Sir John Henniker Heaton, 1st Baronet (18 May 1848 –
8 September 1914) was a United Kingdom Member of Parliament and a
postal reformer and journalist in Australia.
Early life
Heaton was the only son of Lieut.colonel John Heaton and his wife, originally Elizabeth Anne Henniker, and was born at
Rochester, Kent,
England. He was educated at Kent House School, Rochester, and King's College London, and at 16 years of age went to New South
Wales, Australia.
Australia
Heaton found employment at first as a station hand and then joined the staff of the Cumberland Mercury,
Parramatta. He had further experience as editor of the Penny Post,
Goulburn, and the Times, Parramatta, before joining the Australian
Town and Country Journal at Sydney about the year 1871. On this paper he came under the
influence of the proprietor Samuel Bennett, "the best friend I ever had" Heaton called him, and on 16
July 1873 married his daughter Rose.
In 1879 he published The Australian Dictionary of Dates and Men of the Time, the first Australian book of reference of
real importance, and a conscientious and generally sound piece of work. In 1882 he stood for parliament for the electorate of
Young, and was defeated by a few votes. In the following year he went to England
and represented New South Wales as a commissioner at the Amsterdam exhibition. He also represented Tasmania at the international telegraphic conference held at Berlin, and made
his first mark as a reformer by obtaining a reduction in the cost of cable messages to Australia.
UK Member of Parliament
Heaton settled back in London in 1884 and at the general election held in 1885 was returned as conservative member for
Canterbury. He held this seat for 25 years, and became
well-known in the House of Commons for the special interest he showed in postal
questions. In 1886 he moved a resolution inviting the government to negotiate with other governments with a view to the
establishment of universal penny post. It was defeated, but he succeeded in 1890 in obtaining
a reduction in the rate between Great Britain and Australia to twopence halfpenny. In 1898
Imperial penny postage came in except for Australia and New Zealand, who would not agree to
it until 1905. It was extended to America in 1908 but still Heaton was not content, and to
the end of his days continued to advocate its extension to other countries.
His interest, however, did not only lie in the obtaining of reductions in the cost of postage. He was able to point out to the
Postmaster-General various methods of saving costs, and as a result of
his efforts considerable savings were made. Heaton made several visits to Australia where he had land and newspaper interests,
and began to be recognized as its unofficial member in the house of commons. He several times refused a knighthood, but valued
very much the bestowal of the freedom of the cities of London and of Canterbury in 1899. Heaton was a fellow of the Royal
Colonial Institute and the Royal Society of Literature, and lectured to the
latter on Australian Aboriginals. Chess was his favourite recreation; he also collected Australiana and at one stage owned the
Endeavour journals of Sir Joseph Banks.
In 1912 while on a visit to Australia Heaton was made a baronet, and on his return he was
publicly welcomed at the Guildhall and given an illuminated album containing over a
thousand signatures of well-known men. The postmaster-general, who could not be present, mentioned that in 1910 Heaton on his
sixty-second birthday had sent him a list of 62 desirable postal reforms, several of which had already been carried into effect.
In August 1914 he became seriously ill while travelling on the continent and died at Geneva on
8 September 1914. Lady Heaton survived him and his son John
became second baronet. His Life and Letters by his daughter, Mrs Adrian Porter, was published in 1916.
Legacy
Heaton was an amiable man with the gift of persistency. He had no special ability as a speaker but, specializing in everything
relating to the postal department, he became a formidable critic, and brought about many reforms not only by reducing postage
rates but in connexion with parcels post, telegrams, the telephone, and money orders. Underlying all his work was the feeling
that the removal of obstacles to communications between different parts of the world would lead to better knowledge and better
feeling between nations.
References
- This article incorporates text from the public domain 1949 edition of
Dictionary of Australian Biography from
Project Gutenberg of
Australia, which is in the public domain in Australia and the United States of America.
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