Family background
Albert William Hornsby was born on 12 March 1862 in Hobart, Tasmania, the son of English immigrants John Marryat Hornsby (1832–1903) and Sarah Turner (1828–1906). His father was a police constable and later involved in the printing trade and the Tasmanian Government Printing Office. His elder brother, John Thomas Marryat Hornsby (1857–1921), was a prominent journalist and politician in New Zealand, serving as a Member of the NZ House of Representatives for Wairarapa.
Hornsby married Eliza Brown (1864–1939) on 30 April 1883 in Hobart. The pair had two daughters, and after moving to NSW, resided at ‘Irene’, Glenmore Road, Paddington. Hornsby arrived in Sydney aboard the Tasmanian Steam Navigation Company ship SS Flora on 2 April 1885.
Hornsby died at the age of 62 on 28 August 1924 at The Coast Hospital, Little Bay. He was buried at The Coast Hospital Cemetery.
Occupation & interests
Albert Hornsby entered the family printing trade, first working at the Cornwall Chronicle in Launceston, and then for The Mercury in Hobart, before leaving Tasmania for Sydney in 1885. In 1897, he was appointed a compositor in the NSW Government Printing Office, Colonial Treasurer’s Department.
In 1912 Hornsby was a director of The Oxford Pictures Limited, a company established for the purpose of opening a picture theatre, the Oxford Theatre, at 385 Oxford Street, Paddington.
Hornsby served in the Government Printing Office for over 26 years, being promoted to the senior position of reader in 1912, and retiring on 26 January 1923.
Community activity
Albert Hornsby was a member of the Paddington Branch of the Liberal Association, affiliated with the Liberal Reform Party of Charles Wade. He was elected secretary of the branch in 1911 and treasurer in 1913. He was a member of the NSW Typographical Association.
In 1921 Hornsby was a founding director of the United Public Service Co-operative Society Limited, a company formed to provide discounted grocery and merchandise to Crown employees. The society opened its store at 28 Pitt Street, Sydney on 29 September 1921.
Local government service
Hornsby was first elected to the Municipality of Paddington (Upper Ward), in January 1911, in the third position behind Robert Beauman and Michael Kerrigan with 150 votes. During his time on council, Alderman Hornsby opposed a proposal to close the Paddington Public Library, proposed that the Sydney Water Board set aside the Paddington Reservoir as a children’s park, and moved a proposal to request that the ownership of Victoria Barracks be transferred from the Commonwealth to the Paddington Municipality.
Hornsby lost his seat at the January 1914 election to Ernest McNamara, coming in last place with 68 votes.
Hornsby ran for election one last time in June 1917. However, he was again unsuccessful, placing fifth.
References
Compiled and researched by Andrew Beveridge, 2024
The information about this alderman was compiled in collaboration with Woollahra Library and Information Service.
‘The Tasmanian Mail. Obituary’, The Mercury, 30 April 1903, p. 4, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12270387
‘News of The Day. Death of an Octogenarian’, The Mercury, 5 July 1906, p. 4, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12816004
Hamer, David, ‘Hornsby, John Thomas Marryat’, Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, first published in 1996, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/3h35/hornsby-john-thomas-marryat
‘Deaths. Hornsby’, The Daily Telegraph, 29 August 1924, p. 6, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article245222955
‘Men and Women. The Death of Mr. A. W. Hornsby’, The News (Hobart), 29 August 1924, p. 4, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article233525979
‘Personal’, The Mercury,18 January 1913, p. 4, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10271612
New South Wales Government Gazette, 16 December 1896, No. 1034 (Supplement), p. 9081, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article222831742
‘The Oxford Pictures Limited’, Co-operator, 20 June 1912, p. 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article238815137
‘Appointments’, New South Wales Government Gazette,10 January 1912, No. 7 (Supplement), p. 237, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article226769757
‘Retirements’, New South Wales Government Gazette,22 December 1922, No. 175 (Supplement), p. 6771, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article225133272
‘Public Service Co-operative Enterprise’, Evening News, 6 October 1921, p. 9, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article118920091
‘Advertising. Municipal Elections. Municipality of Paddington’, Sydney Morning Herald,31 January 1911, p. 3, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15208722
‘Paddington Public Library’, Evening News, 14 May 1912, p. 3, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article114812978
‘Playground for Children. A Paddington Suggestion’, The Sun, 28 August 1912, p. 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article228818952
‘The Paddington Barracks’, The Sun, 14 March 1911, p. 4, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article221575285
‘The Polling. Municipal Elections. Apathetic Electors’, Sydney Morning Herald, 2 February 1914, p. 10, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15473283
‘Municipal Elections. Municipality of Paddington’, Sydney Morning Herald, 3 July 1917, p. 5, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15757118