{{Short description|Irish-born Australian politician}} {{about||the Canadian artist|Robert Auchmuty Sproule|people with a similar name|Robert Sproul (disambiguation){{!}}Robert Sproul}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2016}} {{Use Australian English|date=January 2016}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = Robert Sproule | honorific_suffix = | image = Mr Robert Sproule.jpg | caption = Sproule {{circa|1920}} | office = Solicitor General for New South Wales | term_start = 15 April 1920 | term_end = 13 April 1922 | premier = | predecessor = John FitzGerald | successor = Cecil Weigall | office3 = Member of the New South Wales Legislative Council | term_start3 = 27 April 1920 | term_end3 = 22 April 1934 | premier3 = | predecessor3 = | successor3 = | spouse = {{marriage|Effie Stevenson|15 March 1911}} | birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1881|03|16}} | birth_place = Omagh, County Tyrone | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1948|07|16|1881|03|16}} | death_place = Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia | party = }} '''Robert Sproule''' (16 March 1881 – 16 July 1948) was an Irish-born Australian public servant and politician who served as Solicitor General for New South Wales from 1920 until 1922.
== Early life == Sproule was born in Omagh in County Tyrone to farmer William Sproule and Mary Ann Clisdell.<ref name="nsw" /> He attended the Crown Street Public School until he was 14, leaving to work as a correspondence clerk and bookkeeper, continuing his education at night school,<ref name=":0">{{cite news |date=17 July 1921 |title=The Cassius of State ministry: Mr Robert Sproule - a pen sketch of the Solicitor-General |page=19 |newspaper=The Sunday Times |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article123248433 |accessdate=10 September 2022 |via=Trove}}</ref> He sat the public service exam in March 1899,<ref>{{cite news |date=10 March 1899 |title=Candidates at the Competitive Examination for admission to the Clerical Division of the Public Service |page=2119 |newspaper=New South Wales Government Gazette |issue=207 |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article220981475 |accessdate=10 September 2022 |via=Trove}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=28 April 1899 |title=List of successful candidates, public service examination, March, 1899 |page=3316 |newspaper=New South Wales Government Gazette |issue=355 |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article220984760 |accessdate=10 September 2022 |via=Trove}}</ref> and was appointed a junior clerk in the Petty Sessions office of the Justice Department at Goulburn,<ref>{{cite news |date=24 November 1899 |title=Appointment of Robert Sproule as junior clerk |page=8889 |newspaper=New South Wales Government Gazette |issue=940 |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article221000402 |accessdate=10 September 2022 |via=Trove}}</ref> transferring to Redfern in December 1901.<ref>{{cite news |date=20 December 1901 |title=Appointment of Robert Sproule as junior clerk, Redfern |page=9745 |newspaper=Government Gazette Of The State Of New South Wales |issue=1070 |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article226392069 |accessdate=10 September 2022 |via=Trove}}</ref> He passed a further examination for promotion in April 1904.<ref>{{cite news |date=15 April 1904 |title=Examination of officers |page=3052 |newspaper=Government Gazette Of The State Of New South Wales |issue=211 |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article226395378 |accessdate=10 September 2022 |via=Trove}}</ref>
He studied at the University of Sydney, receiving his Bachelor of Arts in 1907 and a Bachelor of Law in 1913.<ref name="nsw" /> He was a court reporter from 1912 to 1919, and was called to the bar in 1913. In 1919 he was appointed the first head of the Legal Aid office.<ref name="nsw" /><ref>{{cite news |date=13 June 1919 |title=Appointment of Robert Sproule as Officer-in-Charge Poor Persons Legal Remedies Act |page=3353 |newspaper=Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales |issue=142 |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article227978730 |accessdate=10 September 2022 |via=Trove}}</ref>
== Politics == Sproule was appointed Solicitor General in the Storey ministry on 15 April 1920, appointed as a Labor member of the Legislative Council apparently by virtue of his office in what Keith Mason described as the effective beginning of the de-politicsation of the office.<ref name="Mason 2019">{{cite book |last1=Mason |first1=K |title=Public Sentinels: A Comparative Study of Australian Solicitors-General |date=2019 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781317073338 |editor-last=Keyzer |editor-first=Patrick |chapter=Ch 1 Aspects of the History of the Solicitor-General in Australia |access-date=19 January 2019 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xUoGDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA26}}</ref> The Sunday Times took a different view, describing him as the Cassius of the state ministry who had proved himself a very able conspirator for the good of the ministry.<ref name=":0" /> Sproule continued to hold the office in the first and second Dooley ministries. The National Advocate, which had a reputation as the mouthpiece of the Labor Party, described Sproule as having practical experience in all the courts.<ref name=":1">{{cite news |date=10 May 1921 |title=Solicitor-General: tour of the west |page=2 |newspaper=The National Advocate |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article158671838 |accessdate=9 September 2022 |via=Trove}}</ref> There is nothing to indicate that Sproule appeared in court in his role as Solicitor General, with the National Advocate emphasising his law reform and political role in administering the courts.<ref name=":1" /> The Sunday Times and the Barrier Miner speculated that he may be appointed a judge,<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite news |date=6 June 1921 |title=Speculation in Sydney over appointment of judge |page=1 |newspaper=Barrier Miner |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article45558411 |accessdate=9 September 2022 |via=Trove}}</ref> however nothing came of that.
In 1927 he left the bar to become a solicitor, working with Richard Meagher.<ref name="nsw" />
He was expelled from Labor in July 1931 because he refused to sign the Lang pledge,<ref>{{cite news |date=25 July 1931 |title=Labor Legislative Councillors expelled by A.L.P. |page=6 |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article46616293 |accessdate=10 September 2022 |via=Trove}}</ref> which required loyalty to the Premier, Jack Lang, the state executive and the Lang plan.<ref>{{cite news |date=30 April 1931 |title=Lang rule: pledge of loyalty |page=9 |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16773629 |accessdate=10 September 2022 |via=Trove}}</ref> Despite his expulsion, Sproule continued to vote for Lang legislation.
The Legislative Council was re-constituted in 1934 to one where members were elected, not directly by the people, but by a joint sitting of the New South Wales Parliament with 60 members having a 12-year term, elected in four groups of 15 members. Sproule was one of 126 candidates however he was excluded early in the count for each of the elections.<ref>{{cite news |date=23 January 1934 |title=Candidates declared to be elected Members of the Legislative Council |page=428 |newspaper=Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales |issue=16 |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article223050072 |access-date=25 November 2020 |via=Trove}}</ref>
He retired from politics and continued to work as a solicitor until his death.<ref name=":2">{{cite news |date=17 July 1948 |title=Death of Mr. Robert Sproule |page=3 |newspaper=The Sun |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article229007651 |accessdate=9 September 2022 |via=Trove}}</ref>
== Personal life and death == On 15 March 1911 he married Effie Stevenson, however she died from pneumonia on 12 August 1921.<ref>{{cite news |date=13 August 1921 |title=Obituary: Mrs Sproule |page=14 |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15934328 |accessdate=10 September 2022 |via=Trove}}</ref> Sproule died at Parramatta on {{Death date and age|1948|7|17|1881|3|16|df=y}}.<ref name="nsw">{{cite NSW Parliament | title = Mr Robert Sproule (1881-1948) |id=1353 |former=Yes | accessdate=10 May 2019}}</ref><ref name=":2" />
==References== {{reflist}} {{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{s-bef|before=John Garland {{post-nominals|country=AUS|KC}}}} {{s-ttl|title=Solicitor General|years=1920{{spaced ndash}}1922}} {{s-aft|after=Cecil Weigall}} {{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sproule, Robert}} Category:1881 births Category:1948 deaths Category:Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales Category:Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council Category:Solicitors general for New South Wales Category:20th-century Australian politicians Category:Irish emigrants to Australia Category:People from Omagh Category:Lawyers from County Tyrone Category:Politicians from County Tyrone