# Littleton Ernest Groom

Littleton Ernest Groom (22 APR 1867 – 6 NOV 1936); child of William Henry Groom; born in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia; died in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.

**Lifespan:** 22 APR 1867 – 6 NOV 1936

## Parents
- [William Henry Groom](/p/william-henry-groom-49774.md) (father)

## Timeline
- 22 APR 1867 — **Born** at Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia
- FROM 1889 TO 1892 — **Education (University of Melbourne)** at Melbourne, Victoria, Australia — Attended Ormond College at the University of Melbourne on scholarships. Wikipedia records a Bachelor of Arts in 1889 and a Bachelor of Laws in 1891; the Australian Dictionary of Biography records MA 1891 and LLM 1892. The date range spans the earliest and latest degree years cited.
- FROM 1891 TO 1901 — **Occupation (Barrister)** at Brisbane, Queensland, Australia — Practised at the Brisbane bar, combining it with church and educational work: the Brisbane Literary Circle, the Brisbane School of Arts and the Queensland University extension movement. He collaborated on legal reports and texts, and was joint author with Sir John Quick of The Judicial Power of the Commonwealth (1904).
- 1900 — **Deputy Judge, District Court of Queensland** at Queensland, Australia — Appointed a deputy judge of the District Court of Queensland in 1900, the year before he entered federal parliament.
- FROM 14 SEP 1901 TO 12 OCT 1929 — **Member for Darling Downs, Australian House of Representatives** at Darling Downs, Queensland — Won the Darling Downs by-election of 14 September 1901 caused by the death of his father William Henry Groom, the sitting member, on 8 August 1901. He stood at the request of his father's supporters and with the endorsement of the Barton government, and was elected with a substantial majority. He held the seat continuously until his defeat at the general election of 12 October 1929.
- FROM 5 JUL 1905 TO 12 OCT 1906 — **Minister for Home Affairs** — Appointed by Alfred Deakin to the Liberal Protectionist ministry. The department covered the Commonwealth Public Service, public works, federal elections and the siting of the national capital; his championing of expanded Commonwealth activity brought clashes with the states over the proposed Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics and the federal capital site.
- FROM 12 OCT 1906 TO NOV 1908 — **Attorney-General of Australia** — First term as Attorney-General, in the Deakin government. He defended the policy of new protection, helped enforce H. B. Higgins's Harvester Judgement on a minimum wage, represented the Commonwealth in the High Court when the Excise Tariff (Agricultural Machinery) Act 1906 was challenged, and carried the legislation providing Commonwealth invalid and old-age pensions in 1908.
- FROM 2 JUN 1909 TO 1910 — **Minister for External Affairs** — One of only three Liberal Protectionists taken into the Fusion government of 2 June 1909, he held External Affairs for about eleven months until the government's defeat at the 1910 election. He carried the High Commissioner Bill of 1909, which established Australian representation in London.
- FROM JUN 1913 TO SEP 1914 — **Minister for Trade and Customs** — Minister for Trade and Customs in Joseph Cook's Liberal government. The government's programme of reversing Labor's measures frustrated his own initiatives, and he and Cook often said the Liberals could achieve little while Labor controlled the Senate.
- FROM 16 NOV 1917 TO MAR 1918 — **Vice-President of the Executive Council** — Became Vice-President of the Executive Council in W. M. Hughes's Nationalist government on 16 November 1917, having served as assistant minister for defence from 17 February 1917. He was prominent in the conscription plebiscite of 1917.
- FROM 27 MAR 1918 TO DEC 1921 — **Minister for Works and Railways** — Pushed a vigorous development programme, supervised increased Commonwealth involvement in the Murray waters conservation scheme, and drove construction at Canberra, where the department's secretary Walter D. Bingle called him 'the man who lifted the whole business out of the bog'.
- FROM 21 DEC 1921 TO 18 DEC 1925 — **Attorney-General of Australia** — Second term as Attorney-General, spanning the Hughes and Bruce-Page governments. He presided over a new public service superannuation scheme and replaced the public service commissioner with a board of three, led the Australian delegation to the fifth assembly of the League of Nations in 1924, and pursued deportation proceedings against foreign-born radicals. Bruce demanded his resignation, which took effect on 18 December 1925.
- 1923 — **Title (KC)** — Appointed King's Counsel in 1923.
- 1 JAN 1924 — **Title (KCMG)** — Appointed a Knight Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George on 1 January 1924, while Attorney-General.
- FROM 13 JAN 1926 TO 12 OCT 1929 — **Speaker of the House of Representatives** — Elected Speaker unopposed on 13 January 1926 after losing the attorney-generalship, and supervised the parliament's move from Melbourne to Canberra, opening the first Canberra session on 9 May 1927. In September 1929 he declined to use his casting vote against Hughes's amendment to the Maritime Industries Bill, holding the impartiality of the Chair to be 'most sacred'; the amendment carried by one vote, the parliament was dissolved and the Bruce-Page government was heavily defeated on 12 October 1929.
- FROM 19 DEC 1931 TO 6 NOV 1936 — **Member for Darling Downs, Australian House of Representatives** at Darling Downs, Queensland — Denied Nationalist endorsement, he had lost Darling Downs at the 1929 election and returned to the Brisbane bar. He won the seat back as an independent on 19 December 1931, defeating his successor Arthur Morgan on the first count, joined the United Australia Party in August 1933, chaired the Bankruptcy Legislation Committee from 1932 to 1936, and held the seat until his death.
- NOV 1936 — **Buried** at Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia — After a well-attended funeral service at Parliament House he was buried in the grounds of the Anglican Church of St John the Baptist, Reid, Canberra.
- 6 NOV 1936 — **Died** at Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
- **Education (Toowoomba Grammar School)** at Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia — Educated at Toowoomba North State School and then Toowoomba Grammar School, where he was school dux and captain of the cricket and football teams.

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