Walter Skelton (Victoria)
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Walter Skelton | |
|---|---|
 Walter_Skelton (ANA Chief President) | |
| Born | 1864 Scarsdale |
| Died | 11 May 1929 (aged 65) Bendigo Cemetery, Victoria |
| Burial place | Bendigo Victoria |
| Occupations | Draper and Tailor |
| Partner | Marie Riedle |
| Children | August Vaughan 1886
Alice Victoria 1888 Arthur Philip 1889 Xavier 1891 Henrietta Cecily 1896 |
| Parent(s) | John Cahill and Mary Deehan |
Walter Skelton (February 1864 – May 1929) was an accountant, businessman, draper, Magistrate, breeder of fine poultry, and Chief President of the Australian Natives' Association (ANA).
Walter Skelton was born in Scarsdale, Victoria, on 5 February 1864, the son of Walter Skelton and Maria Moyle.[1] His parents were sufficiently prosperous to educate him at Wesley College[2] in Melbourne. In 1883 his father, also a draper, died in Dunolly.[3] In 1885 he tendered for a new house to be built.[4] On 11 March 1887 at Collingwood he married Grace Elizabeth Threlkeld[1] in her parents' house.[5] Their son, Walter, was born in 1888 and passed away within 5 month.[1] Then in 1890 they had a daughter, Ida Frances, who lived a full life.[1]
Business
Skelton was an accountant and also a businessman; in 1900 the Weekly Times reported that ‘At Dunolly he carries on business as a merchant, and is a leading public man’.[2][6] He ran one of the drapery businesses in Dunolly until 1910 when he offered it for sale by tender.[7]
He was a breeder of fine poultry ‘who delights in the feather hobby’ – Indian Game, Black Orpingtons and Langshams.[8] Over the first decade of the 20th century Skelton entered many poultry competitions and either won his class or was well placed nearly every year from 1902 to 1910.[9][10][11][12][13][14][15] While he delighted in the hobby, it was also a business as he sold poultry and fertilised eggs.[16] The eggs had a warranty on their fertility or immediate replacement.[16]
Skelton invented and applied for a patented on an improved combination water tank and cool chamber in 1896.[17] In 1900 his solicitor wrote to the Herald newspaper in Melbourne requesting publication of the letter to clarify to the public his patent another claimed inventor.[18] The letter advises that Skeltons invention had previously been published in "The Scientific Australian".[18]
Community
Skelton was appointed a lieutenant in the Victorian Rangers, the Colony of Victoria's volunteer infantry in November 1889.[19]
He was a member of the Dunolly Borough Council, being first elected unopposed in an extraordinary election in 1894.[20] While 1900 was the third year in succession he was elected Mayor of the borough of Dunolly.[2]
Skelton was a Justice of the Peace (JP).[21][22] On 16 October 1901 he was appointed a magistrate, ‘to keep the peace in the Midland Bailiwick of Victoria’.[23]