{{Short description|Australian businessman and politician (1865–1957)}} {{Use Australian English|date=March 2016}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2016}} {{Infobox officeholder |honorific_prefix = The Honourable |name = Joseph Langsford |honorific_suffix = |image = |office = Member of the Legislative Council<br/>of Western Australia |constituency = Metropolitan-Suburban Province |term_start = 6 January 1904 |term_end = 3 October 1911 |predecessor = William Brookman |successor = James Doland |birth_name = Joseph Wood Langsford |birth_date = {{Birth date|1865|7|29|df=yes}} |birth_place = Norwood, South Australia, Australia |death_date = {{Death date and age|1957|4|5|1865|7|29|df=yes}} |death_place = Claremont, Western Australia, Australia }} '''Joseph Wood Langsford''' (29 July 1865 – 5 April 1957) was an Australian businessman and politician who was a member of the Legislative Council of Western Australia from 1904 to 1911. He ran for parliament eight times in total, but won election only twice.
==Early life== Langsford was born in Adelaide to Mary Ann (née Ware) and John Langsford. He attended Prince Alfred College, and after leaving school found work with the AMP Society (an insurance firm). In 1884, Langsford was sent to Western Australia to work in the company's Perth office. He left AMP in 1896 to set up his own business as an accountant and auditor.<ref name="bio">[https://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/parliament/library/MPHistoricalData.nsf/(Lookup)/22D3E8474A0DC293482577E50028A6A5?OpenDocument Joseph Wood Langsford] – Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 15 June 2016.</ref> In the late 1890s, he became one of the leading advocates for the creation of a new Claremont Municipality (now the Town of Claremont) out of the existing Claremont Road District (now the City of Nedlands).<ref>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/46252409 "CLAREMONT'S GROWTH"], ''The West Australian'', 1 January 1947.</ref> This was accomplished in 1898, and the following year Langsford was elected the inaugural Mayor of Claremont. He held that position until 1901, when he was succeeded by Sydney Stubbs, and later served on the municipal council again from 1903 to 1906, and 1915 to 1918.<ref name="bio"/><ref>{{Citation | author1=Bolton, G.C | author2=Gregory, J.A | title=Claremont: A history | publication-date=1999 | publisher=University of Western Australia Press | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/180101843}}</ref>
==Politics== Langsford first stood for parliament at the 1901 state election, running for the Legislative Assembly, but was defeated by William Sayer (the attorney-general) in the newly created seat of Claremont. At the 1902 Claremont by-election, caused by Sayer's resignation, Langsford placed third behind John Foulkes and Frank Wilson.<ref name="res">{{cite book|last=Black|first=David|authorlink=David Black (historian)|last2=Prescott|first2=Valerie|title=Election statistics : Legislative Assembly of Western Australia, 1890-1996|year=1997|publisher=Western Australian Parliamentary History Project and Western Australian Electoral Commission|location=Perth, [W.A.]|isbn=0730984095}}</ref> He eventually entered parliament at a 1904 Legislative Council by-election, replacing William Brookman in Metropolitan-Suburban Province.<ref name="bio"/> Langsford was re-elected in 1906, but resigned a few months before the end of his second term to contest the Legislative Assembly at the 1911 state election. He again ran in Claremont, but lost to Evan Wisdom, with both candidates standing as Ministerialists.<ref name="res"/> In 1912, Langsford attempted to return to his previous Legislative Council seat, but was defeated by Archibald Sanderson.<ref name="bio"/> He recontested Claremont at the 1914 election, but again lost to Wisdom. His final run for parliament came at the 1918 Claremont by-election, where he ran as an independent but was defeated by Thomas Duff.<ref name="res"/>
==Later life== Outside of business and politics, Langsford served for periods as treasurer of Methodist Ladies' College and chairman of the board of trustees of Karrakatta Cemetery. He died in Claremont in 1957, aged 91.<ref>{{Cite Q |Q42333722 |year=1957 |title=Death index entry for Joseph Wood Langsford |id=100828 |access-date=2024-08-27}}</ref> He had married Agnes Jane Read in 1888, with whom he had five children.<ref name="bio"/>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Langsford, Joseph}} Category:1865 births Category:1957 deaths Category:Australian accountants Category:Mayors of places in Western Australia Category:Members of the Western Australian Legislative Council Category:Politicians from Adelaide Category:Businesspeople from Adelaide Category:Western Australian local councillors Category:People educated at Prince Alfred College