Geoffrey Eagar

Eagar was born in Sydney, son of Jemima {{nee}} McDuel and Edward, a lawyer, emancipated convict and merchant. Edward left Australia in 1821, while Geoffrey was still an infant, to take a legal battle over the rights of freed convicts to London, and did not return. His mother Jemima them moved into a house on Macquarie Street provided for by William Wentworth, by whom she gave birth to a son.{{Cite book |author1=Tink, Andrew |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/28173894 |title=William Charles Wentworth : Australia's greatest native son |date=2009 |publisher=Allen & Unwin |isbn=978-1-74175-192-5}} In 1843 he married Mary Ann Bucknell, and the couple had 4 children.{{Australian Dictionary of Biography |last=Lamb |first=P N |year=1972 |id2=eagar-geoffrey-3464 |title=Eagar, Geoffrey (1818-1891) |access-date=2021-01-16}}{{Cite web |title=Geoffrey Eagar (1818-1891) |work=NSW Parliamentarians, biographical notes |publisher=State Library of New South Wales |url=https://parlpapers.sl.nsw.gov.au/parliamentarians/eagar-geoffrey-5800/ |access-date=2021-01-16}}

Eagar worked as an accountant at the Bank of New South Wales from 1854 for around five years before resigning to accept an appointment to the New South Wales Legislative Council in September 1859. The following month he was appointed Secretary for Public Works and Representative of the Government in the Legislative Council in the Forster ministry, serving until the ministry's defeat in March 1860. He resigned from the Council in November 1860,{{cite Australasia|Eager, Hon. Geoffrey}} to contest the election for The Glebe, but he finished a distant 3rd.{{cite NSW election |title=1860 The Glebe |year=1860 |district=Glebe |access-date=2021-01-16}}

He was elected to the Legislative Assembly at the by-election in January 1863 for the seat of West Sydney.{{cite NSW election|title=Elections for the District of West Sydney |year=DistrictIndexes |district=WestSydney |access-date=2021-01-16}} He was appointed Colonial Treasurer in the first Martin ministry in October 1863. He lost his seat at the 1864 election for West Sydney, and was unsuccessful at election for the Paterson.{{cite NSW election|title=1864 The Paterson |year=1864-5 |district=Paterson |access-date=2021-01-16}} He was returned to the Legislative Assembly at the West Sydney by-election in July 1865, and in January 1866 was appointed Colonial Treasurer in the second Martin ministry, serving until the resignation of the ministry in October 1868. Eagar lost his seat again at the 1869 election for West Sydney, and was unsuccessful at the Hastings,{{cite NSW election|title=1869 The Hastings |year=1869-70 |district=Hastings |access-date=2021-01-16}} and Goldfields West.{{cite NSW election|title=1870 Goldfields West |year=1869-70 |district=Goldfields West |access-date=2021-01-16}}

After leaving parliament he was appointed head of the New South Wales Treasury from 1872,{{Cite NSW Parliament |name=Mr Geoffrey Eagar (1818-1891) |id=469 |former=Yes |access-date=1 May 2019}} until his retirement in February 1891.{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13838673 |title=Death of the Hon. Geoffrey Eagar |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=14 September 1891 |access-date=17 January 2021 |page=5 |via=Trove}}

Eagar died at his home in the Sydney suburb of Glebe Point, survived by his wife and three of their four children, Arthur, a bank manager, Ernest a civil servant and a daughter.{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article235944142 |title=Death of Mr Geoffrey Eagar |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |date=14 September 1891 |access-date=17 January 2021 |page=4 |via=Trove}} He also had a house in the Blue Mountains, opposite Eagar's Platform, now called Valley Heights railway station.

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{{S-bef|before=John Dickson}}

{{S-ttl| title= Representative of the Government in the Legislative Council |years=1859{{spaced ndash}}1860}}

{{s-aft|after=John Hargrave}}

{{S-bef|before=Edward Flood}}

{{S-ttl| title= Secretary for Public Works |years=1859{{spaced ndash}}1860}}

{{s-aft|after=William Arnold}}

{{S-bef|before=Thomas Smart}}

{{S-ttl| title= Colonial Treasurer |years=1863{{spaced ndash}}1865}}

{{s-aft|after=Thomas Smart}}

{{S-bef|before=Marshall Burdekin}}

{{S-ttl| title= Colonial Treasurer |years=1866{{spaced ndash}}1868}}

{{s-aft|after=Saul Samuel}}

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{{S-bef|before=William Charles Windeyer}}

{{S-ttl| title= Member for West Sydney |years=1863{{spaced ndash}}1864|alongside=Lang, Dalgleish, Love}}

{{s-aft| after=John Darvall}}

{{S-bef|before=John Darvall}}

{{S-ttl| title= Member for West Sydney |years=1864{{spaced ndash}}1869|alongside=Lang, Robertson/Windeyer, Joseph/Campbell}}

{{s-aft| after=John Robertson}}

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{{s-bef|before= Henry Lane}}

{{s-ttl|title=Under Secretary for Finance and Trade|years=1872{{spaced ndash}}1891}}

{{s-aft|after= Francis Kirkpatrick}}

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{{Treasurers of New South Wales}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Eagar, Geoffrey}}

Category:Politicians from Sydney

Category:Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly

Category:Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council

Category:Treasurers of New South Wales

Category:Australian accountants

Category:1818 births

Category:1891 deaths

Category:Colony of New South Wales politicians

Category:19th-century Australian public servants

Category:19th-century Australian businesspeople