Digby Denham

Digby Frank Denham (25 January 1859 – 10 May 1944) was a politician and businessman in Queensland, Australia. He was a Premier of Queensland and Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly. He was the first of only two Queensland Premiers to lose their own seat at a general election.

Denham was born in Langport, Somerset, England on 25 January 1859 to William Denham, a baker, and his wife Edna Grace, née Cooke. He studied at Langport Grammar School before being indentured to a drapery firm in July 1873. In 1881 Denham migrated to South Australia where he formed a business partnership in Mallala with a commercial traveller, George Cable Knight. He married Knight's sister Alice Maud at North Adelaide on 16 April 1884: they were to have two daughters and a son.

Denham moved to Sydney in 1885 to form a partnership in John Melliday & Co. He opened a branch of the firm in Brisbane in 1886, and then bought out the firm in partnership with his brother in 1890, renaming it to Denham Bros, Produce and Grain Merchants. He became involved in several other companies over the following years and by the early 1900s he was chairman of the New Swanbank Colliery Co. and one of the leading businessmen in Brisbane.

From February 1892 until 1902, Denham served as a member, and for four years as chairman, of the Stephens Divisional Board (later the Shire of Stephens) based in Annerley.

He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland from 1902 until 1915 representing the seat of Oxley, and was Premier of Queensland from 7 February 1911 to 1 June 1915.

In June 1902 he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Queensland for Oxley. He campaigned in opposition to a state income tax which Robert Philp's government had proposed, although by the time he became premier in 1911, he had concluded that it was not high enough.

In September 1903 Philp's government resigned when its income tax measures were narrowly passed with three supporters, including Denham, crossing the floor. A Liberal-Labour coalition government headed by Arthur Morgan was formed and Denham was appointed Home Secretary and Secretary for Agriculture portfolios in the new administration. In April 1904, Denham became Secretary for Agriculture and Public Works, and in 1906 took on Agriculture and Railways as part of William Kidston's government.

In February 1907, sensing that a new anti-Labour coalition could be formed, he resigned his portfolios. Ultimately, Kidston resigned as Premier in November 1907 following the Governor's refusal to appoint sympathetic members to the Queensland Legislative Council, and Philp formed a new conservative ministry in November. Denham, now Home Secretary, became the Deputy Premier. However, the Ministry did not command the support of a majority of Parliament, and failed almost immediately, with a new election in February 1908 returning government to Kidston's party. However, later that year, Kidston amalgamated his own party with Philp's as the Liberals, and Denham returned to the ministry as Secretary for Public Lands. On 7 February 1911 he succeeded Kidston as Premier.