Family background
Unni William Carpenter was horn in Gloucester, England, in c1822. He migrated to Australia in c1855. He and wife Elizabeth had a son and two daughters. Elizabeth died in 1898, aged 81. He died at his home on West Street, Darlinghurst in 1901, aged 79 years old. His son was married to Phoebe Parker, whose father Edmund Reuben Parker was also an alderman on the council.
Community activity
Unni Carpenter was president of the Builders and Contractors’ Association. He was a vice-president of the Benevolent Society, a chairman of the Aborigines’ Protection Society, and a trustee of the Temperance Hall. Carpenter was a Justice of the Peace (JP).
Parliamentary service
Unni Carpenter ran for the seat of Sydney-Bligh in the 1894 state election but was unsuccessful; the seat was won by Sir James Martin.
Local government service
Unni Carpenter was elected to Cook Ward on Sydney Municipal Council in September 1877, replacing Alderman John Davies who had accepted ‘an office of Minister of the Crown’. Carpenter’s term of office ended on 30 November 1878.
References
Report of the Mayor, James Merriman, on the election of Unni William Carpenter as Alderman for Cook, 25 September 1877, City of Sydney Archives A-00433826, accessed 03 Nov 2021, https://archives.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/nodes/view/936955
‘Aldermanic Election’, Evening News, 22 September 1877, p. 4, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article108192567
‘Election of an alderman for, Cook Ward, in the City of Sydney’, NSW Government Gazette, 22 September 1877, p. 3673, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article223539205
The Sydney Morning Herald, 22 September 1877, p. 4, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13400363
‘Mr Unni W Carpenter, JP’, The Daily Telegraph, 16 June 1894, p. 5, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article236155307
‘Death of Mr U W Carpenter’, The Daily Telegraph, 6 February 1901, p. 5, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article240118741
‘Death of Mr U W Carpenter’, Evening News, 5 February 1901, p. 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article114019427
Alderman Unni W Carpenter 1878, City of Sydney Archives, A-00041464, accessed 07 Apr 2021, https://archives.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/nodes/view/682038
Green, Antony, ‘1894 Sydney-Bligh’, NSW Election Results 1856-2007, Parliament of NSW, https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/electionresults18562007/1894/SydneyBligh.htm