People Australia

John Bond, 1902

Worker (Brisbane), 8 March 1902, p 10

John Bond (1857-1941) French polisher, Socialist, parliamentary candidate 

Birth: 31 October 1857 in Bethnal Green, Middlesex, England, son of George Bond, hand loom silk weaver later brass finisher, and Maria, née Hughes (1830-191), also a silk weaver, who signed with a mark. Marriage: 16 January 1886 in Brisbane, Queensland, to Martha Ellen Bee (1858-1938). They had two daughters and a son. Death: 2 November 1941 in Brisbane, Queensland. Religion: Congregationalist. 

• Claimed to have been “educated in private schools, and apprenticed to the piano and furniture trades. Joined the Army in ’74, but afterward returned to his craft”. Became a disciple of John Ruskin and J. Morrison Davidson.
• In 1881 was working as a silk dresser in Bethnal Green, living with his widowed mother, a laundress, and seven siblings. Arrived in Queensland a few years later, possibly aboard the Dorunda as an assisted immigrant on 21 September 1882.
• Founding member of Queensland Socialist League in 1896, and Queensland Social-Democratic Vanguard in 1900.
• A pioneer of the Labour movement in Queensland. Lived at Highgate Hill and was a Labor candidate [with J. H. Turley] for South Brisbane in Legislative Assembly in 1896 and also stood for that seat in 1899 and 1902.
• Delegate to and vice-president of Labour-in-Politics Conventions, and sometime vice-chairman of the central political executive.
• From 1886 a French polisher by trade, “he was associated with many of the big furnishing jobs throughout the State”.
• Later lived at Coorporoo.
• Described in November 1941 as grey haired, 5 feet 4 inches (254 cm) in height and of slight build, “wearing a grey suit, blue and white striped shirt, black shoes, and a felt hat” when he went missing from his home. His body was found in the Brisbane river and an inquest found that he had died by drowning.
• His estate was sworn for probate at £918 for realty and £410 for personalty.

Sources
Verity Burgmann, In Our Time: Socialism and the Rise of Labor, 1885-1905 (Sydney, 1985).