Vaiben Solomon

The Right Honourable Vaiben Solomon
21st Premier of South Australia
In office 1 December 1899 – 8 December 1899
Monarch	Victoria
Governor	Sir Thomas Buxton
Preceded by	Charles Kingston
Succeeded by	Frederick Holder
13th Leader of the Opposition (SA)
In office 1899–1899
Preceded by	John Downer
Succeeded by	Frederick Holder
In office 1899–1901
Preceded by	Frederick Holder
Succeeded by	Robert Homburg
Member of the Australian Parliament for South Australia
In office 30 March 1901 – 16 December 1903 Serving with Lee Batchelor, Langdon Bonython, Paddy Glynn, Frederick Holder, Charles Kingston, Alexander Poynton
Preceded by	New seat
Succeeded by	Division abolished
Personal details
Born	(1853-05-13)13 May 1853 Adelaide, South Australia
Died
Political party	Conservatives Free Trade (1901–03)
Religion	Judaism

Vaiben Louis Solomon (13 May 1853 – 20 October 1908) was the 21st Premier of South Australia and a member of the first Australian Commonwealth parliament. He was generally known by his full name (perhaps to distinguish him from his uncle, Vaiben Solomon (1802 – 21 June 1860), who was transported to New South Wales in 1818 for larceny). He was a brother of Emanuel Solomon and uncle of Judah Moss Solomon.

History

Solomon was born in Adelaide, South Australia, the son of Judah Moss Solomon, a member of the South Australian Legislative Council and Lord Mayor of Adelaide from 1869 to 1870. After an education which began at J. L. Young's Adelaide Educational Institution before moving to Scotch College, Melbourne, then returned to Adelaide, where he joined the firm of Donaldson, Andrews and Sharland, who promptly sent him to Kapunda, where he developed a taste for amateur theatricals. He returned to Adelaide, where he worked at the Stock Exchange. Vaiben wished to marry Mary Ann Wigzell (c. June 1856 – 7 January 1885), a Gentile, but his father forbade the marriage, going so far as to publish a notice to that effect. In 1873 Solomon left for (perhaps sent by his father) the Northern Territory, where he became editor of the Northern Territory Times as well as holding successful mining and mercantile holdings. He helped run his brother Moss's Darwin store, then left to open his own, "Solomon's Emporium", which flourished while his brother's languished. He became an auctioneer in 1877, and had a business partnership with Frederick Percy Stevens and Herbert Henry Adcock in 1878. On 6 December 1880, three months after his father's death, Solomon married Wigzell, who was by then Mary Ann Bridgland, a widow with a young son; she died a little over four years later, having in the meantime had a daughter by Vaiben. Her two children were taken to Adelaide to be cared for by relatives. He became a prominent figure in the Northern Territory, where he gained the nickname "Black Solomon" from the time when, on a dare, he painted himself black and walked naked (streaked?) through the streets of Palmerston (now known as Darwin). He had helped found Palmerston's first municipal council in 1874 and was later served as Chairman. He founded a building company and became quite prosperous, building for himself a residence on The Esplanade that was perhaps the grandest in the town.

Solomon was elected with colleague J. Langdon Parsons to the South Australian House of Assembly in April 1890 as the inaugural members for the Electoral district of Northern Territory (then part of South Australia) on the back of a campaign advocating a White Australia policy. Financial difficulties led to his resignation in March 1891, but his constituents brought him back and re-elected him at the next elections. He served as government whip before becoming Leader of the Opposition in 1899, when he had the Charles Kingston government dissolve over Kingston’s proposal to extend suffrage to all householders and their wives. Solomon then became Premier and Treasurer of South Australia for one week, 1 December to 8 December 1899, before further machinations led to new Opposition Leader Frederick Holder gaining the Premiership, and gaining for Vaiben the cognomen "Sudden Solomon".

Solomon was a member of the Australian Federation Convention in 1897 and the Convention that framed the Australian Constitution in 1897-98, before his election to the inaugural Australian federal Parliament in 1901 as a Free Trade member for the single statewide Division of South Australia. Solomon unsuccessfully stood for the Division of Boothby at the 1903 election before returning to the South Australian House of Assembly in 1905 as the Member for the Northern Territory. By the time of his death to cancer, Solomon was Deputy Leader of the Opposition. Solomon holds the dual distinctions of being South Australia’s sole Jewish and shortest serving Premier. The electorate of Solomon in the Northern Territory is named after him.

Family

V. L. Solomon (1853-1908) married the widow Mary Ann Bridgland (née Wigzell) (c. June 1856 – 7 January 1885) on 6 December 1880 in Darwin. He married again, to Alice Cohen of Richmond Victoria on 22 July 1896, and lived at "Beryl", Robe Terrace Medindie. His children were:

• Mary Danks Solomon (17 September 1881 – ) born in Darwin, she received the Royal Humane Society's medal in 1894
• Esther Solomon MBE (6 April 1900 – 27 January 1991) married dentist Hyam John "Boy" Lipman (11 January 1889 – 16 March 1960) on 9 April 1919; she married a second time, to Harrold Cook.[when?] Her third marriage was to Sir Roland Ellis "Raoul" Jacobs (28 February 1891 – 28 June 1981) on 30 November 1970. Esther was the first woman elected to the Adelaide City Council and served two terms as Deputy Mayor.
• Vaiben Louis Solomon ( – ) was educated at St. Peter's College then Wesley College, Melbourne. As "Vaiben Louis" he won some fame as a humorous writer, and was commissioned by Hugh J. Ward, who had the rights to the "hit" farce Tons of Money to write a musical version, which had a successful run at Melbourne's Princess Theatre. In business as an accountant.
• Elizabeth Laura "Betty" Solomon (1908 – c. 2007) married Eric Fewster ( – ) c. 15 July 1930

He adopted Mary Ann's son Harrie Walter Bridgland (31 May 1879 – 17 October 1947), who for a time called himself Harrie Walter Solomon or Solomon-Bridgland, then disowned him in 1903. Harrie was a champion swimmer, as was his son Walter Lewis Bridgland (23 March 1908 – 30 July 1987), Lord Mayor of Adelaide 1966–1968.

For further details on the Vaiben Louis Solomon's family, please refer to Samuel Moss Solomon.

See also

• Solomon Ministry

References

• Australian Dictionary of Biography

External links

• Parliament Profile

Political offices
Preceded by John Downer	Leader of the Opposition of South Australia 1899	Succeeded by Frederick Holder
Preceded by Charles Kingston	Premier of South Australia 1899
Preceded by Frederick Holder	Treasurer of South Australia 1899
Preceded by Frederick Holder	Leader of the Opposition of South Australia 1899–1901	Succeeded by Robert Homburg
Parliament of South Australia
New district	Member for Northern Territory 1890–1901 Served alongside: Parsons, Griffiths, Herbert	Succeeded by Samuel James Mitchell
Preceded by Charles Edward Herbert	Member for Northern Territory 1905–1908 Served alongside: Mitchell	Succeeded by Thomas Crush
Parliament of Australia
New district	Member for South Australia 1901–1903 Served alongside: Batchelor, Bonython, Glynn, Holder, Kingston, Poynton	District abolished