David Gilpin
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}}
{{Use Australian English|date=March 2018}}
{{Infobox officeholder |
| honorific-prefix =
| name = David Gilpin
| honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|country=AUS|size=100%|sep=,|JP}}
| image = David Gilpin last mayor of Camperdown c. 1908.jpg
| order = 53rd Lord Mayor of Sydney
| term_start = 1 January 1923
| term_end = 31 December 1924
| deputy =
| predecessor=William McElhone
| successor= Patrick Vincent Stokes
| office1 = Alderman of the Sydney City Council
| term_start1 = 8 January 1909
| term_end1 = 30 November 1924
| constituency1 = Camperdown Ward
| order2 = 18th Mayor of Camperdown
| term_start2 = February 1908
| term_end2 = 22 December 1908
| predecessor2 = Thomas Culbert
| successor2 = Council abolished
| office3 = Alderman of the Camperdown Municipal Council
| term_start3 = 10 February 1906
| term_end3 = 22 December 1908
| constituency3 = Belmore Ward
East Kingston Ward
| office4 = City Member of the Metropolitan Board of Water Supply and Sewerage
| term_start4 = 31 March 1922
| term_end4 = 6 January 1925
| predecessor4 = William Patrick Fitzgerald
| successor4 = Ernest Glasgow
| office5 = Member of the Metropolitan Board of Water Supply and Sewerage
| term_start5 = 31 March 1925
| term_end5 = 19 February 1931
| predecessor5 = New Board
| successor5 = Andrew Noble Campbell
| constituency5 = Fifth
| birth_date={{Birth date|1863|04|06|df=y}}
| birth_place=Carlisle, Cumberland, England, United Kingdom
| death_date={{death date and age|1952|05|21|1863|04|06|df=y}}
| death_place=Katoomba, New South Wales, Australia
| spouse = Mary Ann Southam
(m. 1884–1938; her death)
| party = Civic Reform
| relatives =
| children =
| occupation =
| religion =
| signature =
}}
David Gilpin {{post-nominals|country=AUS|size=100%|sep=,|JP}} (6 April 1863 – 21 May 1952), was an Australian schoolteacher, businessman, accountant and local government politician who served two terms as Lord Mayor of Sydney and was the last Mayor of Camperdown, leading the negotiations that led to Camperdown Council's amalgamation with the City of Sydney in 1908.{{cite web|title=David Gilpin|url=http://www.sydneyaldermen.com.au/alderman/david-gilpin/|website=Sydney's Aldermen|publisher=City of Sydney|accessdate=16 March 2018}}
Early life
David Gilpin was born on 6 April 1863 at Carlisle, Cumberland, England, and emigrated to Australia aged 3 with his parents in 1866, arriving in Brisbane before moving to Sydney in 1867. Gilpin began his career in 1883 when he was appointed a public school teacher, serving in various country schools.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article223680576 |title=Government Gazette Appointments and Employment |newspaper=New South Wales Government Gazette |issue=402 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=25 September 1883 |accessdate=16 March 2018 |page=5233 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article221678811 |title=Government Gazette Appointments and Employment |newspaper=New South Wales Government Gazette |issue=547 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=28 October 1884 |accessdate=16 March 2018 |page=7217 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article224297827 |title=Government Gazette Appointments and Employment |newspaper=New South Wales Government Gazette |issue=319 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=3 June 1887 |accessdate=16 March 2018 |page=3677 |via=National Library of Australia}} As a teacher he married Mary Ann Southam at Tilba Tilba on 21 October 1884 and they had five sons and two daughters.
Later becoming a Sydney produce merchant and accountant, Gilpin settled with his family in the inner Sydney suburb of Camperdown.
Political career
Gilpin first took elected office as an Auditor for the Council of the small Municipality of Camperdown in February 1904, but, as secretary of Camperdown Ratepayers Association, soon stood for election as an Alderman for Belmore Ward, to which he was elected in February 1906.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article221030804 |title=BOROUGH OF CAMPERDOWN. |newspaper=Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales |issue=85 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=12 February 1904 |accessdate=16 March 2018 |page=1293 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article220954967 |title=BOROUGH OF CAMPERDOWN. |newspaper=Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales |issue=76 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=10 February 1905 |accessdate=16 March 2018 |page=1019 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article114229065 |title=MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS. |newspaper=Evening News |issue=12,067 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=12 February 1906 |accessdate=16 March 2018 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}
Gilpin however joined the council during a period of severe crisis; the council had been running insolvent for the last few years and the Town Hall where council met was fully mortgaged. In the years before his election, Camperdown aldermen had been seeking to amalgamate with one or several of their neighbouring councils, with little success. Gilpin was elected mayor after the February 1908 municipal elections, and tasked himself with concluding the negotiations for Camperdown amalgamating with the City of Sydney.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article14914535 |title=LOCAL GOVERNMENT. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=21,863 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=12 February 1908 |accessdate=16 March 2018 |page=12 |via=National Library of Australia}}
Gilpin presided over the final meeting of Camperdown council held on 7 December 1908, with Gilpin noting that "I am very pleased to say that the result of the negotiations, in the form of the present Bill, was unanimously agreed to by this council, and has met with the approval of all the ratepayers of Camperdown. The primary object for which we were elected was the extinction of Camperdown as a municipality, and in a few days this will be an accomplished fact."{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article113770677 |title=Camperdown Council Dies. |newspaper=Evening News|issue=12,948 |location=New South Wales|date=8 December 1908 |accessdate=29 May 2016 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}} The council officially ceased to exist and was absorbed into the City of Sydney when the Sydney Corporation (Amendment) Act 1908 was passed by the Parliament of New South Wales, with the council area becoming the Camperdown Ward returning two aldermen.
In January 1909, Gilpin was elected alongside his fellow former Camperdown alderman and mayor, Charles Mallett, to the Camperdown Ward of the City of Sydney.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article227058488 |title=MUNICIPAL COUNCIL OF SYDNEY. |newspaper=Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales |issue=4 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=11 January 1909 |accessdate=16 March 2018 |page=135 |via=National Library of Australia}} Gilpin became one of the council's representatives on the Metropolitan Board of Water Supply and Sewerage in March 1922.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article223945976 |title=MEN AND WOMEN |newspaper=The Sun |issue=3563 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=1 April 1922 |accessdate=16 March 2018 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}
Joining the Civic Reform Association when it was created, Gilpin became honorary secretary and was elected Lord Mayor of Sydney for 1923 and 1924.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16036215 |title=ALDERMAN GILPIN LORD MAYOR. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=26,500 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=11 December 1922 |accessdate=16 March 2018 |page=9 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article120544659 |title=NOTABLES OF TO-DAY-LORD MAYOR DAVID GILPIN. |newspaper=Sunday Times|issue=1953 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=8 July 1923 |accessdate=16 March 2018 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16105774 |title=THE LORD MAYOR. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|issue=26,812 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=11 December 1923 |accessdate=16 March 2018 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}}
Gilpin lost his bid for re-election to his Camperdown Ward seat on the council in the 1924 municipal elections and forfeited his seat on the Water Board as a result.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16183809 |title=WATER BOARD. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=27,147 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=7 January 1925 |accessdate=16 March 2018 |page=14 |via=National Library of Australia}} However, when the Water Board was reconstituted in March 1925 shortly after as an elected, rather than appointed body, Gilpin, who now lived in Burwood, stood for election and was successful for the Fifth Constituency (Annandale, Ashfield, Burwood, Concord, Enfield, Glebe, Homebush, Leichhardt, Lidcombe, and Strathfield).{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16197049 |title=WATER BOARD. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=27,210 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=21 March 1925 |accessdate=16 March 2018 |page=17 |via=National Library of Australia}} After gaining re-election for a further four-year term in 1927, Gilpin was defeated in his 1931 bid for re-election by the Mayor of Leichhardt, Andrew Noble Campbell.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16357449 |title=WATER BOARD. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=27,813 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=25 February 1927 |accessdate=16 March 2018 |page=11 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16755954 |title=WATER BOARD. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=29,057 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=20 February 1931 |accessdate=16 March 2018 |page=10 |via=National Library of Australia}}
Later life and legacy
Gilpin's wife, Mary Ann, died at their residence, "Kayla", on Parkes Street, Wentworth Falls on 5 November 1938. Gilpin died on 21 May 1952, aged 89 and was buried at Wentworth Falls Church of England Cemetery.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18265888 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=35,700 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=23 May 1952 |accessdate=16 March 2018 |page=14 |via=National Library of Australia}} Gilpin Street in Camperdown is named after him.{{cite web|title=A Short History of the Streets of Newtown|url=http://www.newtownproject.com.au/2009/06/streets-g/|website=Newtown Project|publisher=City of Sydney}}
References
{{reflist}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-civ}}
{{s-bef|before=Thomas Culbert}}
{{s-ttl|title= Mayor of Camperdown|years=1908}}
{{s-non|reason=Council abolished}}
{{s-bef|before=Richard Meagher}}
{{s-ttl|title=Lord Mayor of Sydney|years=1923–1924}}
{{s-aft|after=John English}}
{{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilpin, David}}
Category:Australian accountants
Category:Australian schoolteachers
Category:Civic Reform Association politicians
Category:English emigrants to colonial Australia
Category:Mayors and lord mayors of Sydney