Family background
James William Gosbell was born on 6 June 1862 at Geelong, Victoria, the son of English immigrants James William Gosbell and Caroline Butlin. Gosbell senior was originally from Camden, London, and migrated to Victoria in 1855, where he married Caroline Butlin in 1861. He worked as a pipefitter and plumber, and died at his residence at 5 Stephen Street, Paddington on 2 October 1900, aged 69.
On 22 May 1884 J W Gosbell junior married Florence Evelyn Barnes (1865-1934) at St David’s Anglican Church, Surry Hills. The pair had nine children together. Barnes was the daughter of Henry Barnes (1838-98), articulator, preparator, and taxidermist of the Australian Museum.
The Gosbell family lived in 12 Glen Street, Paddington, where James Gosbell died on 22 September 1922, aged 60. His funeral, conducted by Wood Coffill funeral directors, was held at Waverley Cemetery on 23 September 1922.
Occupation & interests
In 1888, at age 25, Gosbell became a clerk in the Bankruptcy Office of the NSW Department of Justice. He served as a clerk in the Bankruptcy Court of NSW, eventually rising to the position of chief record clerk of the court, until his retirement on 3 July 1918.
Gosbell was also involved in the volunteer NSW Colonial Defence Force. Having initially joined the Fifth (Union Volunteer) Infantry Regiment as a first lieutenant in June 1896, from 20 June 1897 Gosbell was a first lieutenant in the Seventh (St George’s Rifles) Infantry Regiment. The regiment was an English-tradition volunteer regiment established in 1896 under the command of prominent Sydney businessman and politician, John Cash Nield. On 17 January 1899, Gosbell was promoted to the rank of captain in the St George’s Rifles and commanded the company of the regiment which attended and participated in the ceremonies for the first official opening of the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia by HRH The Duke of Cornwall and York in Melbourne on 9 May 1901. With the regiment renamed the St George’s English Rifle Regiment in the newly formed Australian Military Forces from 1904, from 11 May 1905 Gosbell was placed on the reserve list of officers and was retired from military service on 1 November 1919.
Community activity
Gosbell was a keen cyclist, competing from the early 1880s in the growing sport in Australia, including participating in inter-colonial races. He was a member of the Oriental Bicycle Club in Sydney, becoming captain of the club in 1885.
Gosbell was an active freemason (Masonic Lodge Wentworth No. 89) and a member of the St George Society of NSW, the local branch of the Royal Society of St George, a patriotic society interested in promoting English culture and traditions.
On 3 January 1902, Gosbell was appointed a Justice of the Peace in NSW.
Honours & awards
In a late 1912 subdivision of the Glenview Estate in northern Paddington, two new streets, Gosbell Street and Gosbell Lane, were named after Alderman Gosbell.
Local government service
Gosbell first stood for election as an alderman for the Lower Ward of the Municipality of Paddington at the February 1905 election but was unsuccessful.
He was first elected to the Middle Ward of Paddington Municipality at the following election on 15 February 1906. He was re-elected as an alderman for Middle Ward in February 1908 (unopposed), January 1911 and January 1914.
Gosbell stood as a candidate for mayor on 4 February 1915 but was defeated 7-5 by Francis Meacle. Gosbell stood again the following year and was elected as mayor for the period commencing 1 March 1916.
Citing ill health and the pressures of private business, Gosbell resigned as mayor part way through his term on 11 September 1916, and John Marsh was elected to complete Gosbell’s term. Owing to his ill health, Gosbell was granted a leave of absence by the council, and he did not recontest his seat as an alderman for Middle Ward at the June 1917 municipal elections.
References
Compiled and researched by Andrew Beveridge, 2024
Other information about this alderman was compiled in collaboration with Woollahra Library and Information Service.
Sonder, Richard M 1980 (reprint), Paddington, its history, trade and industries 1860-1910: being a record of 50 years of civic government, Salux Pty. Ltd, Woollahra, NSW
‘Family Notices. Deaths. Gosbell’, The Age, 30 October 1900, p.1, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article188651562
‘Family Notices. Marriages. Gosbell-Barnes’, Sydney Morning Herald, 7 June 1884, p.1, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13569429
‘Obituary. Capt. J. W. Gosbell’, Sydney Morning Herald, 23 September 1922, p.14, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16043791
NSW State Archives: NRS-13660-9-355-Series 4_114914: James William Gosbell – Date of Death 22/09/1922, Place of residence Paddington Sydney, NSW.
‘Family Notices – Deaths’, Sydney Morning Herald, 23 September 1922, p. 12, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16043950
‘Family Notices – Funerals’, Sydney Morning Herald, 23 September 1922, p. 11, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16043885
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‘Men and Women’, The Star, 24 August 1909, p. 4, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article230478918
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‘Cycling’, The Daily Telegraph, 14 September 1885, p.7, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article237247538
‘Masonic Ball at Paddington Town Hall’, The Australian Star, 9 August 1907, p. 6, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article229505551
‘Society of St. George’, The Daily Telegraph, 28 September 1908, p. 8, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article238159216
‘Society of St. George’, Sydney Morning Herald, 4 February 1909, p. 10, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15033435
New South Wales Government Gazette, 3 January 1902, No. 7 (Supplement), p. 67, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article222072482
‘Advertising. Municipal Elections. Borough of Paddington’, The Daily Telegraph, 11 February 1905, p. 16, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article236912908
‘Municipal Elections’, The Australian Star, 26 January 1906, p. 7, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article229653839
‘Borough of Paddington’, New South Wales Government Gazette, 23 February 1906, No. 103, p. 1322, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article226407343
‘Local Government’, The Sunday Sun, 2 February 1908, p. 1, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article227131714
‘Advertising. Municipal Elections. Municipality of Paddington’, Sydney Morning Herald, 31 January 1911, p. 3, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15208722
‘The Polling. Municipal Elections. Apathetic Electors’, Sydney Morning Herald, 2 February 1914, p. 10, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15473283
‘Paddington’s Mayor’, Evening News, 5 February 1915, p. 8, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article115826138
‘Advertising. Municipal Council Notices. Municipality of Paddington. Election of Mayor’, Sydney Morning Herald, 7 February 1916, p. 1, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15641820
‘Personal’, The Daily Telegraph, 12 September 1916, p. 6, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239217103
Men and Women’, The Sun, 13 February 1917, p. 6, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article221961113
‘Names for Streets’, Evening News, 14 November 1912, p. 11, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article117688220