ref> His father was an industrialist who founded the Sidchrome line of tools.<ref name=adb>{{Australian Dictionary of Biography|last=Lack|first=John|year=2006|volume=16|id2=siddons-royston-11689|title=Siddons, Royston (1899–1976)|access-date=2023-01-18}}</ref>

Siddons spent his early years in the suburb of Ivanhoe, attending Ivanhoe State School and Preston Technical School. He completed his secondary education at Wesley College from 1943 to 1945, but did not matriculate as he had always intended on joining his father's business.<ref name=bio/>

==Business career== In 1945, Siddons began working for one of his father's firms, Siddons Drop Forging Pty Ltd, drop forging hammers at its factory in Clifton Hill.<ref name=bio/> He was groomed to take over the business and worked across all departments of his father's conglomerate, starting at factory level to gain an understanding of manual labour.<ref name=adb/>

Siddons was sent to the United States on a research tour in 1949, where he was introduced to the newly created Ramset gun – "a powder-actuated tool gun that greatly sped up the process of fastening slabs of concrete or steel".<ref name=bio/> He acquired the Australian franchise rights and in 1952 incorporated Ramset Fasteners (Australia) Pty Ltd as a division of Siddons Drop Forging, with himself as general manager. Due to import restrictions the firm had to manufacture Ramset guns in Australia, quickly ramping up production and later establishing subsidiaries in New Zealand and South Africa. By 1955 profits from the Ramset line had surpassed the rest of the Siddons' tool-making divisions.<ref name=adb/>

==Politics== Siddons' first involvement in politics was through the Australia Party. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the party at three federal elections, standing for the House of Representatives in the seat of Diamond Valley at the 1972 election and for the Senate at the 1974 and 1975 elections.<ref name=bio/> He was elected to succeed Gordon Barton as national convenor of the Australia Party in December 1974, defeating Ian Gilfillan.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/110791367|title=Labor Government 'needs to improve'|newspaper=The Canberra Times|date=6 December 1974}}</ref>

In 1980, he was elected to the Australian Senate as a Democrats senator for Victoria. He was defeated at the 1983 election, when he was required to take second place on the Democrats ticket in deference to party leader Don Chipp. He was, however, re-elected in the 1984 election, when seven places were up for election due to the expansion of the Parliament.<ref name=bio/> In 1986, he left the Democrats, claiming that the party had moved too far to the left. In 1987, he registered the Unite Australia Party, amalgamating two other minor parties, the Advance Australia Party and the remnants of the Australia Party. He was joined in the Senate by South Australian Democrat David Vigor. The new party contested the 1987 election but received under 1% in all states contested. Siddons<ref>{{cite web|last=Carr|first=Adam|title=Australian Election Archive: Senate Victoria 1987|work=Psephos, Adam Carr's Election Archive|url=http://psephos.adam-carr.net/countries/a/australia/1987/1987senatevic.txt |accessdate=2008-11-11 }}</ref> and Vigor<ref>{{cite web|last=Carr|first=Adam|title=Australian Election Archive: Senate South Australia 1987|work=Psephos, Adam Carr's Election Archive|url=http://psephos.adam-carr.net/countries/a/australia/1987/1987senatesa.txt |accessdate=2008-11-11 }}</ref> were both defeated.<ref name=bio/>

He died in 2016, aged 88.<ref name=bio/><ref>Myer, Rod. "[http://thenewdaily.com.au/money/finance-news/2016/09/29/john-siddons-obituary/ What made John Siddons one of Australia’s most unusual and enigmatic politicians]". ''The New Daily'', 29 September 2016. Accessed 22 December 2016</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

===Sources=== *Siddons, John Royston; Gleeson, Russ. "A Spanner in the Works" (autobiography). Macmillan, Melbourne (1990)

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Siddons, John}} Category:1927 births Category:2016 deaths Category:People educated at Wesley College (Victoria) Category:Australian businesspeople in manufacturing Category:Australian Democrats members of the Parliament of Australia Category:Independent members of the Parliament of Australia Category:Members of the Australian Senate for Victoria Category:Members of the Australian Senate Category:Unite Australia Party members of the Parliament of Australia Category:20th-century Australian politicians Category:Officers of the Order of Australia