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Member Details

Mr James Ballantine MERCER (1842 - 1925)

Member Photo
Date of Birth: 01/01/1842
Place of Birth: Glasgow, Scotland
Date of Death: 04/11/1925
Place of Death: Lakemba, New South Wales, Australia
Parliamentary Service
Position Start End Period Notes
Refreshment Committee No. 5 11 Mar 1914 18 Apr 1914 1 month 8 days
Member for Rozelle 06 Dec 1913 21 Feb 1917 3 years 2 months 16 days
System of Discrimination in Freight Charges on the Railways Committee No.21 14 Nov 1911 28 Mar 1912 4 months 15 days
Daylight Saving Principle Committee No.15 12 Oct 1911 28 Mar 1912 5 months 17 days
Claims of Harry K.Carpenter Committee No.14 10 Oct 1911 22 Nov 1911 1 month 13 days
Claims of Harry K.Carpenter Committee No.16 18 Jul 1911 01 Aug 1911 15 days
Daylight Saving Principle Committee No.11 28 Jun 1911 01 Aug 1911 1 month 5 days
Member for Rozelle 14 Oct 1910 06 Nov 1913 3 years 24 days
Member for Rozelle 10 Sep 1907 14 Sep 1910 3 years 5 days
Member of the NSW Legislative Assembly 10 Sep 1907 21 Feb 1917 9 years 5 months 12 days
Political Party Activity
Australian Labor Party (ALP). Member of the Rozelle Branch; member of the central executive 1905 - 1909. Left the party over conscription.
Community Activity
Commissioned as a Justice of the Peace in 1911; president of the Burns Anniversary Club; a Good Templar; and a lay reader at St Paul's Church of England, Sydney.
Qualifications, occupations and interests
Insurance agent. Left school at an early stage and was apprenticed to a woodcarver in Sheffield, England. For about twelve years he was a paid lay reader for the Church of England in Sheffield and Plymouth. Arrived in Queensland in 1883 and after two years moved to Sydney. From 1885 until 1896 he was a caretaker at the Seaman's Institute at Circular Quay; he was also an insurance agent; moved to Rozelle and then to Lakemba; president of Burns Anniversary Club; Good Templar.
Military Service
Honours Received
Membership of other Parliaments & Offices Held
Local Government Activity
Personal
Son of William Mercer, tobacco spinner, and his wife Grace Dixon. Married (1) Rachel Fearnley in c.1867 in England and had issue, 2 sons and 2 daughters. Married (2) Mary Ann Burley in c.1907 in Melbourne, Victoria. Married (3) Margaret Stewart in c.1915 in Melbourne, Victoria. Buried in the Church of England section of Waverley Cemetery.
Additional Information

The Parliament of New South Wales acknowledges and respects the traditional lands of all Aboriginal people, and pays respects to all Elders past and present. We acknowledge the Gadigal people as the traditional custodians of the land on which the Parliament of New South Wales stands.