John Gerard Anderson

John Gerard Anderson (1836–1911), M.A., J.P., was a Scottish-born educationalist and public servant in colonial Queensland, Australia.

Unidentified residence in Bowen Hills, Brisbane, ca. 1875, described as residence of the first inspector of Queensland schools: John Gerard Anderson.

Biography

He was born on 12 February 1836 in parish of Orphir, Orkney, Scotland. He was the sixth child of Rev. James Anderson, M.A.(1773 - 1845) and his wife Susan, née Gerard. His father served as a headmaster of Kirkwall Grammar School till 1807.[1]

He graduated M.A. at Aberdeen University, afterwards remaining there as a student of Divinity. Later he was a headmaster of Spencer's School, Newcastle.

He emigrated to Queensland in 1862, to accept a position with the Board of General Education. In September 1863 he became a first District Inspector of Schools. He was appointed Senior Inspector in June 1869, Acting General Inspector in September 1874, General Inspector in 1876, and Under Secretary for Public Instruction Queensland in November 1878.[2]

Serving as a Head of the Department of Public Instruction in 1878–1904, he introduced free, compulsory and secular education and set up the movement to establish the university.[3]

He died on 23 August 1911 at his home in South Brisbane.

Private life

On 17 April 1873, Anderson married Edith Sarah Wood, daughter of William Wood. One daughter, artist Edith Susan Gerard Anderson (1880–1961), married painter Theodore Penleigh Boyd of the Boyd family.[4] Another daughter, Maud Edith Anderson (1874-1951), married John Ashton, who became Bishop of Grafton.[5]

References
  1. Anderson, John Gerard
  2. Mennell, Philip (1892). "Anderson, John Gerard" . The Dictionary of Australasian Biography. London: Hutchinson & Co – via Wikisource.
  3. Anderson, John Gerard
  4. "Australian Dictionary of Biography: Edith Susan Boyd". Retrieved 20 March 2022.
  5. "Project Canterbury: Cable Clerical Index". Retrieved 20 March 2022.



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